School Food!

Share your memories and stories from the Hertford Christ's Hospital School, which closed in 1985, when the two schools integrated to the Horsham site....

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gma
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School Food!

Post by gma »

Given that many of you will have been at Hertford today, I wonder if this has triggered any of your food/drink memories, good, bad, quiz'd, ego'd or indifferent?

Never Eaten Or Drunk Again

Rice Pudding
Cheese Mac
Pink ice cream blocks in wafers (no flavour, just pink)

Evocative Food & Drink

(Sorry for the familiarity JR but having read some of your posts I'm hesitant about this title but any way............)

Fried bread at breakfast with butter and marmalade
Tea out of bowls
Kedgeree
Spaghetti on toast
Gerrie M-A (GMA) - 2:34 71-75

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Re: School Food!

Post by midget »

The kedgeree was generally so disgusting that it was concealed in hankies to be smuggled out of the dining rom to put down the loo!
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Re: School Food!

Post by Katharine »

Oh Maggie, kedgeree was one of my favourites! We only had it about once or twice a term at tea in the houses never in dining hall.

What's this about ice cream? I cannot remember that at all!
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Re: School Food!

Post by gma »

I'm with you Katharine on the kedge, took me forever to try and replicate once I'd left until I realised that they used powdered eggs, then I gave up and created my own!! The ice-cream blocks were what we had at 'morning tea-break'; bread and jam in winter and ice cream blocks in white waxed paper between two wafer biscuits in summer! Choices were bread, butter and strawberry jam (which I have to say must have improved since postings about it on other forums!) and pink or white ice-cream blocks.

To this day I can't face pink ice-cream of any parentage but frequently serve kedge when I have house guests for sunday morning breakfeast - get no complaints (and no visible hankies either!!)
Gerrie M-A (GMA) - 2:34 71-75

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Re: School Food!

Post by Vonny »

I can't think of anything I was put off food wise whilst at CH although I have never (and probably never will) touched Guinness or Martini since Horsham :vom:
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Re: School Food!

Post by englishangel »

Delia does a good kedgeree.

There are several teabowls in the exhibition and a photo of someone demonstrating the way to hold one.

I can now reveal that Judy never had appendicitis, something I had already guessed as she had her appendix in a glass jar and later in my career I saw several infected ones which looked nothing like it. She feigned tummy ache to get out of eating cornish pasties (Rather drastic I thought). Some months later I walked out of a high tea of spaghetti on toast (which I hated) claiming nausea and the same accusation was levelled at me. Subsequent events proved it wasn't just the spaghetti.

I quite enjoy it now (spaghetti in tomato sauce on toast) when I need comfort food, but mine doesn't glow in the dark.
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Re: School Food!

Post by midget »

Better refrigeration of the fish probably meant that it tasted better in later years. (memo to self--make a kedgeree this week, haven't had kedge for months)
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Re: School Food!

Post by michael scuffil »

Did you have Marmite Fritters at Hertford? One of the stand-bys of tea at Horsham.

Though to be fair, once the new kitchens were installed in (I think) 1954, food at Horsham was no worse than British food generally at the time (apart from Sunday roast dinner, which was disgusting). Visiting sports teams from other schools said our food was luxury compared with what they had.
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Re: School Food!

Post by J.R. »

Generally, food at Horsham in the 60's has been discussed at length on other threads.

MARMITE FRITTERS - I always ADORED them.

The fried bread was brilliant.

On looking back, I can only assume the way it was cooked, was to be lowered, en masse, into a vat of very hot fat, and lifted out almost immediately and allowed to drain.

Don't forget that during my time, food was served as a 'one pot meal' as described on the front page of the recently issued Spring copy of 'Housey', so you either ate it or went hungry !!!
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Re: School Food!

Post by sejintenej »

michael scuffil wrote:Did you have Marmite Fritters at Hertford? One of the stand-bys of tea at Horsham.

