'Away from the Bombs and the Boys' - available to order

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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Angela Woodford
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Re: 'Away from the Bombs and the Boys' - available to order

Post by Angela Woodford »

kerrensimmonds wrote:I've still got my Mason Pearson hairbrush - 51 years on! And I do remember the toothcombs being used - we had to line up at the start of term, while the housemistress dipped the toothcomb in disinfectant and then went through our hair, one by one. Not a pleasant task! But I don't remember anyone being found to be affected by nits/head lice, tho. given the closeness with which we lived it's surprising that I don't ever remember any instance, at any time....
Ooh, you had one.. get you! :lol: Is yours a real bristle one? Maybe it's not too late for me? I haven't looked out for Mason Pearson for many, many years, but remember seeing an ad in the back of Vogue magazine not so long ago. I might Google it just for fun!

It's funny, I don't remember the toothcomb being used! Surely that sort of inspection is something the dreadful Millie would have loved!

You're right Kerren, nobody was affected now I come to think of it! Perhaps it's because nits (as I learned as a mamma) prefer nicely newly washed hair, and we were allowed washed hair only once a week?

Love from Munch
"Baldrick, you wouldn't recognise a cunning plan if it painted itself purple, and danced naked on top of a harpsichord singing "Cunning plans are here again.""
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Re: 'Away from the Bombs and the Boys' - available to order

Post by Jo »

Angela Woodford wrote:
kerrensimmonds wrote:I've still got my Mason Pearson hairbrush - 51 years on!
Ooh, you had one.. get you! :lol: Is yours a real bristle one? Maybe it's not too late for me? I haven't looked out for Mason Pearson for many, many years, but remember seeing an ad in the back of Vogue magazine not so long ago. I might Google it just for fun!
:oops: Goodness, I'm so unsophisticated I'd never even heard of a Mason Pearson hairbrush :oops:

I shall immediately aspire to own one :lol:
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Re: 'Away from the Bombs and the Boys' - available to order

Post by J.R. »

Jo wrote:
:oops: Goodness, I'm so unsophisticated I'd never even heard of a Mason Pearson hairbrush :oops:

I shall immediately aspire to own one :lol:
Maybe I should've gone to Hertford coz I'VE heard of a Mason Pearson hairbrush, but maybe that's because I come from a female dominated family - And I mean that in the nicest possible sense ! :rolleyes:
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Re: 'Away from the Bombs and the Boys' - available to order

Post by Angela Woodford »

I googled Mason Pearson - there they were, to suit every requirement!

I spotted the white, boars' bristle, medium size, suitable for short hair brush that I had coveted in 1965 - ever since Phine Maude unravelled her honey-blonde plait, drew her (tortoiseshell) Mason Pearson from her (6.5) brush-and-comb bag and moved into a dominant position in front of the left-hand cloakroom mirror. Other brushers fell away, muttering apologies,
as Phine balanced her rubber band and hairgrips on the edge of the tennis-racquet-container rack thing. Jo McNamara hastily moved her bottle of Clearasil out of the way.

I was filled with longing for a Mason Pearson. I'd begun growing my hair to evade that awful school hack-it-off hairdresser, and only had a couple of immature bunches. It was a case of Cloakroom Envy. I'd got a horrid old cheap brush. Hair was important! One of my Study tormentors had traction alopecia. I felt very sorry for her. Perhaps if she'd been less horrid...?

So I've just enjoyed gazing at the hairbrush of my choice 40 years on! The only thing Google couldn't tell me was the price!

Love from Munch
"Baldrick, you wouldn't recognise a cunning plan if it painted itself purple, and danced naked on top of a harpsichord singing "Cunning plans are here again.""
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Re: 'Away from the Bombs and the Boys' - available to order

Post by kerrensimmonds »

The Mason Pearson website will give you the prices....and you can buy them on Amazon.
Mine is a Mason Pearson nylon and bristle 'Junior'. Pink. The rubber is rather perished, now, though...
Curiously, the handle is covered in bite marks - I must have chewed on it often. Wonder why and when?
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Re: 'Away from the Bombs and the Boys' - available to order

Post by judy »

I am fascinated by the collective amnesia in this thread. There certainly were those dreadful ( normal) infestations when we were there and in deed the tooth combs got used. Interestingly as I remember it the creatures did not seem able to jump the hierarchical gap between the more junior and senior parts of CH. My memory was that it seemed to stop at the UIV -I wonder if we just all got less able to tolerate physical closeness? The treatment was pretty brutal - shaved heads. Not nice at all.
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Re: 'Away from the Bombs and the Boys' - available to order

