A Girl's School from Outside

Share your memories and stories from the Hertford Christ's Hospital School, which closed in 1985, when the two schools integrated to the Horsham site....

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lonely_wolf
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Re: A Girl's School from Outside

Post by lonely_wolf »

Angela Woodford wrote:Exhibit B: this can't be a cubie! From the height of the bed, the window and the fireplace, I think that this must be Little Dorm in 3s. To me, it looks back to front, as a 6s girl would think.
...
Sophie looks so beautiful and sophisticated! ...
I originally thought we were at the front of the house, and now I can't remember what made me think it wasn't Little Dorm, and I'm too tired to plough through all the previous posts, having exhausted myself unsuccessfully looking for the floor plan that I meticulously copied from the museum. So I'm not sure exactly where LD is, the only thing that makes sense to me now is if it is the top left corner as you look at the front of the house. That fits the window and fireplace on the photo, and that I thought there'd been a window in the wall opposite the fireplace. Is that right, and could it have been occupied by just 2 (though I can't be sure there wasn't a 3rd bed in there)?

Yes, Sophie is a proper grown up young woman in that picture, so funny to think of her tramping across the stage in her sack to collect her end of school prize a couple of days later, mad memories!
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Re: A Girl's School from Outside

Post by englishangel »

The back gate to Hertford East station was about 40 yeards to your right past the front of the swimming pool and the gym. Opposite the gym were the squash courts (post 1971).
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A Girl's School to the Outside

Post by lonely_wolf »

Jut looking at the plan here, so the front of the gym must be facing west towards the general direction of the school hall? To get to the back gate we'd go along the front of the gym, squash courts on our left, then what happens? Turn right and walk 40 yards following the perimeter wall to find the gate?
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Re: A Girl's School from Outside

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I don't remember the playing field at all, which is a shame since it "lies sleeping underneath" now. So I'm pleased to find that I must have seen it and its buildings. Thank you Frances for taking the trouble to reply, you win 80 points plus a bonus of 20 for identifying the path and hence orientation.

With Angela's input I'm well on the way to having my 2 biggest mysteries resolved.

I think you girls are just great, there must have been something good in your education!
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Re: A Girl's School to the Outside

Post by englishangel »

lonely_wolf wrote:Jut looking at the plan here, so the front of the gym must be facing west towards the general direction of the school hall? To get to the back gate we'd go along the front of the gym, squash courts on our left, then what happens? Turn right and walk 40 yards following the perimeter wall to find the gate?
No. your orientation is correct but you didn't have to turn any corners, the gate was right in front of you. AFAIR
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Re: A Girl's School from Outside

Post by lonely_wolf »

Great, that fits in with my cloudy memory. If I've not exhausted your patience, would this gate have been open all the time? I've read at least one post describing attempted escapes literally "over the wall", perhaps the gates were open in the day and locked at night?
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Re: A Girl's School from Outside

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lonely_wolf wrote:I don't remember the playing field at all, which is a shame since it "lies sleeping underneath" now. So I'm pleased to find that I must have seen it and its buildings. Thank you Frances for taking the trouble to reply, you win 80 points plus a bonus of 20 for identifying the path and hence orientation.

With Angela's input I'm well on the way to having my 2 biggest mysteries resolved.

I think you girls are just great, there must have been something good in your education!
I have to confess to being a tad mystified as to why all this detail is so important nearly 34 years later, after a couple of fleeting visits ? :o :?
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Re: A Girl's School from Outside

Post by lonely_wolf »

The simple answer is that to understand why, "you had to be there", and you had to be me.

I would rate my little adventure at CH in my top 100 life experiences. It was very brief, so I'm keen to reconstruct it in as much detail as possible.

If you think that's too weird perhaps I should stop, not much more I want to go public on anyway.

Besides, I thought some of you liked to remember things, my story is just a structure to hang stuff on.

Until recently I would have thought it very odd myself that I attached such importance to an apparently insignificant and distant event. Rightly or wrongly I see my life differently now. If something is important to me then it's important to me, and so long as I'm not doing harm I'm not ashamed to be thought silly. I've just a bit earlier tried to express something of this on the "Old Blue Re-unions" thread in the general CH stuff section.

I'd have to give more away about my life than I'm prepared to, to show why I think this was a key moment in my life.

Sorry, I know I can be very annoying because I'm fairly obsessive and very perfectionist, I was hoping it would be OK as nobody has to read this stuff and even if they do it's only for a few exasperated seconds. I'm very grateful for the information you gave me last year Jo - though I could tell I'd overstepped the mark when I asked about the missing door to 3s for a 2nd time (d'oh! now I've mentioned it again :roll:).

