New Forum Section - Hertford Memories

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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Euterpe13
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Post by Euterpe13 »

DR told me my walk was "affected" ( it wasn't, silly woman - it was the result of ballet lessons since the age of 3!) - so I developed a striding popeye-influenced gait , very butch - which seemed to please her, but which led my mother to comment that I walked like my father....

Frances Mercer with a waistline - and I missed that ! Must say, though, that Miss Mercer was certainly one the most interesting teachers to speak with , and something of a closet anarchist to boot. She it was who encouraged me to spout a poem entitled " the True Church" for the poetry competition ( a brief analogy which compared the Church with a hippo...) - which put me in DR's black books for the rest of the term.

She also taught me that well-mannered people remove their glove to shake hands...

Miss Blench always fascinated me - I remember going down to Chapel one morning to put the music out, and meeting Queenie " Barbara why are you not wearing your gloves ?" - "Because my hands are not cold" - " Well, mine are, so put your gloves on " ... splendid logic ! But I also remember how kindly she offered to teach me basic latin in private lessons in the VIth form ( I had done german - or german had done me...) as I wanted to study medecine later.

Judy Furnival received some of her best epithets - shame she is not on the Forum !
Hertford - 5s/2s - 63-70
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englishangel
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Post by englishangel »

I have pmd Kay and got a reply. I remember that she was always very skinny with big knees (I have a son just the same) She is mentioned on CH Stuff, Sunday sermons....
"If a man speaks, and there isn't a woman to hear him, is he still wrong?"
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kayinbaja
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Post by kayinbaja »

Oooh! This is quite fun! Much more fun than school itself. You can tell I'm supposed to be holed up writing, can't you? My favourite Queenie insult, "You despicable little blot on the landscape." I still use it. "Slut" was quite popular, I remember getting that one from she who-shall-remain-nameless when I came back to school having bleached my hair during holidays. She also gave me a "Below Standard" for making baby-doll pyjamas when we were supposed to make nightdresses. Also, when sporting my first ever lovebite, from a Haileybury boy no less, Queenie lifted my carefully arranged hair and asked, "Fraternising with vampires?" And Chemi T threw a board rubber at my head. Don't know why, I was brilliant at chemistry.
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Post by Angela Woodford »

kayinbaja wrote:Oooh! This is quite fun! Much more fun than school itself. You can tell I'm supposed to be holed up writing, can't you? My favourite Queenie insult, "You despicable little blot on the landscape." I still use it. "Slut" was quite popular, I remember getting that one from she who-shall-remain-nameless when I came back to school having bleached my hair during holidays. She also gave me a "Below Standard" for making baby-doll pyjamas when we were supposed to make nightdresses. Also, when sporting my first ever lovebite, from a Haileybury boy no less, Queenie lifted my carefully arranged hair and asked, "Fraternising with vampires?" And Chemi T threw a board rubber at my head. Don't know why, I was brilliant at chemistry.
Lovely to hear from you, Kay!

According to Caroline, Chemi T chucked board rubbers all the time as a sort of manic reflex response. I suppose a lifetime of inhaling chemicals may have been responsible.

But what I'm dying to know is - how did you get into that sort of communication with a Haileybury boy? Barbara recalls Russian studies at Haileybury. Were you amongst a party allowed to broaden their linguistic horizons?

Several of us, permitted to walk abroad in a party of three in the V1 Form managed to get "lost" in the Haileybury grounds. We were quickly spotted, rounded up and urged to leave. The Master concerned made a horrified call to DR, but the "lost" story held up, and our quest for romance was thwarted.

How did you do it, Kay?

I am full of admiration! Please reveal the whole story. So far our amatory exploits fall sadly short of those at Horsham.

Somehow, so like Queenie to make such a mild remark on spotting a lovebite, when her withering horror at mistakes in Latin was so utterly acute.

Love, Munch
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icomefromalanddownunder
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Post by icomefromalanddownunder »

But what I'm dying to know is - how did you get into that sort of communication with a Haileybury boy? Barbara recalls Russian studies at Haileybury. Were you amongst a party allowed to broaden their linguistic horizons?

Ahem, well, er, just as long as they weren't cunning linguists (Humphreys, Barry 1984ish).

