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St Matthews Day 1971

Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 9:37 pm
by englishangel
Aaaaaargh.

A lot of the people in this one are obviously in the Monitresses picture from 1972 but in that picture hardly any of us are wearing glasses, we had all got contact lenses over the Christmas holidays. The teachers of the Upper sixth came back to a class of teary eyed students thinking someone had died.

For some reason I am the only one with my jacket buttoned up.

Image

The dresses (sacks) were blue, and the jackets were the horrendous cherry-reds. Finally consigned to the dustbin in 1985.

Re: St Matthews Day 1971

Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 7:41 am
by Jo
Ah, I saw it on the other thread first and I see this answers my question. 1971 it was. I didn't recognise you as the person with your jacket buttoned, Mary (it was the other Mary I recognised - Mary McD). The jacket looks smarter done up on this photo, but in real life you can't get over the fact that the tunic and jacket don't match and the whole thing looked very bitty.

Re: St Matthews Day 1971

Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 11:24 am
by J.R.
I must say Mary, the person marching immediately in front of you looks really thrilled to be there !

Re: St Matthews Day 1971

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 9:03 am
by fra828
J.R. wrote:I must say Mary, the person marching immediately in front of you looks really thrilled to be there !

Is the above mentioned person Susan Halls? And the girl with neat shortish dark hair in middle of the photo looks like Helen Osborne. It is very surprising that everyone got away with not having to have their hair tied up

Re: St Matthews Day 1971

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 9:24 am
by gma
Memory really is an amazing thing - I would not have remembered half these faces individually but altogether like this I remember snatches of seeing the great and good around school, walking, talking, steely eyed supervision of chapel crocodiles....... :)

For some reason the name Jane Erskine won't leave my mind - was she the blond with glasses behind you? :?:

Re: St Matthews Day 1971

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 11:51 am
by englishangel
Yes Gerrie that is Jane. Her brother Noel recently joined the forum.

Also correct about Susan Halls.

Not sure about Helen Osborne. [that is an "I have no idea" rather than being polite because you are wrong.]

Re: St Matthews Day 1971

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 5:59 pm
by Jo
englishangel wrote:Yes Gerrie that is Jane. Her brother Noel recently joined the forum.

Also correct about Susan Halls.

Not sure about Helen Osborne. [that is an "I have no idea" rather than being polite because you are wrong.]
Also not sure about Helen Osborne, in the sense that you are wrong :lol:. She was a couple of years below the year in the photo. If you are referring to the person I think you are, then I'm pretty sure it's Lois Shepheard-Walwyn.

Re: St Matthews Day 1971

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 7:08 pm
by englishangel
Yes, that is Lois. Left to right are Susan Halls, Maureen ?Marshall (great alto voice) and Lois.

DR vetted all the hair before we went and told us how we should wear it.

Re: St Matthews Day 1971

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 9:24 pm
by Jo
englishangel wrote:Yes, that is Lois. Left to right are Susan Halls, Maureen ?Marshall (great alto voice) and Lois.

DR vetted all the hair before we went and told us how we should wear it.
Maureen Murray.

How sad is it that I still remember people several years above me, after all this time? :roll: And yet I often forget the names of people I've only just met these days.

Ah, just had another look and I thought Maureen Murray was the one with short hair and glasses right at the front. I'm sure you're right - you knew them better than I did, after all! Is that Anne Toothill just behind her too?

Re: St Matthews Day 1971

Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 8:01 am
by englishangel
Image

As I said mostly the same people as in the 'mons photo.

In rows behind the boys.
Anne Verge, Penny Evans, ?, ?
Susan Halls, Julia Barton, Juli Bennett, ?
Me, Maureen Murray, ? Anne Toothill
Valerie Williams, Alex Thrift, Lois Shepherd-Walwyn, ?
Susan Foakes, Jane Erskine, Jusith Points, Lesley Smith
Susan Boggett, Mary McDonagh (MKM) ?,?
As I remember some of the invisible ones are Pauline Tanner, Judy Furnival, Ailsa Gauld, Lesley Bonham and Carol Crowden

All the above are Upper Sixth. Also visible in Lower Sixth are Julie Stones, the petite Linda Packer and Phyllis Chuang

Re: St Matthews Day 1971

Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 8:54 am
by Fjgrogan
My first reactions on seeing this picture were (1) long hair not tied back, (2) short skirts - obviously the habit of kneeling on the dayroom table to check skirt lengths had been discontinued! and (3) all those beautifully polished shoes. That is an art which I definitely owe to CH training; we were even expected to polish under the shoe, and they were checked each morning as we marched into dining hall for breakfast - hence the habit of buffing the toes on the back of stockings, leaving strange stains on the calves! Knowing how to polish shoes properly came in useful years later when I did a stint in the WRNR - I feft when I was too pregnant with Maria to fit into my uniform skirt any longer!

Re: St Matthews Day 1971

Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 5:52 pm
by MKM
Thanks for posting this photo. I'd like to point out that I am, if not exactly in step, at least no more out of step than anyone else! (I was notoriously bad at marching).

Re: St Matthews Day 1971

Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 6:28 pm
by englishangel
YOu seem to be perfectly in step, and concentrating very hard on staying there, Valerie is the one who is a quarter step ahead.

Re: St Matthews Day 1971

Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 7:36 pm
by Jo
Just behind Mary Mc's head (but about two rows behind, on the extreme left), is that Jenny Taylor from 4s? And the girl with the dark fringe, behind Julia Stones - is that Jennie Kirk?

I don't remember the LVI going up to London to march for St Matts - I'm sure I only went in my UVI year. And yet there certainly are LVI in this photo. Have I remembered incorrectly, or was it changed at some point?

Re: St Matthews Day 1971

Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 8:36 pm
by englishangel
I was in the first Lower Sixth year to go in 1970, although I was a mon in Lower sixth I think the entire year went (MKM might remember) and clearly they went in 1971, cannot say what happened after that. I know DR thought it very unfair that the choir, band and entire Sixth form went from Horsham and only the Upper Sixth from Hertford before this.