Tea & coffee

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....

Moderator: Moderators

Angela Woodford
Button Grecian
Posts: 2880
Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2006 10:55 am
Real Name: Angela Marsh
Location: Exiled Londoner, now in Staffordshire.

Re: Tea & coffee

Post by Angela Woodford »

Ajarn Philip wrote:Angela, the above quote reminds me of a Sam Sheperd play I did a few years back in which I had to learn how to fold the Stars and Stripes. Took me ages...
Aha! I bet it was a similar technique of cloth-folding! How big was the Flag? Our tablecloths were very long things, and frequently saturated with spilled water and splodged with secretions of stale stew, so speed was the best way to go. Three tablecloths per House table. A Sam Sheperd play that would express my CH days... hmm.. "A Short Life Of Trouble"?

Stergene, Jo! A concentrated blue detergent, it came in a blue plastic bottle; easy to stash away in one's locker, and yes, I can still remember its smell. Quite nice! (The last time I possessed some little somethings by Janet Reger, Stergene was recommended on the label for washing - not so long ago - I must look out for it.) It always caused a bit of havoc in the bathrooms when people were soaking their underwear in the washbasins whilst they were concurrently in a bath.

"Whose are these?" (Moaning noise) "Oh c'mon.... all the basins are full..." Voice from bath "Nearly out!" Noise of basket being kicked crossly along bathroom floor into queue. Irritated voice "Hur-rry u-p then!"

Ah well - institutionalised life -
"Baldrick, you wouldn't recognise a cunning plan if it painted itself purple, and danced naked on top of a harpsichord singing "Cunning plans are here again.""
User avatar
englishangel
Forum Moderator
Posts: 6956
Joined: Mon Feb 07, 2005 12:22 pm
Real Name: Mary Faulkner (Vincett)
Location: Amersham, Buckinghamshire

Re: Tea & coffee

Post by englishangel »

Stergene, buy it from Ocado

http://www.ocado.com/webshop/product/St ... 597%7C1575

N.B. back to our underwear again I see.
"If a man speaks, and there isn't a woman to hear him, is he still wrong?"
User avatar
Jo
Button Grecian
Posts: 2221
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2007 5:36 pm
Real Name: Jo Sidebottom
Location: Milton Keynes
Contact:

Re: Tea & coffee

Post by Jo »

englishangel wrote:Stergene, buy it from Ocado

http://www.ocado.com/webshop/product/St ... 597%7C1575
Gosh, I might have to buy some just as a memento
Jo
5.7, 1967-75
User avatar
jhopgood
Button Grecian
Posts: 1884
Joined: Mon Jun 07, 2004 6:26 pm
Real Name: John Hopgood
Location: Benimeli, Alicante

Re:

Post by jhopgood »

J.R. wrote:I can't remember coffee EVER being served up at Horsham.

Always kiff in the regulation kiff bowl !
Just got back to this thread again.

Coffee, or what went for coffee, was served on Sunday mornings. Since I drink it black, I only partook once, before I realised what it was.
I always drank kiff with no sugar, which had a slightly different colour and was quite a good approximation to tea. I'm pretty certain I had to get it from the kitchens as there weren't enough of us who either took it with no sugar, or were brave/stupid enough to ask for it.
I've just realised that the original question was never answered, not rare for this forum. I just assumed that along with the uniform, kiff bowls were part of some collective madness to which I now belonged.
What was difficult was learning to successfully carry 2 kiff bowls without getting seriously scalded. I was greatly relived to become a swab after my first term.
After CH I did an apprenticeship in Vickers where the tea was also served in some massive alloy jug.
Some wag said it was British Standard tea, milk and 2 sugars.
I used to take black coffee in a flask.
Barnes B 25 (59 - 66)
Angela Woodford
Button Grecian
Posts: 2880
Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2006 10:55 am
Real Name: Angela Marsh
Location: Exiled Londoner, now in Staffordshire.

Re:

Post by Angela Woodford »

WildOne wrote:I remember the bowls being stacked high, so I guess they really were more practical than anything with handles to get broken off.
This seems a very good reason to have the tea bowls!
"Baldrick, you wouldn't recognise a cunning plan if it painted itself purple, and danced naked on top of a harpsichord singing "Cunning plans are here again.""
User avatar
jhopgood
Button Grecian
Posts: 1884
Joined: Mon Jun 07, 2004 6:26 pm
Real Name: John Hopgood
Location: Benimeli, Alicante

Re: Tea & coffee

Post by jhopgood »

I have just come across an article in the Lent Term 1989 Blue entitled "Food,Glorious Food" by Christina Kitchen (Morgan, 3's 38-45) concerning the WW2 diet at Hertford.
Too long to reproduce here, but on the matter of tea, she writes
"Tea, made in a big urn and well stewed, was quite unlike the usual beverage, and drunk from those large, thick, china bowls, patterned in blue with the school crest, that are now so avidly collected by old girls."
Comparing this thread with the article, with the possible exception of the use of powdered eggs for scrambled eggs, it seems that WW2 made no difference to the Hertford diet.
Barnes B 25 (59 - 66)
User avatar
englishangel
Forum Moderator
Posts: 6956
Joined: Mon Feb 07, 2005 12:22 pm
Real Name: Mary Faulkner (Vincett)
Location: Amersham, Buckinghamshire

Re: Tea & coffee

Post by englishangel »

More to the point, 30 years later there was STILL no change in the diet. We were still being given powdered egg when I was there too.
"If a man speaks, and there isn't a woman to hear him, is he still wrong?"
Post Reply