Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

I have just come back from a fantastic couple of days in Cheltenham and whilst standing at the reception of the most fantastic Butlers B&B we stayed in (thoroughly recomended) there was a CH calender for 2008-I obviously asked how they knew CH and a friend of thiers works at the school (i understand in the office). They had recently visited and found it stunning!

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FYI, 2008 Calendars are available via the Shop on the CHA website:-
http://www.chassociation.org/shop/

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I find that wherever you go, there's always an Old Blue!

Before we came here we were talking to a neighbour in Devon about the new job - "oh of course we know the place - ....`s an Old Blue!"

The woman who lives in the apartment above our office is the daughter of a member of staff.

I have always been intrigued with coincidences as they seem to occur with more frequency than seems logical.

Once at lunch in the Madrid canteen of the bank I worked in, I was discussing education and school uniforms with a Brit who had recently joined our division. He is a few years younger than me. We both bet that our school uniform was the most unusual. It was a draw as he is Ian Dougherty, Mid A 68 - 74. He now lives in Marbella.

On another occasion, and slightly more unusual, was when I was learning Dutch in Amsterdam. I had been there over a year and decided to take Dutch evening classes. One evening towards the end of the year when we were struggling with conversational Dutch, we first spent a class in a bar. The next class was held in the flat of a Colombian, who shared it with his brother in law.The attraction was that there was a swimming pool in the basement. At the coffee break, when most went down for a swim, I wandered round the room and discovered a black and white photo that I could identify.
Barnes A House photo of about 1962/3 (I was in Barnes B at the same time and recognised most in the photo.) The brother in law appeared at the end of the class and was indeed an Old Blue in the photo, Salford or something similar I believe. A few years older than me, but we still had names in common. Never saw him again as the classes finished and I didn't continue.
There are about 7 - 8,000 of us so the odds of meeting are small but not impossibly so, and we do tend to get around, so I've given up worrying about these coincidences.

I had a totally surreal interview in Brunei for a teaching job. There were five of them in the panel, at one stage one of those sitting at the end of the table decided to read my CV, when his eyes saw the words Christ's Hospital he became animated. He mimed the uniform (banns & buttons down the front) and also the Band and Dinner Parade (is that the correct name?) - this was all going on between him and his neighbour while the Chairman in the middle was asking me questions. Eventually the animated one could not contain himself any longer and burst out with the story of his visit to Horsham when on a delegation to UK. I was then asked to explain about the school.

The decided to appoint me as Head of Mathematics at the VI Form College - the only trouble was they forgot to tell me this. I said it was a surreal interview!

(I accepted a job at the Anglican Mission School as I actually had an appointment letter from them, and more importantly, a work permit for me to work as a "Guru" (teacher) - or rather a work permit for 'Katharine Mary Hills also known as Madame Dobson' nobody had ever called me that before!)