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Horsham and Hertford were both effectively separate single sex schools what interaction officially or (possibly more interestingly ) unofficially was there with the opposite sex?
I can remember the odd meeting with Thomas Bennett I think it was from Crawley and Horsham High School for girls but such meetings were very few and far between.
Did Hertford have any links with local boys or mixed sex schools?
The VI form went to Haileybury for their Christmas concert (I think that was what it was). No real contact with them! Somebody on this forum, younger than me, went there for lessons, I believe. I don't remember any other contact with boys schools.
Some went to Saturday evening concerts at Hatfield (Poly?) and those doing Physics in the VI went to Royal Institution lectures where there were lots of other VI formers, but we didn't interact much.
When I was at Oxford I met someone from Haileybury and made the connexion. In a lull in conversation he said loudly 'Ah the school with communal underwear', he assured me that they believed that a pile was put one the floor and we all dived in to find something that fitted, and woe betide the last to come! Not quite like 6s hardworking Wardrobe girls (no I wasn't one)
Hertford Monitresses were routinely invited to the Haileybury Christmas Ball. We were allowed to accept provided we wore school uniform including clumpy brown leather outdoor shoes. Unsurprisingly no-one ever went.....
Our own interactions with 'boys' were either illicit and informal with local young men 'over the wall', or more formally with the Grecians who came up to Hertford for Speech Day....... after which House Mistresses had to do a routine sweep for silver buttons which then had to be returned to Horsham. Monitresses used to do a reciprocal run and go to Horsham for their Speech Day but I have no idea if there were any souvenirs left behind on those occasions!
kerrensimmonds wrote:Hertford Monitresses were routinely invited to the Haileybury Christmas Ball. We were allowed to accept provided we wore school uniform including clumpy brown leather outdoor shoes. Unsurprisingly no-one ever went.....
Our own interactions with 'boys' were either illicit and informal with local young men 'over the wall', or more formally with the Grecians who came up to Hertford for Speech Day....... after which House Mistresses had to do a routine sweep for silver buttons which then had to be returned to Horsham. Monitresses used to do a reciprocal run and go to Horsham for their Speech Day but I have no idea if there were any souvenirs left behind on those occasions!
We went to a local country estate for our Guide camp, where there were several groups camping. Noone ever realised why Pat Morris and I frequently volunteered to take the pig swill down to the farm, usually when the Scouts were taking theirs. The scouts were camping quite close to where we were, and every morning our Leaders would complain to the scout leader about the loud (and rude) singing the previous night (we all enjoyed it)
During my last summer hols a group of us doing A-level biology went to a field study centre at Box Hill, where there were a lot of school groups. We were very envious of a group from Liverpool whose teacher took them to the local pub in the evenings. Our dear Miss Pye-Smith at first tried to keep us to schoolbed times. Happy days.
Thou shalt not sit with statisticians nor commit a social science.
kerrensimmonds wrote:Our own interactions with 'boys' were either illicit and informal with local young men 'over the wall', or more formally with the Grecians who came up to Hertford for Speech Day....... after which House Mistresses had to do a routine sweep for silver buttons which then had to be returned to Horsham. Monitresses used to do a reciprocal run and go to Horsham for their Speech Day but I have no idea if there were any souvenirs left behind on those occasions!
Two memories come to mind from Kerren's post. My brother did not visit Hertford but his best friend did, who had spent several holidays at our house - so I spoke to him! I was summoned to the presence to explain why I had been speaking to a Grecian when I wasn't related to any of the visitors.
The other was of some juniors feeding their rabbits, caught talking to BOYS while they were doing it. For the benefit of those not familiar with the Hertford geography the rabbits were kept in hutches near the chapel, there were spiked railings a good five to six feet high between school and the main road. Any chat would be taking place through these railings. The feeding had been going on in broad daylight, yet the girls were told they were 'of an age when accidents might happen'. The mind boggles at the thought.
Yes Katharine... I was thinking of The Shrubbery (behind the Chapel) when I posted about interaction with young local male people. Not that I ever did, of course (cos I was a Goody Goody), although I did have rabbits (yes folks, Hertford girls were allowed pets like rabbits and hamsters and guineapigs - provided they were accommodated in the hutches behind the Chapel and were appropriately looked after!). But I was aware of other girls who were entertaining scary and exciting relationships with people 'outside' who were able to use those railings (or rather the gaps in them) as a means of communication. And if you go there these days, the railings are still there! They now, however, simply define the boundary of the carpark of Tescos, which has been built on the site of the Hertford Chapel.
