Hertford Memories - The Book

[MKM]

I'd start with Great Tower Street, the exam, the interviews with DR, and the crocodile walk past the Tower. I think Caroline still has the entrance paper, and posted some questions on the forum. (I know not everyone entered via the LCC, perhaps someone could start a new thread with their memories of how they got in to CH).

Definitely lots of illustrations, please. Your father's colour slides would be a good start. And I love the idea of a nostalgic chapter at the end with photos of the gently decaying Hertford site.

Could you include a few authentic Betty Jukes wecipes for those (like me) who threw away all their school exercise books?

[seventhirty]

I have this morning been rifling through my CH memorabilia box, which contains all sorts of stuff, from little good luck cards that we gave each other before exams, to every school exam paper that I took between 1971-76, and my O and A Level exam papers. It also has my 'diaries' which are mostly excruciating teenage school gossip about who has fallen out with who, but also contain some memory jogging factual snippets. Also concert/play programmes etc. I haven't been through it all in detail, but could put some time in if it would be useful. I couldn't bear to look at it for years, as memories were just too bitter and angry, but am now able to cope with it!

One thing that I have been mulling over for some time - In my last few weeks at Hertford (June 1978) I sat down and wrote a very long letter to the Governors- an 'alternative' Head Girl's speech' which was a politely worded litany of complaint, detailing where Hertford was going wrong! I was so anxious that I did not post it until the day of my last exam, in case I got expelled! As it was hand written, I never kept a copy (which was a real shame) except for a draft of the first few pages, on scrappy paper, which I re-read today. The issues were just those that have been discussed here, housemistresses, isolation from the outside world, a narrow and outdated curriculum, inadequate resources etc. I had two nice letters of reply. One was from the Clerk and the other from the Chair of Governors, both 'confidential' but intimating that they were aware of the problems, had no money, and were seriously considering moving the Girls to Horsham. They urged me to talk to Miss Tucker, who would not be angry but interested (I did, very nervously, and she listened most kindly). I also talked to the Clerk a few days later, during an end of term concert in London (St Sepulchres? ). The original letter may still exist somewhere in an archive of Governor's/Almoners stuff. If so I'd love to see it again!

[englishangel]

Wow, this gets moreand more interesting, good for you seventhirty. I have since stood up for the underdog but would not have done so at that stage.

[Angela Woodford]

Smashing.

This morning some great suggestions from Gerrie. I'm saving the suggestions into a file, then will print them out, and start sorting through the contributions in each category. Did you go on a crocodile walk past the Tower, Mary? I wonder why?

Seventhirty, your memorabilia box sounds like a brilliant source of memory! Imagine dredging out that letter! It was most courageous of you to write it.

There is a wonderful lonely wolf photo of a decaying doorway to the outside world - maybe the one by the porter's lodge?

A menu from Katharine. Some wecipes by Miss Jukes - I've kept them all in a splattered hardback book. I hold it and I still feel the panic. Much too early to think of a title. "Go and Throw Yourself Out Of The Window"?

[Fjgrogan]

Maria and I both have our little green notebooks full of cookery recipes from Miss Jukes - strangely the recipes for the same items varied a little from one generation to the next. I also have somewhere a typed sheet of pumpkin recipes which Miss Jukes used to give away at the sale of work with either slices of pumpkin or pumpkin pie, which seems a little odd, because these days you can only buy pumpkin here around the time of Hallowe'en, and yet the sale of work was usually in December. Sadly today it rarely seems to occur to people to actually eat the pumpkin after they have finished using it for lanterns. We used to eat it a lot in Australia, I remember, mainly roasted.

[MaryB]

(I know not everyone entered via the LCC, perhaps someone could start a new thread with their memories of how they got in to CH).