How did you do it, Kay?

Yes, please, do tell. I'm jealous :wink:

Mary - if you're reading this. Little confession about September 1960. It was, of course, courtesy of one of DR's addresses. I still have a draft copy on my HD. Sounds like she only got her paws on the more boring of her pupils diaries :lol:
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englishangel
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Post by englishangel »

icomefromalanddownunder wrote:But what I'm dying to know is - how did you get into that sort of communication with a Haileybury boy? Barbara recalls Russian studies at Haileybury. Were you amongst a party allowed to broaden their linguistic horizons?

Ahem, well, er, just as long as they weren't cunning linguists (Humphreys, Barry 1984ish).

How did you do it, Kay?


Yes, please, do tell. I'm jealous :wink:

Mary - if you're reading this. Little confession about September 1960. It was, of course, courtesy of one of DR's addresses. I still have a draft copy on my HD. Sounds like she only got her paws on the more boring of her pupils diaries :lol:
Reading through here it doesn't sound as though many of us had much to write about.

Kay, from Bakewell, and has given herself away. :lol:
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kayinbaja
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Post by kayinbaja »

Sorry for the delay, hope you haven't been holding your breath. During the holidays I went to stay with someone who had a brother, with whom I went to see "The Thomas Crowne Affair"....I must have been all of 15, which is why my 15 year old son thinks that I am the most suspicious mother on the planet, checking him out for snogscars every time he goes out!
Also, not related to the lovebite incident, but wasn't there a Haileybury/CH dance? I believe we were instructed to hold boys at arms length when dancing. Of course, on school trips to foreign lands (which I never took, but remember the lectures very well) girls were not to fraternise with males at all, it being well known, according to DR, that foreign chaps comprised 2 types; "spivs" and "ne-er do wells".
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englishangel
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Post by englishangel »

I think the Haileybury/CH dances were hopeful rather than actual. I do remember the 'spivs' and ne'er-do'wells lecture though. I never went on a school foreign trip either.

The Easter before O'Levels I went on an exchange trip to France, and DR asked me if my parents realised that I would probably be staying with a - dun-dun-dun- Roman Catholic family, and would the girl I was exchanging with have to join my family prayers.

I managed to say'No ' with a straight face.
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icomefromalanddownunder
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Post by icomefromalanddownunder »

englishangel wrote:I think the Haileybury/CH dances were hopeful rather than actual.
The story I remember is that we were invited, but would have had to attend in uniform, so the invitation(s) was/were declined.
Caroline Payne (nee Barrett)
Hertford 6.20 1965-70

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englishangel
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Post by englishangel »

My memory also Caroline
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Jude
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Post by Jude »

Didn't just about EVERY trip out of those hallowed walls have to be taken in UNIFORM?????? My blasted father made me wear school uniform to London as he had decided I was mentally unstable (not surprising if you know my history) and we went to Harley Street to see this guy - twice I had to go in uniform - but in the term time one of the nurses from the Infirmary took me - and let me go in HOME CLOTHES! She also was extremely frank on the train and thought the whole process was possiblly making me ill rather than I was actually mental ..

As for now - well I will leave it up to Mary to tell if I am mentally unstable - after all she has stayed here!!!
Jude Comber (nee Kelynack) 5's 5.38 1975-1980 Herts.
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englishangel
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Post by englishangel »

no she's not, a bit nutty perhaps, but not mental
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Jude
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Post by Jude »

englishangel wrote:no she's not, a bit nutty perhaps, but not mental
Except when I get windy - and then it's like school dinners - very cabbagy!
Jude Comber (nee Kelynack) 5's 5.38 1975-1980 Herts.
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J.R.
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Post by J.R. »

Jude wrote:
englishangel wrote:no she's not, a bit nutty perhaps, but not mental
Except when I get windy - and then it's like school dinners - very cabbagy!
DIVERT - ALERT !
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Jude
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Post by Jude »

Just got back from Leeds - 1927hours...... left over 12 hours ago! good drive up - really CRAP drive back - head pounding, car stuffed to the rafters and as it's starting to rain here now - it can all stay there until tomorrow - totally pooped - or is that also considered a divert alert?
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