New Forum Section - Hertford Memories

[englishangel]

What was Miss Wilson's first name? I don't remember calling her anything in the way we did Queenie Blench, or Betty Jukes.

Was it Mary or am I getting confused with The Supremes, or was it The Three Degrees?

[Katharine]

Not just my memory playing tricks then, there really were all those terrifying spinster dragonesses...

You must have come into 6s just after I left, Liz, I left at Christmas 65. We did not have a single male teacher. We saw very few men regularly: among them were the chaplain, Mr Walker, who always looked scruffy, and his ancient Dad, also a priest, who took some services, and the 'little men'. We were never quite sure how many of these little men there were, not how they recruited them - they did jobs like delivering things to the houses by trolley. (Can't think now what they would deliver?) There was also a man who came around every Saturday evening to wind the clocks in the House dayrooms.

Just writing this makes me think what a different world the 1960s were from now!

[englishangel]

Not just my memory playing tricks then, there really were all those terrifying spinster dragonesses...

You must have come into 6s just after I left, Liz, I left at Christmas 65. We did not have a single male teacher. We saw very few men regularly: among them were the chaplain, Mr Walker, who always looked scruffy, and his ancient Dad, also a priest, who took some services, and the 'little men'. We were never quite sure how many of these little men there were, not how they recruited them - they did jobs like delivering things to the houses by trolley. (Can't think now what they would deliver?) There was also a man who came around every Saturday evening to wind the clocks in the House dayrooms.

Just writing this makes me think what a different world the 1960s were from now!

Mr Walker Senior must have departed by 1965, I don't remember him.

The 'little men' delivered tea urns and food for high tea, break and supper milk, cleaning materials.

I don't remember the clock winding thing.

[Katharine]

Mr Walker Senior must have departed by 1965, I don't remember him.

The 'little men' delivered tea urns and food for high tea, break and supper milk, cleaning materials.

I don't remember the clock winding thing.

Mr Walker senior departed this earth during my time at school. As ever your memory serves you well, you are right about the little men. I cannot remember whether the clock winding lasted all my time, but I can assure you it happened. Each time the clocks changed, there were arguments as to what time was bedtime!

[Jude]

I remember Mr Mulholland - I was talking about him to a friend the other day - he was the most creepy old man I have every had work with... He must have beeon 120 when I joined CH in 1975, He had theis terrible habbit of walking up and down the aisles between our desks and rubbing his hands together and sucking in air between his teeth..... Looking now he probably had arthritus and asthma, but at the time he really gave me nightmares... Especially when you finally understood what he was teaching he almost hugged you in his "happiness" (more hand squelching in your ears and the funny breathing as he said ahhh, finally you have it m'dear..... or some thing similar) - it reminds me of Flanders and Swanns version of Hav some Madera m'dear..... yes I can provide the words should anyone want them!

(Elisabeth)Betty Jukes is right, but was it Mary or Margret Willson? or Millicent - lets face it we have a range from 40 - 80+ who all remember the same staff - this is getting a bit scary!
Elisabeth Ann Tucker (Headmistress)
Peter J White (maths Teacher)
What was Mrs Newbolds name? I hated sewing SO much!!
I think our bio teacher was Mrs Gardener.... but she leftto have a baby right in the middle of our O levels....
Can't remeber the Chem teacher at all - apart from the fat I didn't realise how bad my asthma was when he let off some Sulpher dioxide in the gas chamber (fume cupboard) only it had a leak - and I started whezzing like a good 80 a day smoker, and we were all ushered at great speed into the back lab..... In the bio lab the back lab was just for botany in my day - we hatched eggs, disected frogs and mice and livers etc in the main lab...

[Alexandra Thrift]

Hi Jude !

Both Liz Plummer (Jay) and I were taught by Mr Mulholland.He was the first Male teacher ever at Hertford ( I believe) and certainly the only male teacher for a while.

He seemed old when he taught us! I think he was quite a good maths teacher....I had no natural aptitude but he got me through my "O" level with a "C" and that was in the days when we studied CALCULUS for that exam. Those enormous eyebrows ! Yes,he was always thrilled when we actually managed to understand something and get a sum right!

He died a few years ago.

It's not that surprising that the teachers stayed on IMO.We were well behaved, comparatively bright and worked hard even if the teacher bored us to death. A doddle job from a teaching point of view.

Alex...who used to teach in Bermondsey , Southwark and Brixton !!

