New Forum Section - Hertford Memories

[Katharine]

Yes, I remember it well. One in each year group would be selected for the Wardrobe Room and then, normally, they would work there every year. The only thing I don't remember in your description Munch is hankies laid out on the lockers. - I cannot remember how we got them.

I do remember the girl whose resposibility was stockings, in the days of lisle stockings. These would be tied together in pairs before going to the Laundry then checked on return and most, it seemed, would need darning. These would be hung on our pegs in the cloakroom. I still bless my CH training in darning at times!

[Angela Woodford]

Did the lisle stockings really go to the laundry, Katharine? No wonder they needed darning! Were they the ones we called Foggy Dawns?

Hanky lay out! Go through the door to the dayroom. The hankies were laid out on top of the lockers to the immediate right of the door, underneath the noticeboard. Letters also were laid out there, until we had Pot who liked to prolong the excitement of giving them out v-e-r-y slowly by hand

love, Munch

[Katharine]

The lisle stockings were replaced with the ribbed fawn stockings towards the end of my time, Munch. I don't think you would have seen them. They definitely went to the laundry twice a week (also darning twice a week!).

When you got your BA you were entitled to a pair of SILK stockings for Sundays and high days. I doubt if these went to the laundry!! By the time I got my BA, times had progressed and we were given a pair of 60 denier nylon stockings instead. They were so tough that mine lasted until I left the school three years later! We definitely washed those ourselves.

I hope JR is not reading this thread!!!

[J.R.]

The lisle stockings were replaced with the ribbed fawn stockings towards the end of my time, Munch. I don't think you would have seen them. They definitely went to the laundry twice a week (also darning twice a week!).

When you got your BA you were entitled to a pair of SILK stockings for Sundays and high days. I doubt if these went to the laundry!! By the time I got my BA, times had progressed and we were given a pair of 60 denier nylon stockings instead. They were so tough that mine lasted until I left the school three years later! We definitely washed those ourselves.

I hope JR is not reading this thread!!!

Time for a quick rub-down with a damp copy of the Radio Times, me-thinks !

[Vonny]

One in each year group would be selected for the Wardrobe Room and then, normally, they would work there every year.

I always thought that was very unfair as wardrobe room HAD to be done each Sunday whereas a lot of the other duties were ones that COULD be missed for weeks. My job was cleaning the brass upstairs with 2 or 3 others - I've got very vague memories of it as it was rarely done.

[sejintenej]

I still bless my CH training in darning at times!

All right for some - I had to learn darning and embroidery in primary school and even had to darn my own socks at home, age about 7!

[Angela Woodford]

One in each year group would be selected for the Wardrobe Room and then, normally, they would work there every year.

I always thought that was very unfair as wardrobe room HAD to be done each Sunday whereas a lot of the other duties were ones that COULD be missed for weeks. My job was cleaning the brass upstairs with 2 or 3 others - I've got very vague memories of it as it was rarely done.

Rarely done, Vonny? The careless rapture of these words! Did you still have Bluebell? Imagine being able to avoid the Bluebells for weeks! I hope you were able to do something more interesting between 0725hrs and 0800 breakfast!

Munch

[Alexandra Thrift]

Hi Everybody,

What memories you bring back Munch ! Yes ,I was indeed the hankie girl. I don't think I knew that I had taken over from you. Yes,we did lay them out in perfect order,neatly folded on top of the lockers in the dayroom (though I had completely forgotten that....logically they would have fallen through the slats on our laundry shelves).

Dirty hankies (wrinkled and crispy with dried snot) were discarded in a sordid heap in a nearby basket and I had the charming task of putting them into a laundry bag. I was bullied a bit (by older girls) when hankies went missing but took it in my stride.

Possibly the difference between us Munch was that you were an adored, late daughter for your parents and the CH experience was a stark and forlorn contrast to your homelife (as you have already mentioned )whereas for me ,coming from a strict ,victorian,freezing cold children's home,CH was quite luxurious.The tellings- off and harshness seemed normal to me as that was what I had always known.I really enjoyed the fact that everyone was so bright and on the ball and could think as quickly as me.Being in charge of a few miserable hankies didn't seem that dreadful and as everyone was so obsessive about them it gave me a certain status.....Alex,the benevolent bestower of the hankies!

Vonny's comment about the Bluebells ( "cleaning the brass fittings" for those who don't speak the lingo)......When we cleaned the bluebells they were inspected,but I do remember that towards the end of my time at CH there was a general edict not to polish them too often as they were wearing away.

At some point I managed to leave the laundry room for a while and do my duties with lovely Dinah Forrest who was always very kind to me ( Katharine must remember her) in the downstairs hall.

Oh yes,Pot's ( Miss Scott-Haughton) appalling power trip with giving out the post ! I do wish I hadn't been quite so intolerant of her though as she wasn't such a bad old bat !

Sorry I haven't been in touch Munch.......working endless hours these days.Will try and ring xx oh and one more thing Munch....I've just quickly skimmed back over this thread which I somehow managed to miss a lot of,
and at one point there's a reference to your first husband who you said ,broke your heart.........I suddenly remembered that I had attended your wedding to him ! A rather splendid occasion years and years ago. You wore bright green contact lenses (that's all I remember at the moment)

[Vonny]

Did you still have Bluebell? Imagine being able to avoid the Bluebells for weeks!

