Who Else Has Never Been Back to CH?

Anything that doesn't fit anywhere else, but that's still CH related.

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J.R.
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Post by J.R. »

Very nicely put, Josh !
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Mid A 15
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Post by Mid A 15 »

Eruresto wrote:I agree with what I believe (having read pages 1 & 4) to be the majority here. I do not see how it is possible to go to such a unique place for seven years without it affecting you. Now me, I love the place, and I'm talking serious lovage - as in I listen to the Foundation Hymn and Bandy Stuff basically every day. And I've not left yet - and I already feel nostalgic. Yes, call me sad if you will. But to me that is the essence of CH - you can take the Boy out of Housey, but you can't take Housey out of the Boy. To Spoonbill, I would say that he has missed out on the best part of CH, which is not the lessons, or the architecture, or even the organ-pounding Foundation Hymn :wink: . It is the peace of it. To be able to walk down the avenue on a summer's day, with birdsong all around, whilst outside fumes clog the air from the traffic which is all but scarce at CH.
Great post Josh.
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Post by Ajarn Philip »

I've said before how much I gained from my time at CH, but I'm not sure peace of any kind figured very highly in the equation!

This was a very controversial posting from Spoonbill two years or more ago, and quite a few responded quite negatively to it. Hardly surprising really, least of all to Spoonbill, I'm sure. But quite a few responded positively.

I've been back a handful of times in over 30 years, never for an official function (for no particular reason - I'd love to see the Beating of the Retreat again), and usually to show someone close to me around a place that will always be close to me. Which, by Spoonbill's earlier reaction, disqualifies me from responding. However...

This thread was resurrected for new members, but most of them, like me, will have had a good look through these old threads before (or soon after) they joined. I was so intrigued by this thread when I first saw it that I looked at quite a few of Spoonbill's postings. I don't know who he is, but I suspect he's not that much younger (or thinner) than me. Whatever he did or didn't get out of CH, he doesn't lack the ability to express himself clearly, usually wittilly, often abrasively, sometimes confrontationally, and frequently in a manner likely to provoke a reaction of some sort (often negative...); but rarely has there been a posting, so far as I have seen, that is either boring, or leaves you not wanting to make a response of some kind.
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Post by englishangel »

I keep looking out for him, you would think a 15 stone (?) 4 year old would be difficult to miss, but I have managed it.
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Post by icomefromalanddownunder »

englishangel wrote:I keep looking out for him, you would think a 15 stone (?) 4 year old would be difficult to miss, but I have managed it.

Are we assuming that the avatar he uses is a photograph of himself?

Just for the record; mine (past and present) weren't/aren't :lol:

xx
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Post by englishangel »

I think he said somewher it was pic of himself.

Mine are. I thought you had lovely long eyelashes Caroline
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Post by michael scuffil »

It seems to me that there are three reasons for going back to CH.
1) to see acquaintances (after 40+ years, this no longer applies to me)
2) to show wives and children (I've done this)
3) pure nostalgia

As to (3) so much has physically changed that it doesn't really work. When I'm in the area, though, I have tea at the Merrythought and wander round Itchingfield churchyard.

Reading this thread, one gets the impression that CH was a worse place in the 90s than in the late 50s/early 60s, despite the great increase in (a) physical comfort, (b) opportunities for intersting experiences (foreign trips, for example), (c) girls.

I hated CH as an 11-year-old (who wouldn't?), loved it as a 15-year-old, and by the time I was 19 was hooked (which was a BAD THING).
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Post by gnuvag »

Firstly, I'd like to say that I can't believe this thread has gone on so long - I'm sure the first post was a troll and whoever that was must be laughing now.
Anyway, as a response to the last post - the best time I had at CH was my last couple of years. While many of my peers were having a miserable time and desperate to get out, I made the most of what the school had to offer and I was loving every minute of it. I think I really believed that "your school days were the best days of your life" and I was determined to enjoy it while I could, so that's what I did.
Er, that's it really...!
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Post by sejintenej »

michael scuffil wrote:Reading this thread, one gets the impression that CH was a worse place in the 90s than in the late 50s/early 60s, despite the great increase in (a) physical comfort, (b) opportunities for intersting experiences (foreign trips, for example), (c) girls.
Isn't it a question of comparisons? In the '40's and early 50's we had rationing of just about everything, the environment was drab (don't forget the infamous London Smogs which choked the lungs and made people effectively blind for days on end), there was hunger, houses were cold, draughty and often damp, and for city dwellers it was the height of adventure to put some pram wheels on a board and go surfing the streets. Compare that to an environment where there was no smog, no pollution, you got a full belly, your own warmish dry bed and the wherewithall for all sorts of hobbies the like of which you couldn't even dream about at home.