I had a West Sussex place. The county had two each year for girls and two for boys, presumably because Horsham is in it, except in our year there were three for girls as they apparently wanted me and the Morgan twins, Rosemary and Faith. Places were allocated on the basis of 11+ results and an interview in late May at County Hall in Chichester with DR and the Director of Education himself (imagine that now - I don't think so), who was a burly man with only one arm. Because my father (and my mother before I was born) worked in County Hall, Dr Reade was a legendary figure in my family - so important as to be positively Olympian, and I was far more worried about impressing him than any mere headmistress. I remember that DR asked me what music I liked and how horrified my mother was when I reported that I'd said "the Beatles and the Rolling Stones" (this was 1964). The latter wasn't true - I must have thought for some reason that it would impress the panel. My mother should have been pleased I'd "let myself down" as she never wanted me to go away to school in the first place, but I dare say the need to impress Dr Reade was paramount in her mind. In fact, the County Hall grapevine (think feudal village) meant that my parents knew the same day that I'd got a place, but we weren't told officially until late July. How they managed without telling me I can't imagine. New girls started that year on 19 August, so when it did become official there was a dreadful rush to get me ready in time - medicals, dentists, opticians, forms to sign in front of a JP (handing me over "to be educated with the children of other poor people" or some such formula), the famous list of permitted and required possessions to work through, and difficult decisions about which three books to bring. I wanted to argue that Lord of the Rings counted as one but didn't dare, so that was my lot.

I always felt mildly inferior to people with Almoners and LCC/GLC places - the experience MKM describes (I remember Susan Parkin's account of it) was obviously far superior and more testing than my interview....

[Lizzyfrog]

[quote="MaryB"]( I remember that DR asked me what music I liked and how horrified my mother was when I reported that I'd said "the Beatles and the Rolling Stones" (this was 1964). The latter wasn't true - I must have thought for some reason that it would impress the panel.

Oh Mary - I have a similar memory...
I'm not sure what other criteria for entry I fulfilled - clergy father, did that count? - but clearly remember being driven down to London for an interview with DR and an exam,for which I had been prepared: it included binary maths for some reason. En route in the car, my father said, "Now, if Miss West asks you what your favourite author is, you won't say Enid Blyton, will you?" I think CS Lewis got the thumbs up that day, though Mallory Towers was my REAL favourite (and why not - I was ten, for goodness' sake!).

[Lizzyfrog]

I have pm'd Lizzyfrog for advice (per-lease?)

Angela - will pm you back but just a quick note here as I'm logged on. I'll be really delighted to help in any way I can, how exciting! My basic advice is to just go ahead and get it all down as the muse takes you: your writing is just wonderful, as many have pointed out. Don't let fear of litigation inhibit your flow - if necessary, a judicious red pen can be used at copyediting stage (I can do this for you if you like - once had to DRASTICALLY cut the autobiography of an English cricket captain who slagged off just about every other player he'd ever encountered). There are various options for design and production as I'm sure you already know. If you can get a commercial publisher interested (you'll need a sample chapter and synopsis to approach with) that would be the ideal solution of course as it takes away all the boring costs/margins stuff in one go. I suspect (quote DR!) that readership is likely to be mainly old -and perhaps current - blues, though, so it may be that either a print-on-demand or a small initial run based on pre-orders will be the best way forward.

"Listen, kiddo, the f****** book has been sold already! WH Smith have made it their Book of the Week! The cover has been sent to The Bookseller! Stoat Books have had advance orders for 25,000 copies in hardback! This book is a f****** bestseller! It has to be written! Stoat is threatening to sue this agency for every cent we have if you don't deliver. So write the mother!

Preferences please? I've got to write the mother!

[Jo]

I did the Almoners' exam at Great Tower Street, having sat an initial paper at my primary school. I remember DR asking me what I liked to read (it was Enid Blyton but I'm fairly sure I didn't say that) and what I liked to watch on TV. I actually liked Crossroads but I remember saying Coronation Street, "because it was about real people".

My parents groaned when I told them, and muttered something about goodbye to my chances. They told me years later that they had thought of coaching me for the interview but decided against it. They also reminded me continually, any time I criticised Coronation Street, "it was good enough to get you into Christ's Hospital".

[icomefromalanddownunder]

Get a dicatphone and just start talking!!

Yes, I agree Worry about formatting and editing once you have the information recorded. The book will almost certainly format itself.

As for photographs: would you like a CD of the many that I took last April? I think that Jude has pulled hers together too.

Diana, Pam , Mary and I have several shots from the 60s, and I'm sure that lots of other people will put their hands up with other offers.

Let me know if I can be of any help with choosing, cropping, whatever photographs to got with specific bits of text.

