New Forum Section - Hertford Memories

[Vonny]

We only ever marched to lunch on a Sunday - I can't even remember if we marched to a band or not

[Katharine]

For some unknown reason, I was remembering this marching to the Dining Hall on Sundays - it always struck me as a completely stupid thing to do - especially for 4's and 5's, who were there before they'd even chanted left - right. Was marching always part of Hertford life? I think I remember a senior saying that they'd once marched to every meal!

Munch, if you look on the previous page, I say there that we marched everyday when I was there and that stopped sometime in my time, but I still cannot remember when (Kerren, can you?). The Sunday marching was kept on so that we had some idea how to do it when it came to St Matt's Day.

[Angela Woodford]

Quite right Katharine, have checked previous posts!

But really! It makes me think what a poor relation we were to Horsham - no band, no special uniform, no tuck shop - 290 ish girls (who each may have been the star of their primary schools) banged up in extraordinarily strange conditions under the care of some pretty odd housemistresses.

In the early 60s, still the bullying by the the V1 form, who must have been subject to the same treatment as children and perpetuated the system.

I can never forget how distressed my mother felt on my first Long Sat, seeing how neglected I looked. She cried. But it was considered best for me.

Munch

[helen]

Yes, some of us are still alive who had to march every ****** day, in the pecking order prescribed by our birthdays or, at the upper levels, the degree of sucking up at which we had been successful. What a nightmare it all was.

[Angela Woodford]

"Sucking Up!"

What a long time since I've heard that expression. It now comes back to me - my most effective sucking up mission at CH.

It was a Sale Afternoon. School Hall was a maelstrom of girls,parents, and staff. The coat racks outside were bulked out with overheated parents' cold weather garments and there was the faint whiff of mothers' perfumes.

I had been leading my father around the stalls, when I spotted Miss Jukes. Briskly resplendent in a lovat-green suit, brooch on lapel, she had been speaking to two terrified-looking mothers who were backing away as from Royalty. I saw my opportunity and propelled my father towards her.

Miss Jukes! After two terms of Home Economics with her in the Cookery School, she had reduced me to a nervous wreck. How quickly she had realised my inabilities at multi-tasking, my incompetency at lighting a gas cooker with spills and my shortsightedness reluctantly remedied with horrible glasses. " - and don't come in this Cookerwy School without them, Angela Marsh!"

But she had seen me with my father, and was - incredibly - blushing! Her tight and resolute mouth was forming the sound "Ooh... ooh.." My father clasped her hand and held it a little too long. "My dear Miss Jukes!" he said, looking into her eyes. "What a very great pleasure!" I gazed, impressed. All the right things were coming out - standards, blah blah, excellence, discipline, efficiency, lemon meringue pie...

At the mention of the pie, she became suffused with the radiant pink of rosa eglanteria. This was a very fortunate thing to say. She was proud of her famous lmp recipe. She was gazing enraptured at my father. Somewhere in the Berkley Square of her stern Domestic Science unconscious, a nightingale was singing. I thought I had better leave them alone. Anyway I had seen Deirdre Hobbs, my fellow Home Economics student, hovering behind a coat rack.

Later Deirdre formed the theory that my father must resemble an old flame of Miss Jukes, and "ooh... ooh..." might have been "You! You!"

Miss Jukes would occasionally mention him in Cookery Theory, becoming positively coquettish. Sometimes a chance reference to him would turn aside her wrath. Sucking up, or what?

Munch

[cj]

Munch - what a lovely, lovely story! More, please.

I never had the pleasure of doing Cookery at either Hertford or Horsham. I am pleased to say that I have yet to poison anyone!

[englishangel]

Wonderful. I can still 'see' that suit.

I too was one of the 'also rans' at cookery, with my mother as a role model I didn't stand a chance. Fortunately my husband is a good cook and thanks to St Delia I am not bad either.

[sejintenej]

Wonderful. I can still 'see' that suit.

I too was one of the 'also rans' at cookery, with my mother as a role model I didn't stand a chance. Fortunately my husband is a good cook and thanks to St Delia I am not bad either.

Mary, pleeeeeeessssssssssssee

If you are going to use a book try the Leith ones (esp Cookery Bible). When you see something on TV its even chances it came from here. That book has so much in it it replaces several Delia books at the same time. OK so they say that you can't go wrong with Delia but apart from desserts it is hard to go wrong anyway and Prue is far easier to work with. With luck you can get her books from a fiver despite the marked price.

David

[Angela Woodford]

Mary, don't let's everybody think that there's any connection between being a Betty Jukes "good cook" and cooking in the real world.

Cookery Practical with B. Jukes was a three hour precision ordeal requiring nerves of steel, fast work and only the most basic of skills.

Nothing to do with the pleasure of creating something delicious, or the challenge of feeding a family. It was several years after leaving CH before I could begin to enjoy cooking, but I have always been told I'm a very good cook

(Although my children used to plead for junk food!)

Munch

[midget]

I only had one term of cookery at Hertford, and I am not certain that it was with Miss Jukes. My chief memory is that we took it in turns to have her demo dish, and my turn came when we made stew and dumplings. I am pleased to report that the dumplings she made were like bullets!

[Vonny]

she had reduced me to a nervous wreck. How quickly she had realised my inabilities at multi-tasking, my incompetency at lighting a gas cooker with spills

lol - she made me a nervous wreck as well - to the extent of throwing up some Thursdays before triple cookery. Lord only knows why I chose it as an O level and thus had extra lessons with her! My worst experience with her was when I was making a fatless sponge, I got a little behind so didn't whisk the mixture long enough so when it came out the oven it was as flat as a pancake. She was not amused

[Angela Woodford]

Oh Vonny!

How I remember that stress before and during a three hour session with Miss Jukes! It was awful. I used to have an early morning piano lesson with Mrs Fiddaman before it. After a few weeks, she changed the time because I'd be in such an agitated state.

Jude's memories of her are highly evocative.

Munch

[englishangel]

I am more of the Jamie Oliver school of cooking "bung it in the oven" but if I have a query it is always "What does Delia say?"

I have ssen Prue Leith on TV and used her recipes, but for "how long do I cook this piece of pork?" Delia's the one.

My husband does a fantastic home made "turkey twizzler"

[Richard Ruck]

The book I use most frequently is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Meat Book - it contains a wealth of writing about the morality of eating meat, farming methods, sourcing meat, detailed advice on how to deal with all sorts of meat, game and offal, together with a lot of excellent recipes which are straightforward to follow and actually work.

Completely brilliant, in my humble opinion........

[Vonny]

Oh Vonny!

How I remember that stress before and during a three hour session with Miss Jukes! It was awful. I used to have an early morning piano lesson with Mrs Fiddaman before it. After a few weeks, she changed the time because I'd be in such an agitated state.

No one else I knew got as worried as I did before her lessons - it's quite nice to know I wasn't the only one!