Though to be fair, once the new kitchens were installed in (I think) 1954, food at Horsham was no worse than British food generally at the time (apart from Sunday roast dinner, which was disgusting). Visiting sports teams from other schools said our food was luxury compared with what they had.
That change came about when they appointed a new kitchen superintendent who had better ideas than her predecessor and she introduced vast improvements. At least she did try to introduce a far more varied menu so one shouldn't really condemn her when something went wrong occasionally. Prior to her arrival we had what I suppose was supposed to be hotpot but contained little more than gristle, cartelege and fat; inedible and worse.

I agree with JR that the fried bread was in fact very good and I used to enjoy a bit of flab and marmelade in my banger. I don't remember the marmite fritters - I hate the smell of the stuff now so perhaps it was a CH induced aversion which has always kept my underweight :cry:

Foodwise this is perhaps relevent though it could also apply to the anti-female brigade thread. I had a specialists letter saying that I had to eat an banana per day (for acne). Dr Scott was somewhat taken aback but reluctantly he passed the order on to the kitchens. I had to go out the back at lunch time to collect my banana but, given the number of females there, I had to be escorted to ensure that I didn't talk to any female unnecessarily!
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Re: School Food!

Post by J.R. »

sejintenej wrote: I had to go out the back at lunch time to collect my banana but, given the number of females there, I had to be escorted to ensure that I didn't talk to any female unnecessarily!
What was the name of that rather tasty nurse that used to be on surgery duty with the other 3 in the mornings, Michael.

Blonde as I recall, and VERY human.

As a long-time sufferer of warts on the fingers, I had to attend the sicker surgery most mornings for that disgusting silver stuff to be applied. If she was the applyer, it made the journey very worth while !
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Re: School Food!

Post by sejintenej »

J.R. wrote:
sejintenej wrote: I had to go out the back at lunch time to collect my banana but, given the number of females there, I had to be escorted to ensure that I didn't talk to any female unnecessarily!
What was the name of that rather tasty nurse that used to be on surgery duty with the other 3 in the mornings, Michael.
Blonde as I recall, and VERY human.
As a long-time sufferer of warts on the fingers, I had to attend the sicker surgery most mornings for that disgusting silver stuff to be applied. If she was the applyer, it made the journey very worth while !
There's words for people like you and they are not very polite.

Her name was Megan Rigby; she later married an OB who she did not meet at the school (well, that is her story and she never lied to me). Very human - I agree entirely. I still wonder if she reads this

As for the warts obviously you went to see Dr Scott who had to apply NHS rules. If, like me, you had gone to her direct, she had the ability and in my case did remove my warts in a five minute session without all the medicines etc. and permanently. That last word is regrettable; she did it so well I had no excuse to go back for a follow-up. :cry: :cry: :cry: I have had the good fortune to be treated since for other complaints by other "healers" so I know it is not psychosomatic or whatever.
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Re: School Food!

Post by gma »

I don't know about Horsham but, even taking on board JR's comments re the tasty nurse, can anyone tell me why food at Hertford in the San tasted better than in did in Hall or in House? I know it came from the same kitchen because I saw our battle axe Sister carrying it down in odd little metal 'paint' kettles with lids one evening! (And what was it with that starched cap that made her look like a sailfish in full flight!?)
Gerrie M-A (GMA) - 2:34 71-75

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Re: School Food!

Post by michael scuffil »

sejintenej wrote:
That change came about when they appointed a new kitchen superintendent
This was Mrs Johnson, who always wanted to abolish kiff-bowls, but somehow never managed.
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Re: School Food!

Post by AndrewH »

michael scuffil wrote:
sejintenej wrote:
That change came about when they appointed a new kitchen superintendent
This was Mrs Johnson, who always wanted to abolish kiff-bowls, but somehow never managed.
She did in the end, as by 1970 they were only in use as sugar bowls. I think that she retired about 1971-2.
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