It was given to me by my Aunt Helen for Christmas 1981. She had written about her career after leaving CH - nursing during the war and then in Zululand.The book is a compilation of memories from more than 60 old girls, the oldest listed having entered CH in 1903, the youngest two were Ann Buddle (61 -68) & Sue Hitchins (67 - 72). I've just realised the list at the back is incomplete as there are also contributions from 2 that I remember - Elizabeth Onley and Heather Ewbank, and they are not listed.
One thing that delighted me was to read of the six most senior girls in the school going to London to present the Loyal Address to the Queen in June 1953. "For the first time we were wearing the new yellow dresses and silk stockings ... with panama hats and cream-coloured gloves these proved a very pleasing and attractive uniform."
I have a childhood memory of going to a service in the chapel at Horsham, possibly 1953 which would have been my brother's first summer there, and I would have been 6. I can see the girls sitting on the back rank of pews, wearing their yellow dresses and gloves. I don't think I have seen any other mention of the gloves, but they have stuck in my memory, presumably because gloves were worn to keep your hands warm in winter and not during the summer! I was also told that if I was a good girl and worked hard at school I might wear them when I was a big girl. I did work hard, but I never wore cream-coloured gloves! I did wear the yellow dresses but the silk stockings for best had been replaced by 60 denier nylon by the time I got my BA.
