Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Hi I'm sure people remember Jack Hards, a small man with a false leg and his companion Wells; they used to clean the shoes for the Prep boot room, and probably did all what we would call house trades in the senior school, but were considered too young (inefficient). I remember they were both very good at mending broken clockwork railway engines, and other small boys toys, and they "lived" in the room opposite the hatch that was opened occasionally for the "tuck room". Did Prep A have similar "workers"?

I remember JH exceptionall well ! A strange gentleman who was the sort of person to stick in your mind !

For those of us who weren't in the Prep, these were figures of legend.

I never realised they were responsible for shoe cleaning in the prep houses.

I remember JH from the wardrobe department behind the tuck-shop, adjacent to Coleridge B.

His false leg caused him to walk with a prounced limp and if one listened you could actually hear it squeak. He always gave me the impression of being exceptionally grumpy when I had dealings with him over shoes.

I believe that Jack Hards lost his leg in a motor cycle accident.
Talking of eccentric Housey characters, who remembers the School Barber , I forget his name, who used to visit each House starting in Peele A at the beginning of term ? He probably had a hairdressing business in Horsham.
I don't remember any one being allowed to opt out of having a hair cut. We sat on a turned up washing up bowl in one of the changing rooms and he was always full of anecdotes and general gossip.

The school barber system obviously changed between your time and mine. The whole time I was there, the barbers (there were three of them, and one at least was seriously lame -- one-legged?) used to turn up in an ancient Riley at about 9.00 am every Tuesday and set up shop in a room attached to the Tuck Shop. UF and below were shorn in school time, GE and above in out-of-school time. There was a school monitor i/c haircutting (working under a master, it was Basher Jenks for a long time, then Pat Cullen) who went round classrooms in the morning, and also created lists at lunchtime.

I cannot believe that these people could seriously have run a barbering business with voluntary customers.

re the Hairdressers - when I was there in Col A ( 60-65) the chief barber was " Butcher Marshall" reputed to have been an ex-con, quite often cut peoples ears with scissors in an effort to cut as many heads as possible in the room by the tuck shop. I can't remember who cut our hair in the Prep. Can anyone else remember?

ColeridgeA40 wrote:re the Hairdressers - when I was there in Col A ( 60-65) the chief barber was " Butcher Marshall" reputed to have been an ex-con, quite often cut peoples ears with scissors in an effort to cut as many heads as possible in the room by the tuck shop. I can't remember who cut our hair in the Prep. Can anyone else remember?

Not absolutely sure but I think we were sent to the hairdresser behind the tuck-shop.

Of course, after I left and after the demise of C.M.E.S., the fashion became the norm for long hair as seen in many later house photos. It would never have happened under Clarence's reign.

J.R. wrote:

ColeridgeA40 wrote:re the Hairdressers - when I was there in Col A ( 60-65) the chief barber was " Butcher Marshall" reputed to have been an ex-con, quite often cut peoples ears with scissors in an effort to cut as many heads as possible in the room by the tuck shop. I can't remember who cut our hair in the Prep. Can anyone else remember?

Not absolutely sure but I think we were sent to the hairdresser behind the tuck-shop.

Agree with JR - they did have a job in Horsham but I thought we got shorn by houses, not by apparent need. Whatever, they should have been struck off the barbers' roll at conception.

michael scuffil wrote:I cannot believe that these people could seriously have run a barbering business with voluntary customers.

That would have been utterly irrelevant in the school's thinking. Hair had to be cut for the same reasons that operate in the army: cleanliness and uniformity. The essential requirements were speed and no variation. Cutting was organised as it would be for a battalion - or a flock of sheep to be shorn. Indeed, if Australian shearers had been available, I'm sure the school would have hired them.

The rumour, in my time, was that they were sheep shearers.

My recollection is that someone would come to a class and announce that haircuts were underway. The teacher would look us over and send those deemed in need of another shearing.

1970s icon Pegleg ("Next smelly boy!") abused our hair and the skin of our necks throughout my time at CH Horsham. He did have a shop of his own, but it was in Shoreham-by-Sea, not Horsham, presumably so that Houseyboys couldn't easily exact revenge by throwing bricks through his shop window or pouring petrol through the letterbox.

Jack Hards? I was aware of the name and his association with a very small room - the equivalent of the Brew Room in senior houses - but the man himself had departed by my day.

The professionally-unpleasant gentleman who oversaw the Wardrobe was known as Hitler. What his real name was, I have no idea. Possibly Himmler?

Re:

Of course, after I left and after the demise of C.M.E.S., the fashion became the norm for long hair as seen in many later house photos. It would never have happened under Clarence's reign.

I remember when in 1962 – so in the CMES Era – I was either Demetrius or Lysander (-dum and -dee!) in A Midsummer Night's Dream, which we then took on tour in the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Eindhoven and Den Helder), that I grew my hair out in a somewhat long pudding-bowlish-pageboy style, and this was permitted on grounds of theatrical activity. Arriving back home (not at school) from the NL tour, I was told that my grandfather had died, that the funeral had been held back till the next day so I could attend, and was sent by my mother double-quick-smart to the barber's.

It seems to me that in those dizzy almost-beatle days of the early sixties, CMES or no, hair was getting longer even within the Gulag.

Chrissie Boy wrote:1970s icon Pegleg ("Next smelly boy!") abused our hair and the skin of our necks throughout my time at CH Horsham. He did have a shop of his own, but it was in Shoreham-by-Sea, not Horsham, presumably so that Houseyboys couldn't easily exact revenge by throwing bricks through his shop window or pouring petrol through the letterbox.

I remember him well, though I got on quite well with him. In fact, I seem to recall visiting him in Shoreham once with a few friends, though for the life of me I can't think why! We must have been in the area for some other nefarious purpose...