Feet!

[jhopgood]

The shoe-man/clothing store was to the rear of Coleridge B and the Dining Hall. The place smelt of Sprim, and the shoes were allocated by a fairly short/bald gentleman who, if memory serves, had a squeaky artificial leg. Rather an austere gentleman who never seemed to smile. Wasn't his name Hards ?

Apart from a Spanish maid called Maria, I have no memories of the names of any CH people who were not either students, teachers or the Barnes Matron.

[J.R.]

The shoe-man/clothing store was to the rear of Coleridge B and the Dining Hall. The place smelt of Sprim, and the shoes were allocated by a fairly short/bald gentleman who, if memory serves, had a squeaky artificial leg. Rather an austere gentleman who never seemed to smile. Wasn't his name Hards ?

Apart from a Spanish maid called Maria, I have no memories of the names of any CH people who were not either students, teachers or the Barnes Matron.

Cue a song from 'West Side Story', John ?

Do elaborate !

[sejintenej]

Apart from a Spanish maid called Maria, I have no memories of the names of any CH people who were not either students, teachers or the Barnes Matron.

I reckon I learned more about living life from a member of staff who was not a student, maid, matron, teacher or related to either. I have problems remembering names, even of some people in Col A, but that is a name I will not forget.

[anniexf]

I remember 8s cleaning lady, Mrs. B....., well, even now. Details of her divorce appeared on the back of the Ward's Daily Telegraph but we younger ones weren't allowed to read it that day! Naturally this ban caused improbable rumours to circulate, but in fact it only mentioned the judge's reference to her preferring the "bright lights" to her domestic and matrimonial duties. Considering how hard she slogged in 8s, with great good humour, she probably needed a bit of a change of scene.

[Kim2s70-77]

Has someone posted about the smell of plimsoll-whitener on the 'evocative smells, sounds etc' thread? Anyway, that whitener really does take me back. Was right back in 8's cloakroom in 1970 when I used it on my daughter's school vecro P.E shoes, the very flat kind that used to come in white and black, (probably still do as I'm only going back a few years). The summer sandals at Hertford were VERY flat, certainly lighter for hot weather but not ideal if you had flat feet! Didn't we call the clumpy brown shoes clodwallopers?! I went to 'feet' too, and I actually quite enjoyed those exercises picking up beanbags etc!

Was it 'Clodhoppers'??

[jhopgood]

The shoe-man/clothing store was to the rear of Coleridge B and the Dining Hall. The place smelt of Sprim, and the shoes were allocated by a fairly short/bald gentleman who, if memory serves, had a squeaky artificial leg. Rather an austere gentleman who never seemed to smile. Wasn't his name Hards ?

Apart from a Spanish maid called Maria, I have no memories of the names of any CH people who were not either students, teachers or the Barnes Matron.

Cue a song from 'West Side Story', John ?

Do elaborate !

It was nearly Big Side Story.

[englishangel]

I went to 'feet' for flat feet, still have 'em and can walk for miles with no problem. My husband who has "beautiful" high arches on delicate feet is a martyr to them and is currently spending a fortune on arch supports and visitng a podiatrist.

His X-rays are horrible.

[sejintenej]

I went to 'feet' for flat feet, still have 'em and can walk for miles with no problem. My husband who has "beautiful" high arches on delicate feet is a martyr to them and is currently spending a fortune on arch supports and visitng a podiatrist.

His X-rays are horrible.

I vividly remember being taken, as a 5 year old, to some clinic for my flat feet. I had to put them in a footbath of water on a metal plate. Then they turned the current on and my feet shook, and vibrated, and shook and vib........
I also had shoe inserts to lift the inside of the arch (they were very comfortable, actually)

I still have flat feet if my wet footprints on tiles are anything to go by but nobody seems to care these days. Like you I could go for tens of miles with no foot problems.

[fra828]

Has someone posted about the smell of plimsoll-whitener on the 'evocative smells, sounds etc' thread? Anyway, that whitener really does take me back. Was right back in 8's cloakroom in 1970 when I used it on my daughter's school vecro P.E shoes, the very flat kind that used to come in white and black, (probably still do as I'm only going back a few years). The summer sandals at Hertford were VERY flat, certainly lighter for hot weather but not ideal if you had flat feet! Didn't we call the clumpy brown shoes clodwallopers?! I went to 'feet' too, and I actually quite enjoyed those exercises picking up beanbags etc!

Was it 'Clodhoppers'??

Yes, that's it!

[Katharine]

As far as I remember, in my time the shoe man was in the cloisters somewhere behind the science block, not in a cellar.

[anniexf]

As far as I remember, in my time the shoe man was in the cloisters somewhere behind the science block, not in a cellar.

Yes! I've been trying to remember, & couldn't recall going to any basements. There was defiitely a sort of shed where heaps of old shoes were kept. I did get one new pair, I think, just once.

[Mid A 15]

Didn't go to the "shoe man" very often as I was always fortunate enough to get new shoes, and kept them pretty clean. My father used to polish the soles of his shoes and even had a last which he used for putting old cycle tyres on the soles of his boots. He used to mend our shoes so I learned the value of them.
I seem to remember that the "shoe man" was at the back of dining hall, where there are now a load of rubbish bins. I think the same room was also used for handing out "new" coats. Everything else was handled by Matron.
From my time in the factory, brown coats were the "uniform" of the charge hands and storemen. White coats were for foremen. I had a boiler suit, but some of the other apprentices who had been there some time had brown coats.
Curious how regimented life was then.

Your right, John.

The shoe-man/clothing store was to the rear of Coleridge B and the Dining Hall. The place smelt of Sprim, and the shoes were allocated by a fairly short/bald gentleman who, if memory serves, had a squeaky artificial leg. Rather an austere gentleman who never seemed to smile. Wasn't his name Hards ?

Yes the name Hards rings a bell. He did have an artificial leg and looked a little bit like the old chap with the bald head in the speeded up Benny Hill sketches years ago. (Was his name Joe McGee or something like that?)

There was another brown coated gentleman in the wardrobe called Henderson who was a Sussex County race walking champion and on the verge of the British team.

[J.R.]

Yes the name Hards rings a bell. He did have an artificial leg and looked a little bit like the old chap with the bald head in the speeded up Benny Hill sketches years ago. (Was his name Joe McGee or something like that?)

Henry McGee.
Tall, rather sombre straight man.

Jackie Wright
Is the little bald headed fellow that was constantly getting 'slapped' by Benny. Benny always referred to him as 'Little Jackie' on and off set. I really miss that non-pc comedy show.

[Angela Woodford]

As far as I remember, in my time the shoe man was in the cloisters somewhere behind the science block, not in a cellar.

Yes! I've been trying to remember, & couldn't recall going to any basements. There was defiitely a sort of shed where heaps of old shoes were kept. I did get one new pair, I think, just once.

AHA! "A sort of shed". That sounds familiar. It's odd - I thought that every single inch of the Hertford campus would be imprinte on my memory for ever and ever. But the shoe man...

i remember being given a really, really battered pair though, trying them on, and they were OKish. But I winced and said they felt terribly uncomfortable because I did so want nice new shoes.

[Kim2s70-77]

One of the few advantages of having gigantic feet - new shoes at CH. There would have been none to pass on from others. (Of course, they were on loan from Ringling Circus and the clowns were shoeless, but..............oh well!)