Ashbourne

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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AKAP
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Post by AKAP »

Mid A 15 wrote:
englishangel wrote:I changed my picture to one that more closely matches what I am actually like, as I don't spend my life with a glass in my hand or flashing my stocking tops.
You've just ruined my day! :wink:
But the following made up for it.

"I sneezed putting on my tights when I was pregnant with my first."

It makes me laugh every time I read it.
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englishangel
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Post by englishangel »

It is funny in restrospect but very unfunny at the time.
"If a man speaks, and there isn't a woman to hear him, is he still wrong?"
Angela Woodford
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Re: Ashbourne

Post by Angela Woodford »

englishangel wrote:about the only line I can remember is

We could ride up to Ashbourne
But there isn't any bus
We could hitch up to Ashbourne
But there ai'nt any room for us

I think most of the other words were fairly similar to the original.
I'd like to add the rest of the verse.

We could fly up to Ashbourne
But there isn't enough air
So we'll trudge up to Ashbourne
Yes we'll trudge up to Ashbourne
Yes we'll trudge up to Ashbourne
Till we're there.

Munch
Angela Woodford
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Ashbournella

Post by Angela Woodford »

Also (several days later) I've spoken to my then and now dear friend Deirdre Hobbs (7s, 63-71) who has still her script for Ashbournella!

Ooh!

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englishangel
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Post by englishangel »

and I thought I was a hoarder.
"If a man speaks, and there isn't a woman to hear him, is he still wrong?"
Angela Woodford
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Ashbournella

Post by Angela Woodford »

Do you remember Ashbournella, Mary?

I was talking to Deirdre Hobbs (7s) about our CH days, and the memories of Judith Pook - I wanted to talk about her.

I'd like to write something about Judith Pook. She was my Schoolma, an extraordinararily gifted person, who committed suicide. I'm trying to put together some memories about her. But where should I put them? My memories of Pook... difficult.

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englishangel
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Post by englishangel »

I do remember Ashbournella (vaguely) but my memory of the Ashbourne song comes from a sixth form review in my first year (1966 I suppose).

I think 'Memories of Judith Pook' would be a nice thread, you certainly have lots of old Sixes on here.
"If a man speaks, and there isn't a woman to hear him, is he still wrong?"
Angela Woodford
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Ashbournella

Post by Angela Woodford »

englishangel wrote:I do remember Ashbournella (vaguely) but my memory of the Ashbourne song comes from a sixth form review in my first year (1966 I suppose).

I'm baffled. Really baffled! Because we wrote this Ashbourne Song (and all the other songs for Ashbournella) in Sixes bathroom after lights-out in what I thought was 1971 - the year of our V1 form Entertainment.

The Entertainment had begun by playing "Great Film Themes" as the audience filed in - on a Dansette record player on the stage. It was turned up to as much Max as it could manage. It's hessian side throbbed, that mysterious knob marked "Tone" (that made no difference at all) was in action. Whenever I have heard the theme for "Lawrence of Arabia" I have remembered that night.

I think 'Memories of Judith Pook' would be a nice thread, you certainly have lots of old Sixes on here.
I would like to write about Pook. She began in 1s, where I got to know here as my Schoolma, then moved to 7s, which is why I was talking to Deirdre. I'll see what I can put together about her.

Incidently, this conversation turned up past news so devastating to me, who has always coveted a Posture Badge (now! one day? or postumously) that I must share it with you all. Hmm, where was I grieving about Posture Badges? "Housemistresses", I think!

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Re: Ashbourne

Post by MichaelJones »

I met Judith several times in 1976, and i think 1977. She was living in Forest Row, Sussex, and involved with the Anthroposophical movement (Rudolf Steiner) that has a college there, and several schools and lots of other quite strange organisations. I was a volunteer in one of the schools. I remember her very clearly, as if it were yesterday. She was trying to make a living by doing various jobs in the schools, including piano accompaniment for Eurythmy classes. I had a very strong feeling that she was very dissatisfied with her life. She was quite spiky and quick to get annoyed with herself. Her brother, Julian, was working in the college,and I think was a bit of a leading light in the movement, whereas Judith was not. She mentioned that she had some experience of nursing. She seemed very unsettled.
I remember very clearly saying to her, 'Did you go to a Steiner School' and she replied, 'Alas, no.'
I was at Rudolf Steiner House in Baker Street in 1978, at a Christmas event, and I asked about Judith. I was totally shocked when I was told that she threw herself under a train at Kings Cross.
That sense of shock has never left me, really, and i wish i had known her a bit more.
I wonder now if people would have described her as having Bipolar Disorder, because there was something very unpredictable about her, and I had the feeling that she felt as if she was not fully in control of her moods.
I'm very glad to read here that she had good friends at school, because when I met her, I think she was not someone with friends.
Her brother, Julian Pook, lives and works in New Zealand. (You can Google him). Is Jocelyn Pook her younger sister?
She mentions her mother being a single parent with three children, and though they weren't well off, their mother always found money for her children to have piano lessons.
I would love to know more about Judith, and particularly if anyone knows what happened to her prior to her death. Even though I only knew her briefly, her death has haunted me....
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