DR

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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WildOne
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DR

Post by WildOne »

I'm so glad I found this site... it was quite by accident whilst searching the web for information about DR, as we called her.

I have read many snippets of info scattered across many threads here, and she seems to remain prominent in our memories, albeit a mixture of good and not so good recollections!!!

May I ask a favour?

Would people who have posted or seen anything about her in other threads be willing to copy/quote the relevant bits to this thread and help bring it all together please?

This is, of course, in addition to posting your own memories and stories in which she played a part.

Finally, does anyone know if she is still alive, and if so, in what state of health? And, (this might be a vain hope) whether there is any way of contacting her? You could pm me if you think this should be confidential.

We all know that she could be an ogre at times, but there are two particular incidents for which I owe her a huge debt of gratitude, but I have presumed for years that it was probably too late to say thankyou.

Gaye
4.24 1965-1970
WildOne
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secret good

Post by WildOne »

There is one secret story about CH I have never told, and it involves DR and the school trip to France.

I had a terrible time at home, and DR had a fair bit of sympathy for me, so when the school trip to France came around and my mother refused to pay for me to go, DR arranged for some fund or bursary to pay for me instead. I was so happy I literally cried!

I had few clothes of my own... At the start of each school holiday, there was 'plenty of time to get round to clothes shopping'; but after a couple of weeks it 'wasn't worth going shopping now' as I would have grown out of them before next hols!

DR must have guessed this, maybe from hearing that my spare uniform was always returned worn and unlaundered at the end of the hols! She took me on a secret shopping trip one Saturday afternoon to buy me a whole set of new clothes to go to France with, and paid for them all from her own pocket. I remember feeling so proud in my new black crimplene flairs and my lurid yellow and orange shirt (it was the 60's !!!). She placed an obligation on me not to tell the other girls at the time (for obvious reasons), but I think enough years have passed to tell about the kind heart that lay hidden beneath that frequently harsh exterior.

It is in the nature of things that disciplinary action should be administered publicly (as a deterrent to others), but that acts of kindness should be performed privately (to avoid jealousies), and it makes me wonder whether we might just have wronged her in our overall judgement.

Does anyone else have any hidden gems to tell us about?

(Gaye) Rosemarie
4.24 1965-1970
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Post by Katharine »

Some of these generosities come out in the book Half to Remember. I think she was a rather repressed person herself. There is no sign of any love interest in the book, perhaps there was something missing in her life. She was born in 1912 to an obviously well off family, but she does not remember ever seeing her father who was killed in the First World War. I think she always meant well even if we did not always appreciate it at the time!
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englishangel
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Post by englishangel »

I don't remember a school trip to France. I went on my own in the Easter holidays just before O levels but I don't ever remember the school organising anything.

By the way Gaye, did I not email you an invitation to the forum back in November time via Friends Reunited?
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Post by Euterpe13 »

englishangel wrote:I don't remember a school trip to France. I went on my own in the Easter holidays just before O levels but I don't ever remember the school organising anything.

?
Trips to France were sporadic -I went at the Michaelmass half term to Millau, must have been my UV - nearly got sent home in the middle for " wearing too much make-up and talking to boys"...

DR and Miss Rutherford were " attending Staff", and I remember visiting the Millau glove-factory in 2 groups : Miss Rutherford translating for group 1, and yours truly having to translate for group 2 - of which DR was, naturally, a part.... a nightmare . The bl**dy guide rattled on at breakneck speed, then the group and DR would peer beady-eyed at me expecting the same extensive explanation in english.

But the trip was fun, especially returning back through UK customs with a suitcase full of ripe Roquefort cheese to be shared out amongst us...
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Post by englishangel »

Euterpe13 wrote:
englishangel wrote:I don't remember a school trip to France. I went on my own in the Easter holidays just before O levels but I don't ever remember the school organising anything.

?
Trips to France were sporadic -I went at the Michaelmass half term to Millau, must have been my UV - nearly got sent home in the middle for " wearing too much make-up and talking to boys"...
DR and Miss Rutherford were " attending Staff", and I remember visiting the Millau glove-factory in 2 groups : Miss Rutherford translating for group 1, and yours truly having to translate for group 2 - of which DR was, naturally, a part.... a nightmare . The bl**dy guide rattled on at breakneck speed, then the group and DR would peer beady-eyed at me expecting the same extensive explanation in english.

But the trip was fun, especially returning back through UK customs with a suitcase full of ripe Roquefort cheese to be shared out amongst us...
B.
You tart, you were ONLY 16 :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Post by Katharine »

The first trip to France happened the first October we had the 4 term year, so that must have been 1964. DR writes about them in Half to Remember, but Wild One has my copy now. DR mentions the cheeses, the must have been something to remember!

I didn't go, I had been to France earlier that year, to my penfriend. I wasn't particularly interested in going in a party.
Katharine Dobson (Hills) 6.14, 1959 - 1965
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Post by darthmaul »

englishangel wrote:You tart, you were ONLY 16 :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Have you seen the get up that 2nd formers are allowed to totter into discos in? When I'm on duty on a disco night, I keep my eyes firmly above the height of 5', otherwise I feel like a complete p****** (hate that word) - a sentiment echoed by all the senior males (publicly anyway) and most of the senior females who have to attend.

