Films in Big School

[kayinbaja]

Once again, 5s lose out! We didn't get tartan blankets till I was in the 3rd form. Before that we had some thin scratchy old blue things!

[sejintenej]

Well, thanks for that, David!
You may have had more spartan living conditions than we did but it is clear that at least you were provided with facilities to keep you warm! Was Horsham deemed to be so much colder than Hertford (ermm... Hertford is further north?) that the boys needed more 'cover' than the girls.
Soon we will start reminiscing about the numbers of blankets and coverlet or whatever on the bed and will discover that at Hertford we may have been more generously provided anyway, than you were at Horsham.
Can any Hertford OB remember how many blankets we were given, to cover those crisp white sheets which we had to fold into precise hospital corners? My memory says two.. but .........
Dream on for duvets!
I seem to remember that later on (? in my time or soon after?) there were tartan rugs to 'throw over' the bed - but I seem to think that they were 'issue' and not to be taken away from the dormitory.
However, thinking this through, on what did we sit when we went out onto the School Field on e.g. a Sunday, or to revise before O or A levels? My memory is going into overdrive now, so is not to be trusted!
Kerren

Coming back into this conversation, at Horsham we had one school "blanket" - to call it threadbare describes it a century before my time. So, with one home blanket that made us equal to you. In Col A I can't remember us taking blankets out of the dormitory (though after a time I "persuaded" them as be that no way was I going back to Big School for fillums.
Although army greatcoats were issued I think they had to be kept downstairs and not on beds.

In the dorms there were two radiators - one about a quarter of the dorm length from each end. When on full blast you could feel that there was some tepid water in them - I think that they were used to gather heat for the baths etc. Showers simply didn't work in my day - you might just get a trickle of cold water and baths weren't much better.

Hertford was in the middle of town protected by neighbouring buildings (and poissibly trees) whereas the Horsham dorms were open to 360 degrees of wind; remembering that every window was kept open 24/7 the dorms were pretty airy.

If the pitches were covered in snow then frequently (but not always - it depended on the buildup of ice) rugby would be cancelled and we would get a 90 minute cross country run in water up to our shins, often starting through Shelley's Wood (where you got soaked from head to toe) before taking narrow muddy tracks. Getting back there was only tepid water to wash in. That was five days a week Tuesdays (in my day) was hobbies afternoon when you had to be out of the house for 2 hours and Sunday afternoon you had to be out of bthe house in the fresh air for two hours unless it was actually raining (it could be snowing, there could be a foot of snow on the ground but you still had to get out of the house because it wasn't raining. I never heard of any amputations from frostbite .........

Remember also Kerren that females tend to have a little more flesh to keep them warm than boys who were reduced to tendons and not much more. (two bits of crug* a day was the ration) I have put on 8 lbs in the last year from my CH weight and you can still count my ribs!

*slice of bread

Kerren - I don't know if we had it harder or easier than you - we simply were not allowed to go and find out! At least the uniform was warm whereas you poor things would get the wind whistling upwards a la Monroe

[kerrensimmonds]

SHOWERS??????
There were no such things, even dribbling ones, in my day at Hertford.
It was a bath, with a bit of faded pink ribbon on the plug chain, indicating the level of water (4") which one was allowed. And definitely not every day. Some Houses had an alternative 'plimsol' line drawn round the bath.. but it was always the same 4", derived from wartime restrictions.
The various spartan aspects of existence at Hertford and Horsham may have been different in detail but I suspect that in general effect they were very similar...
We had an education second to none (for our time), but lived in circumstances which would not be accepted by today's Children's Act....

[midget]

4"? I knew I must be mad to be a monarchist- Buck House had lines painted at 5"

[kerrensimmonds]

Definitely 4" in 2's in the 1960's in my time. Not enough to cover the btm today (what a laugh!)..............but in those days I was a very skinny and bony teenager (hard to believe some 45 years later.....) so perhaps 4" was enough to ensure that some water reached the most essential parts.....on the infrequent occasions when we were allowed to take a bath.

[icomefromalanddownunder]

Definitely 4" in 2's in the 1960's in my time. Not enough to cover the btm today (what a laugh!)..............but in those days I was a very skinny and bony teenager (hard to believe some 45 years later.....) so perhaps 4" was enough to ensure that some water reached the most essential parts.....on the infrequent occasions when we were allowed to take a bath.

Hi Everyone

Either this restriction had been lifted by 1970, or I chose to ignore it. Suspect the former, as the flimsy curtains surrounding the cubicles would not have provided protection from prying eyes.

I clearly remember luxuriating in the enormous (compared to home) baths, and falling asleep while reading in one after O Levels finished.

My current abode has a 3/4 length bath that I haven't used in many years. In fact, the only bath I remember taking in the past decade was while staying in a dutch hotel that boasted baths reminiscent of the Hertford ones. Oh, the pleasure of floating in warm water without the fear of shark attack

xx

[Ajarn Philip]

Eeeee, when I were a lad, we were so poor we lived in a paper bag in t'middle of t'road...

[icomefromalanddownunder]

Eeeee, when I were a lad, we were so poor we lived in a paper bag in t'middle of t'road...

Hi Phil

I thought of you last night when Colin Hay was being interviewed on TV. Very talented, and highly entertaining.

Guess what song he sang?

xx

PS: down our end (the posh end) of Battersea we had a tin tub that spent most of the week hanging from a hook on the garden fence. On Sunday night the copper would be fired up, the tub taken down, and I would be bribed by my Grandfather with Black Jacks and Fruit Salads to not scream when shampoo went into my eyes.
No wonder I hate small baths

[Ajarn Philip]

Black jacks and fruit salads

Oh what memories. 4 a penny from Perry's newsagents in Webbs Road, SW11 in the early-mid 60s.

[kayinbaja]

Films?

[englishangel]

Films?

I think he meant blackjacks and fruit salads

[John Knight]

Films?

I think he meant blackjacks and fruit salads

Or, is 'kayinbaja' just trying to bring the thread back on topic?