Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

You will be pleased to know Katharine that there is now a Hertford building at CH. So named in order that Hertford is not forgotten. It is a "social" building with coffee shop etc. Pretty well the antithesis of Hertford but I am sure that it is very welcome and will be well used. What I ca...

"Up Tinf" maybe that should go on the Housey slang strand, but - it would probably be lost on them.

Yes, I remember "stews". Horrid. But that must have been in the '59 epidemic - I didn't start at CH until Sept '58. I remember that at least 2 Wards were used as convalescence areas. Were we sent home early? Do I remember correctly that we all had to have a clear throat swab before being a...

It is astonishing how similar this all is to the regime at Hertford in the late 50's and 60's. Sheets top to bottom and a clean one on top every week; clean underclothes and lisle stockings twice a week; clean blouse and pinny once a week. Maybe that was just the national norm at that time.

I seem to remember that our reports arrived home before we did at the end of term. In my case that made for a slightly downbeat home coming!
It was a good thing that House Mistresses didn't get to make a comment on our reports. Bad enough that they had a major influence on termly interviews with DR!

Hi Katharine. I was "de-monned" for organising a slow tea race on the last breakfast of term. The previous term we had got into bother for having our usual tea race (which I agree was potentially a bit dangerous), so I reckoned a slow race might be fun. DR took a different view and I had m...

Originally the houses were called Wards and they were numbered round the square from 1-8. Thus you were in Ward 1 or Ward 7 ........... We used the terms 1's, 2's, 3's etc as shorthand. In about the early 60's someone decided that the name Christ's Hospital with the addition of a Ward number was lea...

No. We never had coffee in my time at Hertford. Although in the sixth form we were allowed to make hot drinks for ourselves after prep. Why were we second class citizens in all ways?

I don't remember ever having chips at Hertford. Can anyone confirm this?

No, I'm still here! I remember maids in '58, but only in junior wards - maybe they were also in senior wards? The term "maids room" was still in everyday use when I occupied that room in 1965-66. I think that the maids room and "little dorm" were probably used from the early 60's...

It is certainly the current practice for the girls!!!!

There is one major difference between Grecians and our UVI days, which may partially account for Grecians houses:- youngsters are legally "of age" at 18 rather than 21 as it was for us. There may therefore be an expectation of a more "adult" way of life? There may also be financi...

Don't forget that being a grecian simply means that a student is in Year 13 - the second year of Alevel/IB study. Similarly deps is Year 12. In general, students who embark on A level/IB in year 12 will continue into year 13. People choose to leave CH at all points of a conventional school career fo...

My recollection of Hertford and folk music is just the dreaded instruction at lunch "Country Dancing in the Gym". This happened occasionally when the weather was so bad that all-out just was not possible. Park and King led us in country dancing. Park shouting instructions and King playing ...

Describe Grecians Houses for them Mrs C. They will be astonished!