In the nineties the outside environment was totally different - there wasn't the massive differentiation between school and home with often home being more inviting but school is still disciplined whereas home isn't.

Better or worse? You shouldn't compare the two because they are like chalk and cheese
michael scuffil wrote:I hated CH as an 11-year-old (who wouldn't?), loved it as a 15-year-old, and by the time I was 19 was hooked (which was a BAD THING).
As an 11 year old (and I was nine when I went there) you were in a different environmenty which you possibly didn't understand, the bottom of the pile, the garbage, flotsam, under valued, a necessary evil to those above you.** At 18 you were the top of the pile with power and some responsibility (though you had grown into that position and I doubt if you realised the power and responsibility you actually had).

** and a few of us had a language problem as well
Your reaction was logical.
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Post by Mid A 15 »

gnuvag wrote:Firstly, I'd like to say that I can't believe this thread has gone on so long - I'm sure the first post was a troll and whoever that was must be laughing now.
Anyway, as a response to the last post - the best time I had at CH was my last couple of years. While many of my peers were having a miserable time and desperate to get out, I made the most of what the school had to offer and I was loving every minute of it. I think I really believed that "your school days were the best days of your life" and I was determined to enjoy it while I could, so that's what I did.
Er, that's it really...!
I don't think Spoonbill is a troll although I would accept he is negative about the School and his experience.

He is a genuine Old Blue or else is in close contact with a genuine Old Blue because he knows too much about how things were.

Example: His contribution to the films in Big School thread.

There are others dotted about too.

As regards the thread going on so long new people join and add their contributions which is how it should be.
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Post by Thornton chimp »

I've been back to CH once, seven years after i left. I was unsure how i'd feel but i didn't expect to feel so overwhelmed by happy memories! So i'd reccomed a trip back to anyone who hasn't yet been, but not too often.
I still live in Shellys wood.
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Post by michael scuffil »

Thornton chimp: If you still live in Shelley's Wood, how come you manage to avoid the place at all?
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Post by Thornton chimp »

Its a different wood with the same name.
I still live in Shellys wood.
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Post by Mark1 »

I know that I probably won't have a chance to go back to CH for a good few years which feels very weird, especially since my brothers are still there. I guess some things have changed a lot since some of the Older Blues here left, in that I can now send a message to friends who left before me, with me, or are still there and get a reply in hours. Still, we've all gone our separate ways.

I only brought four books over to college with me - my yearbook and CH Bible were two of them. The only page of the Bible I've turned to is the inside cover though - those words hit home pretty hard.

I guess everyone has some negative memories - some with more than others. I'm just aware of how momentous that decision aged 11 has been on my life so far. The other Brits and I joke (or trash-talk, to use the term here) every now and then about schools, and I've got to admit my Wellington friend can always call me out on the schools' relative rugby prowess, but I can say that I personally am so proud to call myself an Old Blue.
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Re: Who Else Has Never Been Back to CH?

Post by Chrissie Boy »

I have to say that when I was at Christ's Hospital (1970s), no member of staff ever alerted me or anyone else to the existence of the Careers Service. In fact I only learned of its existence when I was in my mid-twenties, which wasn't too helpful. With hindsight, I could really have done with a session or two with a careers advisor in my teens.

Also it wasn't till I was 28 and a schoolkid was dumped on me at work that I found out about Work Experience. I subsequently learned that it was quite normal for teenage schoolkids of my own generation to be sent out on work experience for a few weeks, as a gentle introduction to the world of work.

Did the CH authorities not know of careers advice and work experience? Or did they know, but not care? Or didn't they want their nice pupils sullied by contact with the world of work?

The more I think about it, the more baffling it is.
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