The Charge - has it been changed?

[sejintenej]

The Charge is not printed in my Bible. I only ever had it orally at the Leaving Service.

Agreed except it was in Seamen's study. However, unlike dsmg, I didn't get a box.

[jhopgood]

Charge not in my bible, but I see that I left exactly 47 years ago on 26/7/66!!!

[rockfreak]

I've always believed that the Charge was a bunch of politically devious and self-serving crap. You can only work to extend the so-called advantage to a few. What about all those who don't get the advantage? This is the usual cunning right-wing propaganda which suggests that you can have all chiefs and no Indians. And is it an advantage or does it just produce snotty, elitist, Telegraph reading little oiks? Discuss.

Something is better than nothing surely? There is a parallel with localised political protest. Great oaks from little acorns and all that.

We can argue the toss about ratios of full fee paying pupils and other inequities in the modern age but historically CH has been a vehicle for social mobility which, in my view anyway, is a good thing.

It is true that CH cannot help everyone but that is not the fault of CH. Rather than get rid of schools such as CH maybe more schools of its type could be created to help ..."those who don't get the advantage.".... For all its faults, some justified and well documented here and elsewhere, it does do what it can and the Charge does inspire Old Blues to contribute..."according to (their) means."....

I agree that we need more good schooling than less, Mid A 15, but as I outlined elsewhere the figures used to be that two-and-a-half times the amount of money follows a child by one means or another through the private school sector than the state. Are we all willing to stump up the extra needed in tax? I don't entirely denigrate the state sector anyway. A friend in West Cumbria - one of the more remote parts of the country - had all his children go to the local school in Cockermouth and they all went on to degrees in Uni, one of them becoming an extremely well qualified clinician in mental health covering all of West Cumbria. It has to be said about public schools also that they give people a posh accent, lots of confidence and contacts when they leave. CH is no exception in this case. I've worked with people from elite public schools who were no more intelligent than anyone else (sometimes less) but whenever they spoke everyone shut up and listened.

[J.R.]

The Charge is not printed in my Bible. I only ever had it orally at the Leaving Service.

Agreed except it was in Seamen's study. However, unlike dsmg, I didn't get a box.

Same as you David. As I left at short notice at my own request, I returned to the school the following term for my bible to be presented in C.M.E.S's study where he delivered 'The Charge'

UNLIKE you, David, I DID get a gold box for my bible. You must have been 'done' !!

[postwarblue]

When did gold boxes start? Mine was maroon and quite ordinary, and a small one ditto for the prayer book.

[J.R.]

When did gold boxes start? Mine was maroon and quite ordinary, and a small one ditto for the prayer book.

Certainly prior to 1963 when I left.

[eucsgmrc]

When did gold boxes start? ...

Certainly prior to 1963 when I left.

I left in summer 1962, and I still have the maroon boxes for bible and prayer book. That makes a rare triumph for this forum: we have established a definite fact! Gold boxes must have started in the school year 1962-63.

I didn't get any written copy of the charge.

[Fjgrogan]

I concur. I left Hertford in Summer 1962 and my Bible was in a maroon box which eventually fell apart - I actually used to use the Bible! No prayer book, as I never reached the dizzy heights of Monitress.

[Katharine]

I left at Christmas 1965, I don't remember having a box for my Bible, but have a maroon box for my prayer book. Hertford dates may not be the same as Horsham ones as presumably it was a new stock arriving with a new style of box.

[michael scuffil]

When did gold boxes start? ...

Certainly prior to 1963 when I left.

I left in summer 1962, and I still have the maroon boxes for bible and prayer book. That makes a rare triumph for this forum: we have established a definite fact! Gold boxes must have started in the school year 1962-63.

I didn't get any written copy of the charge.

I left in 1963 and my boxes are maroon.

[Adrian]

I've got a Bible and a Prayer Book, no boxes. I'm not sure if the Prayer Book was given to me at my Confirmation though or on leaving in 1982.

I'm pretty sure the inside of my Bible has a label with the following:

I charge you never to forget
the great benefits that
you have received in this place,
and in time to come if you do forget
you will get a regular phone call
to remind yo that
according to your means,
to do all that you can
to enable others to enjoy the
same advantage;
and remember that you carry
with you, wherever you go,
the good name
of Christ's Hospital.

