Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Jo - an afterthought - how sad that you and I both seem to have nothing more exciting to do on a Saturday evening than discuss religion! And it is Valentine's Day - now there is a 'Saint' who has been thoroughly secularised! In Finland they celebrate today as Friendship Day - I like that idea. I do ...

Yes, Jo. I would certainly extend the same tolerance to those of no particular religious faith. I might however distinguish between those, like yourself, who have looked at the possibilities and decided that they are not 'for' them, and those who just can't be bothered to think about the issue. If I...

Treble clef - of course! The only clef I ever really understood. My musical experience was very limited, in spite of CH. I originally taught myself to play the recorder - hence the treble clef. Later at CH I had piano lessons for one year only and discovered that my right hand was OK but could not r...

My late mother had a theory that if we all belonged to different churches whoever 'got in' first (?to heaven) could then arrange entry for all the others. Personally I think God doesn't mind how we worship as long as we do - an opinion I have expressed in sermons - yes, I used to preach! No one has ...

Re Mary's driving; I have no idea what it is was like in her younger days, but it became decidedly hair-raising by the time I met her. In very rural Kerry we never bothered with seat belts - I once asked her whether or not we were supposed to officially, and she said yes, but we don't bother out her...

Every good boy deserves favour = the lines on a musical stave - I think. I am not in any way musical!

Good grief man - are you still wittering on about Fiona? Perhaps you should check whether the Antiques Road Show is coming anywhere near you and beg, borrow or steal some antiques to take along - CH memorabilia? No use to us - IKEA don't sell antiques.

H'm ..... anti-bullying code? I still have somewhere the masterfully drafted letter sent out by Miss Morrison and Mr Baker at the time of the merger, on the subject of fraternisation between the sexes. I really must search for it.

I was interested in Neill's comments onJewish holidays. I left CH in the LVI and spent the next year commuting (a totally new experience) to a college in Red Lion Square, Holborn for a modern language course. We had a high percentage of Jewish students on the course, and the Head of Department was a...

I wonder if all those forms and lists bear any relation to what my parents were sent in 1956 .....'When your daughter reaches the age of 12 she will require hockey boots and a suspender belt ...' The picture of hockey boots attached to a suspender belt became a family joke for years afterwards.

Learning by heart Reminds me of an expression of Mercer's on that subject. If you haven't learned anything by heart 'what do you have to pull on on a black Tuesday?' - very true!

I still instinctively save dripping, but mainly resist the urge to slap it on bread; when I have a full bowl of it I pass it on to my Dad who at 84 is still incredibly fit physically - far fitter than I am in fact, so perhaps dripping is safer than 'elfnsafety' would have us believe. I wonder if Mon...

Last night I played through a videotape which I filmed in Kerry in May 1999 - it included a shot of said Rayburn beginning to rust because Mary was no longer around to use it. Sitting on top was a very new microwave which Mercer never really got the hang of using. She would insist on leaving food on...

So much for the photographic memory - I really don't remember anything about Queenie during her term as headmistress, beyond the fact that it let me out of doing Latin! Obviously the galloping senility is taking over! Some years ago I actually bought a second hand copy of Kennedy, but have hardly lo...

Obviously the whole issue of freedom to express one's religious views is important. What I find more personally distressing is the thought that prayer requests made in personal e-mails (something which I do frequently) can then be splashed across the national news, and become a potentially sackable ...