What goes on below is desperate to say the least.
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Post by englishangel »

darthmaul wrote:
englishangel wrote:You tart, you were ONLY 16 :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Have you seen the get up that 2nd formers are allowed to totter into discos in? When I'm on duty on a disco night, I keep my eyes firmly above the height of 5', otherwise I feel like a complete p****** (hate that word) - a sentiment echoed by all the senior males (publicly anyway) and most of the senior females who have to attend.

What goes on below is desperate to say the least.
What is a diisco? I thought they went out in the early 80s.

Obviously I haven't, but I can imagine. Fortunately my daughter and her friends are not of the tart persuasion. At the age of 7 she went to a party in a blue velver trouser suit looking absolutely (I thought) gorgeous and came home crying becasue she didn't have a sequin boob tube but she has long grown out of that. (10 years on)
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Post by Euterpe13 »

englishangel wrote:You tart, you were ONLY 16 :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Actually, I was 15...( I was the 2nd youngest in my intake, Glynnis Knight beating me by 3 /4 days )
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Post by englishangel »

Even worse, make-up and boys at 15, I am sure I never did that. (she lied)
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Post by Alexandra Thrift »

At 15 I remember trying to impress my first " proper" boyfriend by doing handstands & cartwheels ! It worked... I wore no make -up but he was bedazzled by the sheer energy ; undoubtedly a CH girl in 1969 must have been an extraordinary curiosity!

My second boyfriend was at Housey. He could roll a very thin cigarette ( Churchmans No 1 ) using ONE hand and I was well impressed. I think we first met within the hallowed walls of the Mansion House on St Matthew's Day over a glass of orange juice.

Back to the thread header "DR": Whilst sorting out my late Mother's effects my sister discovered my last CH school report. Here's what DR took the trouble to write.

"Alexandra has given a great deal of help in the House and her mature understanding is a real asset. She still needs to discipline herself and her mind to compete with the clock on all occasions. She has my best wishes for the future. "

Quite nice I thought.Not just any old comment but something considered.The "clock" comment as true now as it was then.

I mentioned on another thread that she took a group of us who had no visitors out on Long Sat. She was quite often kind to me ( even though I was a bit of a pain quite frankly) and usually marked me top ( even though I had told her I was an atheist) in the form Scripture Exam.

The trip to France. We went to Narbonne overnight on the Couchette train. Miss Rutherford , Miss Norman and DR accompanied us.It must have been the same trip as Rosemarie ( Gaye)...in fact I think I can see that bright yellow shirt and thick ,wavy, fair locks streaming behind ! We stayed in an Auberge de Jeunesse where they insisted ( to our glee) on giving us " Beziers/Corbieres " Red wine in glass Coca Cola bottles ( one full one each) with lunch and tea.

DR tried to stop them but Madame et Monsieur , who ran the establishment, were deeply hurt by her lack of appreciation and stubbornly refused to change the routine....so Red Wine it was...and plenty of it.

We had fantastic ( if somewhat heart-stopping) trips up the Pyrenees in the coach with delicious French Style picniques. I remember visiting the walled city and castle at Carcassonne and chatting up the French Soldiers on National service guarding the place. DR insisted that we all attended the Sunday Service at Narbonne Cathedral (lots of candles ,incense, idolatory and old ladies in black :D a far cry from our neat protestant Matins in the school Chapel).

At one point a very young Frenchman called Jean-Pierre ( with whom we had been "practising our French") shinned up the drain pipe of the Auberge in order to spend more time with us and was chased away by a vigilant Miss Norman.

Somehow we all survived and arrived home sain et sauf.
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Post by AKAP »

Alexandra Thrift wrote:At one point a very young Frenchman called Jean-Pierre ( with whom we had been "practising our French") shinned up the drain pipe of the Auberge in order to spend more time with us and was chased away by a vigilant Miss Norman.
How innocent you were.
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HANDSTANDS

Post by UserRemovedAccount »

Alexandra Thrift wrote:At 15 I remember trying to impress my first " proper" boyfriend by doing handstands & cartwheels ! It worked... I wore no make -up but he was bedazzled by the sheer energy ; undoubtedly a CH girl in 1969 must have been an extraordinary curiosity!
Allow me to let you into a secret. It was not your "sheer energy" that bedazzled him as he watched your cartwheels and handstands!!!
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Re: HANDSTANDS

Post by englishangel »

petard249 wrote:
Alexandra Thrift wrote:At 15 I remember trying to impress my first " proper" boyfriend by doing handstands & cartwheels ! It worked... I wore no make -up but he was bedazzled by the sheer energy ; undoubtedly a CH girl in 1969 must have been an extraordinary curiosity!
Allow me to let you into a secret. It was not your "sheer energy" that bedazzled him as he watched your cartwheels and handstands!!!
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