Matron memories

[CHAZ]

In PeB we had Ms. Wylie...she was ferocious and looked like a good prop forward!!

When I was in LHA (my Junior House) there was the delightful Ms: Haig...a real honey....

[sejintenej]

We don't generally have a problem with cleanliness, I don't know if this is due to being a girl's House. We tend to have to chase them out of the showers at bedtime! We do still have health inspection tho' and check for head visitors!

Surprisingly we seemed to have very few of those inspections. We did seem to have frequent inspections for Tinea Pedis (athlete's foot) and Tinea Cruris (translatioon not allowed ) - the former was pretty common, understandably.

[AKAP]

We don't generally have a problem with cleanliness, I don't know if this is due to being a girl's House. We tend to have to chase them out of the showers at bedtime! We do still have health inspection tho' and check for head visitors!

I'm not sure we had a problem with cleanliness either. In retrospect Matron's inspection fitted the military ethos of the time. "If it moves inspect it, if it doesen't paint it (or polish it)."

[J.R.]

In PeB we had Ms. Wylie...she was ferocious and looked like a good prop forward!!

When I was in LHA (my Junior House) there was the delightful Ms: Haig...a real honey....

Miss Ms Haigh was in Prep when I joined in 58.

Hence - If you felt ill.....

"Don't be vague - Ask for Miss Haigh !"

Then onto Coleridge, where Matron was Mrs Ritchie.

A quiet and strict, but lovely woman.

Isn't it funny after all these years how you can re-call Matrons names ?

[sejintenej]

Then onto Coleridge, where Matron was Mrs Ritchie. A quiet and strict, but lovely woman.

Isn't it funny after all these years how you can re-call Matrons names ?

I couldn't remember her name but there again, I had almost no dealings with her and certainly cannot remember even one conversation with her. I didn't even get malt (do you remember that?)

[Wuppertal]

What a nice idea for a topic.

In my opinion, the matrons are definitely one of the very best aspects about CH.

I had some fantastic matrons. One was also my tutor. I have very fond memories of spending hours and hours in matron's office just talking away the afternoon with matron and my friends. In late June, when the exams had been done and the mood was pretty relaxed, we would watch Wimbledon in matron's office then go out to the tennis courts right opposite the back of the boarding house and play until the sun went down at about 9pm. Happy days.

The worst matronal experience I had was on my 3rd form: being ordered to go to my football 'active' with (what I later learnt) a burst appendix. I had had bad stomach pain for a couple of days and it had become obvious it was more than just an upset stomach. I felt physically unable to walk all the way from Peele B to big side, let alone to play football, so I went to matron but I was judged to be OK and not put 'on pass'. After nearly collapsing in pain on the football pitch, I was sent to the infirmary, then immediately taken to hospital in Crawley to have my appendix removed. It was the only time I was ever ill at CH and the only time I ever missed lessons. Sod's law, it was the last week before Christmas so being only on the 3rd form that only involved missing classes of chocolates and videos!

At least I was always taken very seriously after that whenever I reported feeling unwell!

Something lovely happened a few summers ago. I was on a short break in Edinburgh with my (now) fiancée. We were happily eating lunch in a restaurant, when in walked Matron Sheppard-Burgess from Peele B, who had been my matron for the whole 6 years in the avenue house. I recognised her instantly although I hadn't seen her for a few years. It was great to see her so unexpectedly and have a chat about how things were with the both of us.

[michael scuffil]

Right, 1950s' matrons...

They occupied a very strange social niche. They were not allowed in the Common Room, or on the dais. They had their own "Matron's Dining Room" somewhere in the kitchen block that led to the wardrobe. I think they may have had a sitting room there too. I suppose they must have "reported to" someone, but whether it was to the Lady Superintendent or the Doctor, or both, or who appointed them, I have not the first idea.

Matrons in those days had much less to do with the boys that I imagine their successors do now. All the chores like getting people to go to bed, wash, get up etc. were done by unpaid members of staff known as monitors. Matrons came into contact with boys three times a day: after breakfast, when they were the first port of call for those who were ill, or spotty, or injured or whatever (only a matron could send you to the infirmary). Then after dinner, when they might be called on to produce rugger shirts of the right colour. And then at "matron's inspection" for the 11 and 12-year-olds at bedtime (8.30pm).

The rest of the day was spent, I suppose, on organizing laundry and supervising housemaids.

You did not contradict a matron, or refer to her by name. It took me about a month to find out that the Thornton matron's name was "Miss DL" and about a year to find out that it was spelt "Dalziel" (she was Scottish, very Scottish). She had little sympathy with our ailments, but if she thought something might be wrong, she was conscientious enough. As a monitor I once woke her up at about midnight to see to a boy who had been vomiting all evening. "Probably too much fruit, but it might be his appendix," she said, and we then had to find a housemaster to drive him to the sicker.

I forgot.. an important function of matrons was to make coffee for housemasters and others in the morning break.

Matrons had an office, and also a sitting room on the middle floor of the house block (and a bedroom upstairs). I don't think I ever entered the matron's sitting room. One didn't socialize with matrons.

[Barnes Mum]

Well things have changed a bit then! We are now members of common room so eat our evening meals there, lunch we eat in Dining Hall with the children. Our office also doubles up as a nice friendly area for the children to come, even if it's just for a chat or a friendly face. We have a selection of board games that get spread out all over the floor and magazines to flick through. And we don't make coffee for the House staff! It sounds like it's a bit more relaxed and friendlier these days.

[Foureyes]

They (Matrons) occupied a very strange social niche. They were not allowed in the Common Room, or on the dais.

