Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

In 'my' day - 1956-62 - new girls were expected to learn the first three verses by heart before Founder's Day, which gave us about a month. Presumably we would then sing it as part of the Founder's Day celebrations, but I don't remember that. I do remember however that Sixes motto was Nil Desperandum, which seemed very fitting. More fitting might be the one that goes something like 'illegitimi non carborundum'?!

Frances - I can remember Celia (or was it Cecelia? I think she was 23 so the peg beside yours)) in your year teaching me the Carmen before Founder's Day. She did not do Latin so it was all phonetic. I did not have a definite schoolma but she slept in the bed beside mine - I could even tell you which bed in Lower Dorm, first memories are so deeply etched!

We were taught it! We had to learn by heart the General Thanksgiving and the Carmen, by (I think) the end of our first term - maybe there was something else too, or the deadline was earlier. But I remember as a scared 9 year old trying to get my head and tongue round words which didn't mean anything.
Maybe it was Miss King who taught us, and those who entered the school at 11 were expected to pick it up by osmosis?

Or taught by their 'School Mas' ? - Thank you Katharine!

We weretaught by anyone who could be bothered! New LIV had to learn it by the end of the 1st term (I think we were testedon it by the Senior Mon). All other new girls had to know it by the end of their 1st year.

I remember the whole school being told off by DR for not knowing the General Thanksgiving, I was mildly surprised as I had never been told to learn it. In fact, I don't think I'd even heard of it. I can remember most of it now, and love its precise language ("inestimable love..the means of grace and the hope of glory...").

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The General Thanksgiving - you'll find it in the Book of Common Prayer - not used a great deal these days. I don't remember ever having to learn it, or that it was a regular part of Matins or Evensong, unlike the General Confession which we just learned by osmosis from frequent use, although if I try to do it from memory now I tend to get bits wrong, from lack of frequent use!

To go back to Cecelia - it was Cecelia not Celia or Cecilia (which she had a longrunning battle with Miss King about) Hamilton. She was my schoolmother. With hindsight she was probably dyslexic, but such a condition was unacknowledged then; the school just found that her spelling was so atrocious that they actually allowed her not to take French for O Level, which was unheard of. Later she worked for a small commercial airline out of Lympne (now Lydd) airport and had to learn Italian. Eventually she became an air traffic controller. She died at an early age. I remember receiving a letter from her husband with the news of her death and a few days later a Christmas card signed by both of them.

Frances - thanks for that information about Cecelia - there was a Celia as well wasn't there? I remember her as being very kind and helpful and not sure why I didn't have a schoolmother, so took some of it on herself.

I'm another who doesn't remember having to learn the General Thanksgiving, either.

Pedant alert

Lydd Airport has always been Lydd and is now run by London Ashford Airport. Lympne was a different place and closed in 1974.

In that case it was definitely Lympne - I remember never knowing how to pronounce it at the time - I had just assumed that Lydd was the same place renamed. I stand corrected!

I think that I pointed out, some time ago, that the School Motto of "Fear God, Love the Brotherhood, Honour the King (In my day)" was, preumeably, to be observed in that order, which was somewhat "Left Wing" and conflicted with my later Oath to the, said, King and his "Heirs and Successors"
I wonder if "Loyalty" can be described on a Graph --- rather than an Absolute ?

What say you ?



Knock at the door ----- can it be MI 5 ?

Be careful, Neill, the Thought Police will be after you. It's obvious that a subversive site like this one, where freedom of speech is permitted, nay, encouraged will not be allowed to survive for long.
It's clear that I tok a Masters in paranoia at Hertford.

I saw that at the beginning of this thread that someone had said that every house had a Latin motto. Can anyone conjure up what Leigh Hunt's was? (Was in Hunt B, and rather interested now!)

NEILL THE NOTORIOUS wrote:I think that I pointed out, some time ago, that the School Motto of "Fear God, Love the Brotherhood, Honour the King (In my day)" was, preumeably, to be observed in that order, which was somewhat "Left Wing" and conflicted with my later Oath to the, said, King and his "Heirs and Successors"

What say you ?

As I understand it the word King/Queen has two separate meanings:
a) the human being, male or female, who occupies the title role at the time
b) the metaphysical embodiment of the state (being the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)

Your military oath referred to meaning a) above because at least some of those who joined up couldn't understand the second meaning whilst the CH Motto (and also the Scout Oath) was for intelligent folk and referred to the second meaning.
Of course, with dumbing down, most erks now-a-days generally wouldn't understand "metaphysical" let alone anything which has a metaphysical meaning whilst the concept of loyalty to the nation is beyond the pale (like the Irish to whom that phrase originally referred and whom the British Government welcomed into the UK as migrant labour).

NEILL THE NOTORIOUS wrote:Knock at the door ----- can it be MI 5 ?

Can't be - they wouldn't know how to knock in a civilised manner. they would simply smash the door down