The Charge

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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Katharine
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Re: The Charge

Post by Katharine »

englishangel wrote:I think I was asked which I wanted, a Prayer Book or a Concordance (not C of E so not confirmed, and didn't most people get a prayer book from godparents when they were confirmed anyway?) and as I had a prayer book (which we had to have when we started) I asked for and received a Concordance.
I don't remember being asked, but my friend Liz (Richards 7s) who was not CofE, had the Concordance, so I may have extrapolated. I quite agree that I already had several prayer books - and living in a Vicarage I have no idea how many more around the home!

Liz's father had been at CH with my father and they recognised each other at Great Tower Street when we both sat the exam. My mother remembers her mother saying loudly "All these clever looking parents, our poor Lizzie doesn't stand a chance!" Apparently the assembled parents all started smiling and talking to each other, all tension dissolved. Liz went to Oxford.
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CHAZ
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Re: The Charge

Post by CHAZ »

Katharine wrote:Frances, the prayer book, or a Bible concordance, were only given to Mons at Hertford - prayer book if you had been confirmed, concordance if you had not as far as I remember. No Charge in my prayer book

Yes, you were LV when I arrived in 6s in LIV, as far as I remember.

Same for Horsham in my time. prayer book only for mons
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Mid A 15
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Re: The Charge

Post by Mid A 15 »

The Charge is not inside my Bible or Companion either.

However I think the real point is to guage views on the benefits (or not) received.
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chaosriddenyears
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Re: The Charge

Post by chaosriddenyears »

Yes, that is indeed my point.

A good education, whether free, at a low cost or highly paid for, is not something that anyone is likely to forget since it will inevitably bring advantages and shape one's life accordingly. It is not necessary to lay a solemn charge on someone never to forget something that is to be had in many other schools as well - so what was there about CH that we were never to forget?
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Re: The Charge

Post by Fjgrogan »

Perhaps to remind us that our education was gained thanks to the charitable benevolence of others and we should seek to ensure that that tradition is continued. My own education was largely free; my daughters' cost enough to be sacrificial for us, but certainly worth a good deal more than we could have afforded to pay elsewhere. I think they have made better use of it than I did, mainly because they have both had careers before embarking on childrearing. Two things in particular which spring to mind are the ability to mix reasonably comfortably with 'all sorts and conditions of men' ie people of various social levels, and a good grounding in religious faith - I know it was compulsory at the time, but I chose to continue it!
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Re: The Charge

Post by jtaylor »

Received from Charles Forster (PeB 1978-1984) aka "CHAZ" on the forum:-

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Re: The Charge

Post by englishangel »

Fjgrogan wrote:Perhaps to remind us that our education was gained thanks to the charitable benevolence of others and we should seek to ensure that that tradition is continued. My own education was largely free; my daughters' cost enough to be sacrificial for us, but certainly worth a good deal more than we could have afforded to pay elsewhere. I think they have made better use of it than I did, mainly because they have both had careers before embarking on childrearing. Two things in particular which spring to mind are the ability to mix reasonably comfortably with 'all sorts and conditions of men' ie people of various social levels, and a good grounding in religious faith - I know it was compulsory at the time, but I chose to continue it!
This is how I always thought of it. At Hertford there was a specific Prize given to a girl who was going to be a nurse or some similar profession.

I have certainly never had any trouble mixing with "all sorts and conditions of men" but I did have (and still have) trouble with the religious faith, odd, as I had the grounding from home as well. I would now describe myself as a humanist.
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Re: The Charge

Post by Fjgrogan »

Another thing which I have found myself being grateful for is the fact that we were 'forced' to learn things by heart which have somehow stayed put! Chunks of scripture set by DR, poems either as punishment for misdemeanours (the beginning of the Prologue from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, set by one of Sixes study) or for the Poetry Comp (sorry, the Recitation Competition) which I never actually entered, definitions of various laws in physics. Then there were the things which I sort of absorbed by accident - I have mentioned elsewhere that my body still reacts in the right way at the right part of Evensong, but a lot of hymns seem to still be there without my having consciously learned them. I often find myself humming an old hymn-tune without knowing the words, but when they finally come back to me they turn out to be appropriate to the current situation. Miss Mercer used to say 'If you have never learned anything by heart, what do you have to pull on on a black Tuesday?' - I am inclined to agree with her.
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Re: The Charge

Post by icomefromalanddownunder »

Fjgrogan wrote: Miss Mercer used to say 'If you have never learned anything by heart, what do you have to pull on on a black Tuesday?' - I am inclined to agree with her.
Well, yes, but I'd be happier if I could remember where I parked my car this morning :lol:
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Re: The Charge

Post by Ajarn Philip »

When I used to act a bit, I had no problem learning my lines, but if you asked me a month after the play finished to do a repeat performance, I'd have had to use a script! I've always admired actors who have a bottomless pit of a long term memory and can quote ad hoc from past performances.

I'm at the "why did I come into this room?" stage which I'm sure many will recognise. You remember why when you go back and sit down...
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Re: The Charge

Post by englishangel »

There has been research reported in the papers in the last week that menopausal women lose some of their short-term memory but it comes back. My thought is that it is psychological, because if you discuss this with young (er) people they say "Oh, I do that all the time" but they are not worried by it. Of course they are not trying to rmember where they left reading glasses, car keys, the children's book/PE bags. It is just there is more to remember as you get older.
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Re: The Charge

Post by Fjgrogan »

Two possible explanations for the memory thing. either reverse heredity - you inherit insanity from your children. Or it's the galloping senility - I've had it for years. I find that when I am looking for something I usually find the previous thing I lost, so now I pretend to be looking for something quite different, so that the present thing becomes the previous thing! See galloping senility above!!!
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Re: The Charge

Post by Euterpe13 »

To return to topic : I am convinced that I have the charge either in my bible or the concordance ( I was given the choice between this or a prayer book - in hindsight, wish that I had chosen the latter!) - but maybe my brain is playing tricks, and I simply still have The Charge off by heart - as most of us do...
As to benefits - well, apart from the excellent wide general knowledge and love of reading, which makes me almost unbeatable at Trivial Pursuit, I would now say that CH gave me a resiliance and indeed "backbone" to make it through the several crap-against-fan times in my life - DR and particularly Mrs. Winstone taught me that after minimal self-indulgent weeping, I should then get back on my feet, kick myself up the rear and get on with the situation!
People have commented, both in private and professional life, on my capacity to adapt - I have even been called brave! - and I give credit each time to CH.
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Re: The Charge

Post by englishangel »

Oh Barbara, I could have written that, (Trivial Pursuit/pub quizzes and all) and my charge is in the inside left front of my bible, 10 July 1972, though like Katharine (whose is dated 26 December) I am sure I left on the 4th, as 3 years later I graduated on the same date.
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Re: The Charge

Post by midget »

Ajarn Philip wrote:When I used to act a bit, I had no problem learning my lines, but if you asked me a month after the play finished to do a repeat performance, I'd have had to use a script! I've always admired actors who have a bottomless pit of a long term memory and can quote ad hoc from past performances.

I'm at the "why did I come into this room?" stage which I'm sure many will recognise. You remember why when you go back and sit down...
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Parishioner: I do, vicar, I do. Several times a day I go into a room and think "Now what am I here after?"
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