Quick questions and (maybe) answers Hertford Memories thread

[kerrensimmonds]

Ho Ho so Chrissy Barnett was a giant?
I MUST tell her.....she is one of my closest mates.
So the generations move on. This week I was with one of the giants of my day, Ruth Fraenkel, 7's - now Baroness Deech. Scary or what when I was 11? But now so nice and friendly, so much so that my 50 years ago persona would not have believed it.
Thank goodness we mellow with age.

[englishangel]

Well Kerren, you and Stephanie were MY scary seniors, though Joanna was such a gentle soul she was not the slightest bit scary, I don't think you mellow, I think that we all just grow up.

I would love to know if I was a scary senior because I have certainly been described as scary since, but I do remember a homesick 11 year old asking if she could get into bed with me so perhaps I wasn't.

[Angela Woodford]

But I look back with fond memories on the fledgling feelings of love that I felt towards Janet Sussex. They were pure and innocent and very much a stepping stone to the feelings of love/sexuality that one experiences for one's beau/husband.

I can identify with this. Not that I was ever cracked on an older girl.

But, by the time I was in the Study, I felt a sort of genuine love for the little girls in the House. I was so determined that none of us olders would punish, intimidate or bully any of the small ones. They were such a fun group, full of laughter and chat and original ideas. I loved to sit in the Dayroom or Cloakroom with them and listen to everything they'd got up to - plans, projects, the latest craze!

Annabel Lush, Franny Hayman, Melanie Newbury, Esther Poloneser, Margaret Foxton...

"Very much a stepping stone" to the feelings of maternal love that one experiences with one's own children!

[Jo]

Franny Hayman was in my year and great fun she was too. Sadly I've lost touch with her but we were quite friendly in the last few years at school.

[fra828]

A question for anyone at Hertford in early 70's? Do you remember Mrs Oliver-biology teacher, age early 20's? She breezed into the classroom in early 1971, trendily dressed in purple midi-skirt, a breath of fresh air as she was probably at that time, one of the youngest teachers there. She and Mrs Beck, another lovely youngish teacher were probably my favourites, though Biology was not one of my strongest subjects.

[kerrensimmonds]

Mrs. McKee taught us Biology at A level 1965-66.....don't know how long after that she retired. I remember dissecting rabbits and catfish, and wrapping them up after each lesson and putting them into some ghastly preserving substance which stank to high heaven.
We did have some young teachers in our era... Jill Westthorpe who came straight to us from Teacher Training College and took over as Head of PE from Miss Park (and lasted not much more than two years); Rosemary Esch (now Whiting), an Old Blue, who took over from Miss Keppel Barrett in Art. And of course Joy Holmes, another Old Blue, who came back to teach Maths when I was in the Third Form.
I think that as teachers both Jill and Rosemary experienced frustrations with the inflexible nature of the curriculum and the rigidity of the social framework of the school. Sadly Jill (who I got to know again later life, as an OfSTED Inspector) died suddenly 2 years ago, but Rosemary remains alive and kicking, albeit very disabled with arthritis. Joy, as a former Head Girl, was probably more accepting of the regime when she returned as a teacher, but I am pleased to report that she too remains alive and well and living in Scotland, very active in the Caledonian Old Blues.

[midget]

It's a relief to know that Rosemary Esch is alive and kicking. WE WERE IN THE SAME YEAR!

[kerrensimmonds]

D'you want the contact details, Maggie....? Actually she lives in the West Country (Budleigh Salterton).
Rosemary is lovely - was when she was a teacher and still is! Though I think that as a schoolgirl she had her problems with the regime...

[englishangel]

A question for anyone at Hertford in early 70's? Do you remember Mrs Oliver-biology teacher, age early 20's? She breezed into the classroom in early 1971, trendily dressed in purple midi-skirt, a breath of fresh air as she was probably at that time, one of the youngest teachers there. She and Mrs Beck, another lovely youngish teacher were probably my favourites, though Biology was not one of my strongest subjects.

I did A Level Biology in 1972 and this teacher has completely gone from my memory.

Somewhere on here (but I can't find them, I think Caroline put them on) is a picture of the teacher between the two already mentioned with some from my year group. It's in the same group as the one of MaryB and ? Rosemary Gillespie out for a walk.

[Angela Woodford]

Was the mistress in that photo Mrs Lewis?

I remember her blackboard diagram of the iris rhizome.

[MaryB]

It is Mrs Lewis. All I remember of biology is sitting on the back bench with you Munch (and Susan Parkin?), exchanging notes and generally not doing any work.

[kerrensimmonds]

The photo I have in my head includes Anne Gillespie walking towards the town centre, away from the school entrance, with a few others, past a bus stop just beyond the school gates (and not wearing Chapel caps). Is the Rosemary Gilespie you mention related to Anne?

[MaryB]

If the photo is the one I'm thinking of it has Anne G, Linda Gamlin and me walking away from the gates, in blazers, summer dresses, short socks and sandals, past a bus stop posse of miniskirted dolly birds, as my father called them. It was published in the Hertford Mercury as part of a big article about CH under a headline something like "They drink their tea out of bowls". I have the cutting somewhere but it may be in the collection of stuff which is still in my old home. I suspect others must have it too - it's probably here somewhere on a different thread

Have just remembered DR used to say "I suspect...", whilst thoughtfully sucking the earpiece of her glasses. Note to self to be careful.....

[englishangel]

Yes, that's the one. Also a picture of a housemistress sitting on a bed.

[Angela Woodford]

If the photo is the one I'm thinking of it has Anne G, Libby Jeremy and me (why was I there...?) walking away from the gates, in blazers, summer dresses, short socks and sandals, past a bus stop posse of miniskirted dolly birds,

Oh cruel, cruel mockery, Hertford Mercury!

We sat at the back of the Bio lab on the right hand side, you, me, and Parkin on the other side. We communicated constantly, via notes in our rough books. I think things got a little whiffy at one point with Mrs Lewis's mousebreeding project on the top of the cupboard behind us. I remember that your surname meant "helmetbearer", which struck me as very splendid - a very old prestigious name!

Carolynn lives across Exmoor - we moved to Devon over a year ago now! She pointed out over lunch recently that those rough books were a useful method of self expression. We drew in them, doodled in them, wrote all sorts of stuff about this and that... The peril in younger years was to have one inspected by a member of staff. The embarrassment, when Queenie asked to see some specimen of Latin in my rough book! I presented it to her in front of the class - I'd been practising a rather snazzy specimen of my signature. It was several hideous minutes before I slunk back to my desk.



Are you ever in touch with Rosemary Morgan, Mary?