Between you doing this and our Accounts Officer intending to take $20 a week off me until my thesis is submitted I'm feeling more motivated than I have in ages

xx

[englishangel]

I took the exam at Great Tower Street, (with Alex Thrift, Jane Erskine, Pauline Arnold and plots of others I can't remember) and did the Tower of London crocodile walk (with Pauline) but I think the DR 'interview' was just a short chat while on the walk. I must have got my results fairly quickly as I had my picture in the paper with my primary school Head Master and I wasn't wearing summer clothes.

[icomefromalanddownunder]

We used to eat it a lot in Australia, I remember, mainly roasted.

Pumpkin soup and roast pumpkin - yummo .

The tattooed, nipple pierced Harley rider from Arkansas who will soon be my children's step Momma was horrified that my daughter had never eaten pumpkin pie, then doubly horrified when she was unable to find canned pumpkin in our local supermarkets, and triply horrified when Jess asked her why the *&%$ she didn't peel and core the real thing. I do confess to being a trifle intimidated by Queensland Blue's: large, luscious and segmented. I manage to insert my carving knife into an indented bit, then the pumpkin closes, clam-like, and all 10+ kilos of it, around my knife. Tugging, pleading, swearing are all to no avail. I sometimes have to resort to standing on the knife handle to push it completely through and out the other side, by which time I am quite exhausted, and have, of course, only made one incision, and have at least one more to go before I have anything to work with.

I also love swede and parsnip, but recoil at the prices charged here. 'You want HOW MUCH????????????????? These are cattle fodder for heaven's sake.........'

xx

[Kim2s70-77]

I am in England for a few days for a funeral and have just been able to borrow a computer. When I logged on, I realized that it is the 17th of August - the day I started at CH, 39 years ago!! Wherever has the time gone!! I saw some comments on this thread about how people arrived at CH and wanted to join in - although my memory about it all is very hazy. I know that I sat one exam at my primary school and another in the City. I believe I was an 'Almoner's Nominee' and remember the initials C.A.N. but really have no idea what that was exactly. I do remember someone calling me one of the 'Almoner's Nobblynees' not long after I started at CH. I remember meeting Freya Pinsent at the exam, so I had one familiar face when I started at Hertford - but don't remember a crocodile walk in London. I did tell DR that my favourite author was William Makepeace Thackery, I remember that. Like many others - it was probably really Enid Blyton, but I must have instinctively known that sucking up would be more productive!!
2010 would be a great year for me for an oestrogen reunion - forty years on!

[Kim2s70-77]

We used to eat it a lot in Australia, I remember, mainly roasted.

Pumpkin soup and roast pumpkin - yummo .

The tattooed, nipple pierced Harley rider from Arkansas who will soon be my children's step Momma was horrified that my daughter had never eaten pumpkin pie, then doubly horrified when she was unable to find canned pumpkin in our local supermarkets, and triply horrified when Jess asked her why the *&%$ she didn't peel and core the real thing. I do confess to being a trifle intimidated by Queensland Blue's: large, luscious and segmented. I manage to insert my carving knife into an indented bit, then the pumpkin closes, clam-like, and all 10+ kilos of it, around my knife. Tugging, pleading, swearing are all to no avail. I sometimes have to resort to standing on the knife handle to push it completely through and out the other side, by which time I am quite exhausted, and have, of course, only made one incision, and have at least one more to go before I have anything to work with.

I also love swede and parsnip, but recoil at the prices charged here. 'You want HOW MUCH????????????????? These are cattle fodder for heaven's sake.........'
xx

I can SO relate to this! I live in the US and the price of root veg is LUDICROUS! I used to live in Devon - where swedes fell off the tractors onto the road all the time - now they are INDIVIDUALLY WAXED and sold as wickedly expensive 'rutabagas'. I only buy parsnips for Thanksgiving and Christmas really,, but they are about $5 for a bag of 3 skinny ones! What a world!

[Fjgrogan]

The answer to the dilemma of the cost of root veg - grow your own! Many years ago I used to successfully grow potatoes, carrots and parsnips, but never had much luck with tomatoes or peas. Once you have eaten homegrown parsnips straight from the garden you will never again consider buying the vastly inferior shop ones! And I am really no gardener - they are pretty foolproof.