Not strictly to do with Matrons, but leading on from the above, there were some curious social rules in the late 40s/early 50s. RSM Carter of the CCF was allowed to lunch on the dais at a special table, but was not a member of the Common Room. Some masters in the Manual School were of the same lowly social status as the RSM (e.g., the superb Mr Clark, who ran the Forge) but others, such as Mr Ingledew, were members of the Common Room. Charlie Page was an absolute stickler for the social niceties and was not reluctant to ask people to leave if he thought they were in the wrong place.

[J.R.]

Then onto Coleridge, where Matron was Mrs Ritchie. A quiet and strict, but lovely woman.

Isn't it funny after all these years how you can re-call Matrons names ?

I couldn't remember her name but there again, I had almost no dealings with her and certainly cannot remember even one conversation with her. I didn't even get malt (do you remember that?)

I seem to vaguely remember being dosed with malt just once - threw up and never had to have it again. Even the smell of it today makes me heave !

[Foureyes]

I seem to vaguely remember being dosed with malt just once - threw up and never had to have it again.

What a sensitive soul (or palate) JR! I had no problem with a dessert-spoon of malt, nor with a teaspoon of neat cod liver oil, although I did not enjoy the latter particularly (I see CLO is making a comeback, but now in capsules!). I also have vague memories of concentrated orange juice, which, no matter what your mother did with it, never tasted of oranges.

[michael scuffil]

They (Matrons) occupied a very strange social niche. They were not allowed in the Common Room, or on the dais.

Not strictly to do with Matrons, but leading on from the above, there were some curious social rules in the late 40s/early 50s. RSM Carter of the CCF was allowed to lunch on the dais at a special table, but was not a member of the Common Room. Some masters in the Manual School were of the same lowly social status as the RSM (e.g., the superb Mr Clark, who ran the Forge) but others, such as Mr Ingledew, were members of the Common Room. Charlie Page was an absolute stickler for the social niceties and was not reluctant to ask people to leave if he thought they were in the wrong place.

I think Mr Ingledew had a degree from somewhere, that probably clinched it. The rest were, I suppose, "rude mechanicks". (I remember in particular Mr Mumford, who was still wearing starched wing-collars in the mid-50s. That was old-fashioned to the point of eccentricity.)
One of my first memories of CH: while waiting in the wardrobe queue I remember (slowly) passing various rooms in the corridor: Matrons' Dining Room, Housemaids' Dining Room, Kitchen Maids' Dining Room, and being a bit puzzled by this hierarchy. I was also a bit puzzled by the "third" table on the dais -- occupied by music teachers, women and manual masters (I don''t personally remember Sagger Magger sitting there, but I'm sure he fitted in to that collection.) That changed in about 1960, and all teaching staff at least were allowed to sit at the same table (but not matrons).

I suppose matrons were a bit like governesses in Víctorian households -- not exactly servants, but not part of the family either.

Barnes Mum: The big change is the collapse of the monitorial system. Someone's got to look after the kids, and if the senior boys/girls are hived off to houses of their own, you have to employ someone. It is difficult for most people nowadays to comprehend the extent to which the school was run by the boys themselves in those days, literally from getting up to late in the evening, and occasionally (as I mentioned) during nocturnal emergencies. In his book Bryan Magee compares this to what he experienced in a French boarding school where he spent a term, where the boys had no responsibilities except to study (their academic week, he notes, was precisely twice as long as at CH -- but then they had no sport, didn't have to take meal parades, shoe inspections, roll-calls, or supervise bed-making, going-to-bed etc. etc.).

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

Yes Monitors used to "Run" the School --- this was the origin of "Oily" Flecker's nickname --- on arrival he said to the Monitors "You are the Machinery ---- I am the Oil " and it stuck !
Just for a moment --- AKAP the correct quote is "If it moves -- salute it,-- if it don't move--- move it, ----------if yer can't move it --- Paint it ! " (Ex Guardsman !) The other is "Join the Navy-- and see the World Join the Guards --- and Clean it !

[J.R.]

As far as the Staff were concerned in the late 50's, it was definitely an 'Upstairs - Downstairs' hierarchy.

Not such a bad thing from my point of view.

About the only place left where this still exists today is probably the armed forces, though even that appears to be disappearing fast with 'Sir' being replaced by 'Boss'

One wonders if this is why discipline in general seems to be on the wane in this country today ?

As far as CLO is concerned, I do take COL capsules with added vitamins these days, but that is purely to ease aging aching joints that even footy training doesn't seem to help. Hey-Ho !

[Barnes Mum]

The big change is the collapse of the monitorial system. Someone's got to look after the kids, and if the senior boys/girls are hived off to houses of their own, you have to employ someone. It is difficult for most people nowadays to comprehend the extent to which the school was run by the boys themselves in those days, literally from getting up to late in the evening, and occasionally (as I mentioned) during nocturnal emergencies. In his book Bryan Magee compares this to what he experienced in a French boarding school where he spent a term, where the boys had no responsibilities except to study (their academic week, he notes, was precisely twice as long as at CH -- but then they had no sport, didn't have to take meal parades, shoe inspections, roll-calls, or supervise bed-making, going-to-bed etc. etc.).

The seniors in the House still have a lot of responsibilities when it comes to looking after the younger ones, having to supervise prep and bed times and check that the juniors have done their 'trades' etc. The deps have taken over the duties in house that used to be that of the Grecians, who are of course now in their own Houses and no longer in the Avenue Houses. I think it's good for youngsters to have a bit of responsibility and discipline.