Bluebell? No idea what that was

I hope you were able to do something more interesting between 0725hrs and 0800 breakfast!

Yep - sleep

[Katharine]

Vonny - your memories of Hertford must be very very different from ours!!! Bluebells were the brasses, although by the time I was there we didn't use Bluebell Brass Polish but a different brand it was still called doing the Bluebells.

Any of you younger 6s girls who did the bluebells in the dayroom including the big light switch by the door you have to blame the sadist (can't remember her name) who decided to make Wendy Lee and I bring it to shining glory one term when we were juniors. It had previously been unpolished - perhaps sadist copied another house, I don't know but I remember the hard work it took!

[Vonny]

Vonny - your memories of Hertford must be very very different from ours!!! Bluebells were the brasses, although by the time I was there we didn't use Bluebell Brass Polish but a different brand it was still called doing the Bluebells.

Oh I see. That was actually my job as well I think we used Brasso - not very often though as the girl in the seniors in charge of getting us to do the job wasn't really interested.

[icomefromalanddownunder]

Oh I see. That was actually my job as well I think we used Brasso - not very often though as the girl in the seniors in charge of getting us to do the job wasn't really interested.

Lucky you Vonny. In 'our' (Munch, Alex, Liz, myself) day it was just another way to hassle the juniors

Actually, cleaning brass has warmer, fuzzier memories for me, as before I started school I spent a lot of time with my Nan, and would 'help' her clean the brasses at church. The lectern was a brass eagle, and I still remember trying to get the Bluebell out of the feathers.

Never liked the smell of Bluebell or Brasso - anyone know what the volatile component is? Surely not good for our lungs.

[Angela Woodford]

Hey, Caroline, that's quite a task cleaning the feathers of a lectern eagle! When you got to CH, the Bluebells must have seemed a drag, but positively easy...

What other products? Baths and basins - Gumption of course. Loo cleaning used Dot, which was a happy co-incidence considering the name of our dear Headmistress. Sixes alone, I think, used shoe polish for the dayroom tables, which gave them an odd dark pinkish sheen.

Then there was also Tablework, which meant that an alternating team of four from each House would race to Dining Hall before breakfast and lunch to get the 8 huge long House tables set. I remember doing this with incredible speed - the wristy action to skim over those 3 white damask cloths, which after a week would be horribly stained. And the smell of the fish cutlery! At the top of each table was a moist cracked and encrusted oilcloth, stored on a roll and cleaned with a disgusting dishcloth. It was with this cloth that we'd aim for the bronze head of Sir Harry Vanderpant as we clattered back down the curving marble stairs again.

"Duty" in House was taken seriously though, and I swear its methods still affect my lifelong task-orientated attitude to housework.

Love, Munch

[icomefromalanddownunder]

Hi Munch

There is so much that I just cannot recall - how the dining tables were laid, for instance.

On the other hand, I do remember the smell of the fish knives, and am trying not to dry retch at the memory of being made to eat Friday lunches.


quote="Angela Woodford"]Hey, Caroline, that's quite a task cleaning the feathers of a lectern eagle! When you got to CH, the Bluebells must have seemed a drag, but positively easy...


Easy, yes, but no challenge; and no Nan turning the chore into a worthwhile and enjoyable experience.


Sixes alone, I think, used shoe polish for the dayroom tables, which gave them an odd dark pinkish sheen.

Not to mention the delicate brown tinge to our elbows


Aarrgghhhhhh - Gumption! Spending so much longer on attempting to get rid of the gritty residue than we did getting rid of the tide marks and water stains, and still taking the skin off our buttock cheeks as we attempted to bathe


Then there was also Tablework, which meant that an alternating team of four from each House would race to Dining Hall before breakfast and lunch to get the 8 huge long House tables set.



I do remember sweeping crumbs from the tablecloth with a dedicated dustpan and brush. Quite a novelty for someone brought up to use the edge of her hand
Last time I was in England, my b-i-l took Mum and I through the tunnel, and after they had managed to drag me from the Hypermarche - eyes rolling and muttering 'Oh, the cheeses. Oh the yogurts. Oh ..................' we had lunch at a dinky little restaurant near the container port. Pat (b-i-l) visits so often that we got the full kissykissy treatment - it was fantastic. When we had finished eating and the table had been all but cleared, a waiter appeared with a silver thingy - rectangular with a wooden handle - and proceeded to move it around the table. I humiliated my mother by lifting it up to see what was underneath (I half expected that it was a gilded tortoise) - it was a mini carpet sweeper. Although not a terribly good representation of its species, as it didn't dump its contents on the final pass across the tablecloth.

Off for a coffee in my stained ceramic mug. Did we have melamine mugs, in house colours, for hot drinks in the houses? I am getting flashbacks of drinking milo from a mug ringed in tannin stains and reeking of milky tea.


Love

Caroline

[Katharine]

My memories of 6s duties are very similar to Munch's. Yes, definitely shoe polish for tables. Caroline we did have melamine mugs in house colours - they came in during my time as mentioned earlier on the Forum. Previously we had bowls there as well as in hall.

Those table cloths lived in a large drawstring bag between meals, IIRC. I seem to remember dragging it up to hall. It was all very demarcated with different duties in each year - which actually meant it all worked very efficiently most of the time!