Post by kerrensimmonds »

Amnesia or what? Shaved heads???
I don't remember that AT ALL....
Maybe it was in a different House??
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Re: 'Away from the Bombs and the Boys' - available to order

Post by Katharine »

I agree with Kerren, I could have made the same post. However I will add, if anyone in a different house had a shaved head I'm sure we would remember it.
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Re: 'Away from the Bombs and the Boys' - available to order

Post by kerrensimmonds »

Have just had a conversation with fellow Old Blue, who remembers the milky disinfectant in which the tooth combs were dipped before going through our heads -and she does not remember any shaved heads at Hertford, either (though in her grandchildrens' primary school, now, there has been an infestation and several children have come back with shaven heads, that being the only way of being sure of removing the infestation).
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Re: 'Away from the Bombs and the Boys' - available to order

Post by midget »

The infestation was thought to spread from cap to cap in the cloakroom. It was first noticed on no6 (although she may not have been the originator), spread alont to 1, and in the other direction to about 15. Clever clogs here got it, although no31. We all had our hair washed in some disgusting shampoo, and had an unpleasant lotion combed through our hair. A few people with a persistent infestation hat their hair treated with oil of sasafrass (sp?) head wrapped in a sort of bandage overnight, and washed the next morning. The lice were no respectors of age or seniority, which was comforting in a way,
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Nits, or no nits?

Post by Angela Woodford »

judy wrote:I am fascinated by the collective amnesia in this thread. There certainly were those dreadful ( normal) infestations when we were there and in deed the tooth combs got used. Interestingly as I remember it the creatures did not seem able to jump the hierarchical gap between the more junior and senior parts of CH. My memory was that it seemed to stop at the UIV -I wonder if we just all got less able to tolerate physical closeness? The treatment was pretty brutal - shaved heads. Not nice at all.
I know I would have spotted shaved heads! :shock: :shock: :shock: It would have been no 1 item of interest for School goss.

Infestations, never - unless it was just you guys in 2's? :lol:

If heads were shaved, who did the deed? Funnily enough, I can imagine Fanny (bright and brassy straw-consistency blonde) taking a brisk methodical razor to a poor weeping victim of infestation.

Amnesia? Never! Have a lovely Monday, everyone.

Love from Munch
"Baldrick, you wouldn't recognise a cunning plan if it painted itself purple, and danced naked on top of a harpsichord singing "Cunning plans are here again.""
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Re: 'Away from the Bombs and the Boys' - available to order

Post by englishangel »

The only time I remember anyone having nits was a poor girl in 5's or 6's a couple of years younger than me who went on holiday (maybe she was Cypriot and had been visiting family or something) with lovely long dark hair, and came back with it cropped. I don't remember any shaven heads (I don't remember start of terms comb-outs either so perhaps memory is failing) but Judy's memory of infestations stopping at the UIV would be correct medically as you do become immune.

Nowadays it is a rare child who doesn't get infested. Two of mine were terrible and the third never got any, but he is the sort of person who gets bitten by a mosquito and the mossie comes out in lumps.
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Re: 'Away from the Bombs and the Boys' - available to order

Post by J.R. »

Funny thing about 'nits' is that some people seem to be totally immune from 'em. I've never had them in my life.

It used to be thought that dirty hair/dirty kids were those that constantly suffered where in fact the complete opposite is the case. It's also now beleived that the dreaded creepers prefer short fine hair to long course hair.
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Re: 'Away from the Bombs and the Boys' - available to order

Post by MKM »

I don't remember any cases of nits at CH, and certainly no head-shaving. That would be really cruel, especially for girls.

But one holiday a letter was sent from school, warning our parents that there had been an outbreak of "dirty heads" in the school, and asking that they should check their daughters' heads. My mother took no notice at all, except to remark, on the last morning of the holidays, that perhaps she should have checked. But I don't think I had them.

When my own children were at Primary school, there were several outbreaks, and I got quite handy with the nit-comb and unpleasant shampoos.
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Re: 'Away from the Bombs and the Boys' - available to order

Post by MKM »

I've just re-read my last post, and realise that it sounds a bit aggressive. I don't mean to challenge Judy's memories, just say that mine are different. We could both be right - if heads had to be shaved then ithe kindest thing would be to keep it quiet.
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