Mid A 15 wrote:Did Hertford have any links with local boys or mixed sex schools?
We had no links whatsoever with any boys while I was there. Apart from the last summer we had there in 1985 when they brought in some painters to spruce the place up. I remember a few of us hanging out of the windows distracting them I also remember a couple of us asking one of the older painters to get us some booze from town
By the way, all pets were kept behind the science block in my time - near the tuck shop - not that I had one.
Vonny wrote:By the way, all pets were kept behind the science block in my time - near the tuck shop
Excuse me, but what was a tuck shop doing on our hallowed turf? Never heard of such a thing!
Did they move the pets to stop the fraternisation?
I didn't even know that the pets were kept by the chapel so I have no idea when they moved them. They were always behind the science block near the little ares of garden. Quite surprised they actually allowed pets really being they were so strict on everything at Hertford.
So what else was in the building where the tuck shop was?
Vonny wrote:By the way, all pets were kept behind the science block in my time - near the tuck shop
Vonny wrote:So what else was in the building where the tuck shop was?
I have been thinking about this and think we took our shoes there for mending - but whether the cobbler did other jobs or was just there once a week I cannot remember. Were there some music practice rooms there? I can't really remember.
Katharine wrote:I have been thinking about this and think we took our shoes there for mending - but whether the cobbler did other jobs or was just there once a week I cannot remember. Were there some music practice rooms there? I can't really remember.
We took shoes (and all items of uniform) to the room to the right of the headmistresses house. We didn't have a cobbler in our day.
I don't think there were music practice rooms by the tuck shop when I was there - I rarely went to the tuck shop so don't recall what the other rooms in that building were used for.
Katharine is right. In our time, the rather intimidating man who both mended our shoes and gave us a replacement pair if that was necessary was in a dark little cubbyhole at the end of the cloister behind the Science Block. I never much enjoyed my visits down to see him.
We had no Tuck Shop (I was there 1957-1966) and took our own sweets etc. back at the beginning of each term. These were incacerated into tins or boxes in the cupboard at the end of the Day Room (albeit added to when we had visitors on e.g Long Saturdays) and twice a week we were allowed an allowance of #6# (I remember that a Mars bar was #6#). The Monitress who 'policed' the tuck room had total power over what equated to what in terms of what we were allowed, when tuck was drawn on two occasions a week - I think Wednesdays and Saturdays? If we had bought jam (or, wonderfully, lemon curd) those jars too were incorporated into the 'tuck room' and we were allowed access twice a week. I seem to recall that Marmite was always at a premium.....
We were not allowed money either - having to hand it to the House Mistress (I seem to remember 15 shillings a term) who would record it solemnly into a red book and then discharge it whenever she had to 'go shopping' for us for e.g. toothpaste or cotton. But by the end of my time at Hertford we were either allowed to look after our own money or I had an illicit supply because I clearly remember walking into town and buying 'milly fillys' (mille feuilles cream cakes) from the Bakers near Woolworths and then disappearing into the Castle grounds to consume them. Once we were caught by two teachers (Miss Jukes and Miss Wilson) who benevolently decided to turn a blind eye. What a crime!
Happy Days,,,?????
Ah yes, Kerren you remind me of those happy days. We were allowed to do our own shopping once we had our BA. In 6s the purses were still kept in the Housemistress' room and you collected yours and returned it when you returned. The freedom to go into Hertford was licenced - UV you had to go in 3s, VI form in pairs until you got a GA when you could go alone - as far as I recall it. I think there may also have been limitations on frequency as well - but it was all a long time ago!
When I started at CH the list of what you could take definitely listed a jar of HOME MADE jam, even at the time I was aware that not everybody had Mums who made jam and that was discriminatory. (Mother still makes marmalade at 87 in her sheltered accommodation and has had to have a kitchen extractor fitted - they hadn't expected anyone to still cook properly at such an age!)
I think we may have had sweets three times a week - didn't we have them on Sundays as well?
I would think that at least a quarter of the current pupils buy sweets every day now (although tuckshop`s closed on Sundays!) Keeps the dentist busy I suppose!!
The best way to forget your troubles is to wear tight shoes.
) unofficially was there with the opposite sex?
I remember a few of us hanging out of the windows distracting them 