[englishangel]

I remember Mr Mulholland - I was talking about him to a friend the other day - he was the most creepy old man I have every had work with... He must have beeon 120 when I joined CH in 1975, He had theis terrible habbit of walking up and down the aisles between our desks and rubbing his hands together and sucking in air between his teeth..... Looking now he probably had arthritus and asthma, but at the time he really gave me nightmares... Especially when you finally understood what he was teaching he almost hugged you in his "happiness" (more hand squelching in your ears and the funny breathing as he said ahhh, finally you have it m'dear..... or some thing similar) - it reminds me of Flanders and Swanns version of Hav some Madera m'dear..... yes I can provide the words should anyone want them!

(Elisabeth)Betty Jukes is right, but was it Mary or Margret Willson? or Millicent - lets face it we have a range from 40 - 80+ who all remember the same staff - this is getting a bit scary!
Elisabeth Ann Tucker (Headmistress)
Peter J White (maths Teacher)
What was Mrs Newbolds name? I hated sewing SO much!!
I think our bio teacher was Mrs Gardener.... but she leftto have a baby right in the middle of our O levels....
Can't remeber the Chem teacher at all - apart from the fat I didn't realise how bad my asthma was when he let off some Sulpher dioxide in the gas chamber (fume cupboard) only it had a leak - and I started whezzing like a good 80 a day smoker, and we were all ushered at great speed into the back lab..... In the bio lab the back lab was just for botany in my day - we hatched eggs, disected frogs and mice and livers etc in the main lab...

I think you are right, it was Margaret Wilson.

I have been doing this sio long I have forgotten what I have written before.

Mrs Thomas taught me Maths. Her husband was the Methodist minister. Ministers are supposed to move every three years but for some reason reason ther Thomas's did a double bubble in Hertford, which I was very pleased about, I really liked Mrs Thomas.

In my first year we had a Seiss lady teaching French, then in my second we had Miss smith a French Canadian. She came back in my third year as Mrs Williams. She must have stayed until O'level, then I think she had a baby and the chap came, whose name I forget.

[Alexandra Thrift]

Hi Englishangel,

Miss Smith was a v. nice lady but a lousy French teacher...even though she was French! We did get to sing some French songs though which was great.I managed to pass "O" level. ( Le soleil brille et les oiseaux chantent dans les arbres.....) but when I finally went to live in France many years later je n'ai pas pu comprendre un mot tout au debut !

Our biology teacher (which you asked about ages ago in another thread) was Mrs Lewis. I have a pic of her somewhere on my computer with Liz Plummer (Jay) , Diana Garnham and a few others in the bio lab.

Queenie Blench passed away a couple of years ago ( read it in the OGs mag.).

I still haven't managed to track down Miss Mercer, so if anyone reading this knows how to contact her please send me a private message.

Liz mentions being terrified....mmmm.....maybe ,Liz you were naturally kind of shy but nevertheless pretty resilient as I remember! We still managed to have a lot of slightly subversive fun........and you didn't have to be persuaded to join in,Liz ! Do you remember when we kept pet MICE in the dorm ?

[Jude]

Who was Miss Mercer - the name has hit me like a brick - was she a games teacher?
We have a lot of staff names in another thread as EA (Mary) mentioned - and we do seem to keep going over the same topic... but here's a list of whom I can remember:
The Watsons - Herr Watson taught German ( and strangely French) Frau Watson was a French teacher - we ha to have German names in Mr Watson's Group - I'm trying to remember it as it was a horrible name!

Mr White & Mr Mulholland - Maths
Mrs Newbold - needlework
Miss Wilson - geography
Miss Jukes - Food and Nutrition
Miss Gravett - Main Games Mistress
Mrs Courdry - Piano teacher
Miss Morrison - English
Mr Baldwin - Physics
I think we need to go to the satff names link for the others..

Mrs Rhodes - History (I hated the b**** Stuarts) - she had a range of very weird art pictures on the wall - all posters from the London Art Gallery - (we all put up posters and wrapping paper to cover the walls in the dorms) - I found the clocks by Dhali most disturbing, plus there was a blue cubist from what's his name, and a couple of maidens one dead in the water and one looking down at her, plus one with a NAKED female - I was quite shocked by that!

just had a thought - very alarming one at that - i havem y CH reports somewhere - if I find them I can name more of teh staff - eeeeeek!

