Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Some of you will know this video by my exact contemporary Peter Hiner (Coleridge A):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL1-uZUZMUo

but I have only just discovered it.

Some may find his commentary rather humourless and irritating, possibly even sanctimonious, but he has certainly gathered some interesting material. While some of the photos have appeared on this forum (often in better resolution), I know of nowhere else on the net where you can see a picture of the inside of Kirby's lab, or of a lav-end in actual use (or, come to that, of the Tube).

To a certain extent the photos are disingenuous, because they both pre-date and post-date his (and my) time at CH. Some are definitely contemporary, e.g. one of the famous dinner parade photos taken during the 1957 Asian Flu epidemic (in this case, Col. A with 7 healthy people). A number of these were taken, but I haven't seen one since I left. However, there is also a picture of the swimming bath, which is much older. The diving boards appear to be at what was in 1960 the shallow end. I imagine it to be pre-war, but I hadn't realized the swimming bath had been revamped to that extent.

Wonderful stuff! Thankyou for reminding me of that, Michael. I had never actually seen it all through, although I knew it existed. I followed a link to it once, saw that it was more than ten minutes long, didn't have time to watch it to the end, and decided to come back another time ... and never did.

If you want more photos of Kirby's lab, and lots of other stuff from the same era, there is a collection at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jandsw/set ... 099253537/ - but when you see it, you may realise that you've seen it already. I posted a link in the "photos" section of the forum a couple of years ago, and the server statistics tell me that plenty of people have been visiting it since then.

And if you like nostalgia for that period - mid 50s to early 60s - there are photos taken around London in http://www.flickr.com/photos/jandsw/set ... 351153400/ and "you don't see that nowadays" pictures in http://www.flickr.com/photos/jandsw/set ... 797562261/

I too, hadn't seen this. I thought it absolutely brilliant, Peter.

Incidently, in the band photo near the beginning, where Peter identifies some of the more senior boys, I can identify several of the lads in the front row, INCLUDING MYSELF.

JH must be in there somewhere, or is this the year before you joined the band, John ?

The hairs on the back of my neck are just starting to go down !!

J.R. wrote:I too, hadn't seen this. I thought it absolutely brilliant, Peter.

Incidently, in the band photo near the beginning, where Peter identifies some of the more senior boys, I can identify several of the lads in the front row, INCLUDING MYSELF.

JH must be in there somewhere, or is this the year before you joined the band, John ?

The hairs on the back of my neck are just starting to go down !!

Year before me. Sitting next to Bandy is Geoff Stearn, who left at the end of my first year.