Is that right?

[J.R.]

I've got a Bible and a Prayer Book, no boxes. I'm not sure if the Prayer Book was given to me at my Confirmation though or on leaving in 1982.

I'm pretty sure the inside of my Bible has a label with the following:

I charge you never to forget
the great benefits that
you have received in this place,
and in time to come if you do forget
you will get a regular phone call
to remind yo that
according to your means,
to do all that you can
to enable others to enjoy the
same advantage;
and remember that you carry
with you, wherever you go,
the good name
of Christ's Hospital.

Is that right?

Classic !!

[Fjgrogan]

Perhaps some of us need to give some serious thought to defining exactly what the 'great benefits' we received were - not just vague generalities like 'an education which my parents could never have afforded otherwise'. The things which stick mainly in my mind are not subjects we were taught, but more ephemeral values which we somehow seemed to absorb, and often didn't appreciate until years later - things like a degree of social mobility, and various ethical and moral values which were not specifically spelt out. For some reason I feel that tolerance for the beliefs of others was one of those values, and I cannot understand why I connect that with CH, because it was not overtly a part of our lifestyle; we were expected to 'toe the party line' in all respects; so maybe wanting to be tolerant was actually a sign of rebellion later (I was fairly heavily into rebellion as a teenager!).

I am very aware that I have done nothing in the last 50+ years to make those 'great benefits' available to others, except sending my daughters to CH, in the hope that they might imbibe similar values. Financial support for the school has never been possible. I had considered mentioning the school in my will, but by the time I thought about writing a will the ethos was changing. I would happily have considered leaving some of my lifetime savings (very little in reality) towards ensuring the support of a needy London child, but I definitely draw the line at contributing to the education of the children of overseas businessmen, who can probably afford to send their children elsewhere, freeing up a place for those children for whom the school was founded. Yes, I know CH needs their investment, and I do not know the answer to where we get the money from, but this is not how I interpret the commitment I made when I accepted the Charge. I pity the poor recent leaver who sometime soon will be on the phone to me asking for my financial support. Whoever has drawn the short straw and got me on their list will be on the receiving end of my personal 'Old Blue Rant'!

[J.R.]

Perhaps some of us need to give some serious thought to defining exactly what the 'great benefits' we received were - not just vague generalities like 'an education which my parents could never have afforded otherwise'. The things which stick mainly in my mind are not subjects we were taught, but more ephemeral values which we somehow seemed to absorb, and often didn't appreciate until years later - things like a degree of social mobility, and various ethical and moral values which were not specifically spelt out. For some reason I feel that tolerance for the beliefs of others was one of those values, and I cannot understand why I connect that with CH, because it was not overtly a part of our lifestyle; we were expected to 'toe the party line' in all respects; so maybe wanting to be tolerant was actually a sign of rebellion later (I was fairly heavily into rebellion as a teenager!).

I am very aware that I have done nothing in the last 50+ years to make those 'great benefits' available to others, except sending my daughters to CH, in the hope that they might imbibe similar values. Financial support for the school has never been possible. I had considered mentioning the school in my will, but by the time I thought about writing a will the ethos was changing. I would happily have considered leaving some of my lifetime savings (very little in reality) towards ensuring the support of a needy London child, but I definitely draw the line at contributing to the education of the children of overseas businessmen, who can probably afford to send their children elsewhere, freeing up a place for those children for whom the school was founded. Yes, I know CH needs their investment, and I do not know the answer to where we get the money from, but this is not how I interpret the commitment I made when I accepted the Charge. I pity the poor recent leaver who sometime soon will be on the phone to me asking for my financial support. Whoever has drawn the short straw and got me on their list will be on the receiving end of my personal 'Old Blue Rant'!

I 'Opted Out' by e-mail to the school as per their letter. I requesting a 'read-receipt'. Strangely, I didn't get one.

[Fjgrogan]

Thanks for pointing that out, JR. I obviously had not read that far in the letter - mea culpa! It is unusual for me to glance at the first paragraph of a letter and then discard it - something I am constantly nagging my husband about!