Oh heck the soups burning - goto dash!

[Vonny]

The Watsons - Herr Watson taught German ( and strangely French) Frau Watson was a French teacher
Mr White & Mr Mulholland - Maths
Mrs Newbold - needlework
Miss Wilson - geography
Miss Jukes - Food and Nutrition
Miss Gravett - Main Games Mistress
Mrs Courdry - Piano teacher
Miss Morrison - English
Mr Baldwin - Physics

I had all those teachers apart from Mr White & Mr Mulholland. We had Mr Bentley & Mrs Page for maths.

Also had

Miss Giacardi - Biology
Miss Champion - English, RE
Miss Claricoats - Miss Gravetts 2nd in command
2 chemi teachers (one a Dr) but can't remember their names
Miss Dowty - netball
Miss O'Brien - Latin
Mr Lewis - Cricket
Miss Hann - English

Miss Morrison only taught when other teachers were off as by then she was deputy & then headmistress. Miss/Mrs Goldsmith was the deputy when FM became head.

[Jude]

Do you remember Miss Hann? She was SO Tiny - we had to write our Enlish Lit on A4 paper as she had a scooter that she strapped our precious work into a saddle back at the back! She was the first to start the idea of A4 paper and not whole books! I remember doing Shakespeare with her in Big Hall - she only just came up to the edge of the stage! Bless her - she was not only devoted to her subject but also to trying in any manner to get it across to these girls.

I have very fond memories of her and her very witty jokes.

[Liz Jay]

Hi Alex

Yes me and Mary Mc Donagh had the first illegal mouse, called Hamishe (she was a girl mouse) and I swear it was Mary's idea though it was me who converted the 6:30 locker into a des. res. for a small rodent.
The idea caught on and everyone wanted one, I think we had about half a dozen variously secreted about the House...
Of course we got caught and had our furry darlings confiscated, there was a short period when we were allowed them in the Biology lab....and then one day they just DISAPPEARED!!!!!
I hope they went somewhere nice.
I didn't think I was norty but used to be forever in trouble....too much lateral thinking....I've grown up terribly law-abiding though, and have a bad time with authority figures still.....

Liz (ex 6's '66 - '68 )

[Vonny]

Do you remember Miss Hann?

I remember her - I also remember when I was class monitor one term & part of the job was to hold the door open for the teacher - I remember sprinkling itching powder on her head when she walked in

[Katharine]

Yes me and Mary Mc Donagh had the first illegal mouse, called Hamishe (she was a girl mouse) and I swear it was Mary's idea though it was me who converted the 6:30 locker into a des. res. for a small rodent.I didn't think I was norty but used to be forever in trouble....too much lateral thinking....I've grown up terribly law-abiding though, and have a bad time with authority figures still.....

Were you 6:30 Liz? My exact contemporary in 6s was Susan Cottingham (usually known as Cott) was 30. Note for Alex, Cott was the dreamiest of the S VI in 6s in her first term - she wasn't a Prefect unlike the rest of us. It was Susan who gave me this forum address, but I don't think she is a member.

[Jude]

Vonny how could you!!! she was so small even the 1st years were taller. i bet she took it in good grace.

Going on to pets... I had a guinea pig with me at CH - looking back it actually amazes me that I ever got to school - My father insisted I wore my uiform all the way from home to school - everyone else was allowed home clothes... so I used to change just after the train had gone past Worthing (I lived in Angmering West Sussex) - I had 2 red suitacases, guinea pig in a travelling box, hockey stick, or squash/badminton raquets in a double press, I would arrive at Victoria Station, travel underground (if the mood took me) to Liverpool St and then get on the Train to Hertford East... My father put me on the train at about 9am... we weren't due back until 5pm....

I used to leave my luggage, and then visit the Art Gallery, Nelson's Column etc... until it was time to move to CH!

My Guinea pig was called Cinnamon... she was a smooth one, no roesettes and a wonderful cinnamon colour. One Spring she was very ill, and I was given leave to take her to the Vets.. he discovered she had been poisoned with bluebell leaves, so for the last 2 days and nights of her exsistance she lived in the dorm under my bed - Miss Tucker offered to buy me a new one, but I got the message that if I had anything I treasured it would be damaged or hurt so did not take up her offer. The vet bless him charge me 75pence.... In art I made a sculpture of her, which only recently i decided to throw out as her ears were damaged...

tears now... I'm going out for some fresh air.....