OK I'll stop tormenting you now and try to be good!
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Re: A Girl's School from Outside

Post by Vonny »

lonely_wolf wrote:would this gate have been open all the time? I've read at least one post describing attempted escapes literally "over the wall", perhaps the gates were open in the day and locked at night?
In the 80's this gate was only ever open on the day we arrived back at school for a new term and on the day we broke up! I don't ever remember seeing it open at any other time during the term!
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Re: A Girl's School from Outside

Post by Fjgrogan »

I have heard (no names, no pack drill!) that it was possible to climb over the back gate, so I guess it didn't actually have barbed wire along the top! But yes, it was always kept closed and firmly locked.
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Re: A Girl's School from Outside

Post by Jo »

lonely_wolf wrote:The simple answer is that to understand why, "you had to be there", and you had to be me.

I would rate my little adventure at CH in my top 100 life experiences. It was very brief, so I'm keen to reconstruct it in as much detail as possible.

If you think that's too weird perhaps I should stop, not much more I want to go public on anyway.

Besides, I thought some of you liked to remember things, my story is just a structure to hang stuff on.

Until recently I would have thought it very odd myself that I attached such importance to an apparently insignificant and distant event. Rightly or wrongly I see my life differently now. If something is important to me then it's important to me, and so long as I'm not doing harm I'm not ashamed to be thought silly. I've just a bit earlier tried to express something of this on the "Old Blue Re-unions" thread in the general CH stuff section.

I'd have to give more away about my life than I'm prepared to, to show why I think this was a key moment in my life.

Sorry, I know I can be very annoying because I'm fairly obsessive and very perfectionist, I was hoping it would be OK as nobody has to read this stuff and even if they do it's only for a few exasperated seconds. I'm very grateful for the information you gave me last year Jo - though I could tell I'd overstepped the mark when I asked about the missing door to 3s for a 2nd time (d'oh! now I've mentioned it again :roll:).

OK I'll stop tormenting you now and try to be good!
It's ok, no harm done, I was just a bit curious that's all. CH was a big part of my life, and most people here, but I probably don't even remember half of the other places I might have been about that age, so I was just surprised that such a brief experience had made such a big impression on you. I guess we're all different :D
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Re: A Girl's School from Outside

Post by fra828 »

Who is the third girl in the last picture?
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Re: A Girl's School from Outside

Post by Alexandra Thrift »

Hi Everybody...I'm a bit late to see those brilliant photos...
Firstly ...is it Julie or Sophie that married a "yank" and moved to California ( nice ! ).
Secondly, both Sophie and Julie had very frizzy hair ( I thought it was lovely ). Sophie has straightened her hair in your beautiful photo ( she probably still does...and with all the products and straightening irons on the market now, it's much easier these days ).

I love the "retro" fashion ( of course it wasn't retro then....although there is a hint of 1930s Gatsbyesque jauntiness about it), especially the guys...with the wide lapels , sleeveless jumpers and brown colours , doncha just love it ! They would look very trendy today as "retro" is very "in".

I have skimmed the thread and have this to add ...sometimes repeating what others have noticed because I agree. Toni looks resplendent in the sixth form study , downstairs at the front ... isn't it ? Sophie is glamorous on the bed ( with a BOY ) in Little Dorm at the front of Threes , top floor. Defaced poster Bolan or Bowie ( just a guess ). Stripey clothes ...no idea. Haven't seen a bongy, yellow thing for years ( the seventies birdy thing on a spring)
Spare girlfriend is very pretty but I don't know who she is.

The building in photo 3 is definitely the swimming pool /gymnasium. You are just near where the back gate used to be,which led out to Hertford East Station across the road. These gates were opened on days out, first/last day of term etc to allow access to the station. You can see the beautiful cedar tree in the photo which was within the school grounds....it has been saved but is now situated in the middle / or at the side of the new road ( it hasn't moved but the road has ! ) If you compare that photo with now...the situation of the cedar tree shows the old/new perspective.

Thankyou for these lovely pics. P.S. What were YOU wearing that day Lonely_Wolf ?
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Re: A Girl's School from Outside

Post by mvgrogan »

Vonny wrote:The closest we got to having male company at Hertford was when they got painters in just before the school closed in 1985 :lol:
...and the roofers! :oops:

Mx
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Re: A Girl's School from Outside

Post by Vonny »

mvgrogan wrote:
Vonny wrote:The closest we got to having male company at Hertford was when they got painters in just before the school closed in 1985 :lol:
...and the roofers! :oops:

Mx
Yes!! I remember the scaffolding outside my Cubie :lol:
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