Quick questions and (maybe) answers Hertford Memories thread

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

Thank you Catherine --- that was exactly the unfettered opinion which I wanted to hear -- and it was delivered with Humour

Your remark about Alcohol Therapy, was what I needed, after reading about some of the experiences of the tortured "Hertford Lot"

[Fjgrogan]

I don't recall any remarks about alcohol therapy, but sounds like a great idea - should have been available on prescription in Hertford! Where do I sign up?

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

The "Alcohol Therapy "was suggested by Catherine, in her Post of 1 March, as a treatment for "Vietmam Type Flashbacks"

I hope the "Treatment" is not confined to those !!

I was once, sitting in a Steam Room, at the Club -- in company with some Ladies, who were discussing the benefits, or otherwise, of Saunas and Steam rooms.
One said "Well-- if it makes you feel better -- it must be doing you good "

I ventured the question "Does that apply to Whisky ?"

An interesting discussion followed !

[englishangel]

The "Alcohol Therapy "was suggested by Catherine, in her Post of 1 March, as a treatment for "Vietmam Type Flashbacks"

I hope the "Treatment" is not confined to those !!

I was once, sitting in a Steam Room, at the Club -- in company with some Ladies, who were discussing the benefits, or otherwise, of Saunas and Steam rooms.
One said "Well-- if it makes you feel better -- it must be doing you good "

I ventured the question "Does that apply to Whisky ?"

An interesting discussion followed !

After a couple, who cares!

[Lushabelle]

But, by the time I was in the Study, I felt a sort of genuine love for the little girls in the House. I was so determined that none of us olders would punish, intimidate or bully any of the small ones. They were such a fun group, full of laughter and chat and original ideas. I loved to sit in the Dayroom or Cloakroom with them and listen to everything they'd got up to - plans, projects, the latest craze!

Annabel Lush, Franny Hayman, Melanie Newbury, Esther Poloneser, Margaret Foxton...

What a lovely few words to read this evening - came online and found your comment in amongst all the other stories. Ah - what bittersweet memories. But it's good to know that we were noticed and I have no doubt that we had some wild and wonderful plans - I've never been short of an idea or an opinion! Cheers - Annabel

[Alexandra Thrift]

Hi Lushabelle ,

I saw your photo a few years ago in the CHOGA magazine ( I think it was ) looking quite radiant amidst a group of male Kiwi Blues. Are you back in England ?...Chandlers Ford...as I remember all those years ago?

Good to hear from you. Maureen Connor posted here some time ago. I remember the girls you mention, particularly Franny Hayman. Far too lovely to be imprisoned within the walls!

Have you been back to Hertford, lately ? The walls are down and the normal folk of the town stroll across the square.
Warm wishes to you.

Re: FRGrogan , I have been fascinated by your comments about Misses Thompson and Mercer.
Of all the teachers at CH, they were two of my favourites whom I remember with great fondness. I was interested to see that, according to you, Miss Mercer had no formal training as a teacher ... I found her very inspirational and full of enthusiasm for learning; far too enthusiastic to stick to a rigid syllabus unless forced to by the constraints of time ( the "Logic" O level GCE that the History class studied and passed, all of us gaining A grade, in six weeks). For me she was the best teacher ever; could this be BECAUSE she had no formal training ? Miss Mercer used to tell us stories of her father; they used to converse in Latin which he had taught her at a very young age. We used to joke that her students were the "Creme de la Creme". The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie was possibly another great movie we saw at the cinema opposite the Chapel ? I liked being in her unofficial "club".

My memory of Miss Thompson is of someone rather fun and kind. She did throw chalk around but I don't think we ever felt that intimidated. We loved the firework displays and explosions she regularly amused us with in the Chemi. Lab. If my questions became too metaphysical and earnest - why this or that - she would reply, in her rich Irish brogue, " Because God made it that way ".

I remember regular forays to that Cinema , too. How exciting and special it was to go there ( far superior to the films we were forced to watch in the school hall , where the inaudible sound track was always out of synch. with the lips. Nobody cared about our predicament as it was far more about the staff getting a break than our enjoyment of a movie. After sitting through those disasters we would mock the experience by conversing for hours in strange, distorted grunts and mutterings.) Anyhow, I do remember watching "Funny Girl" at the real cinema... and what a fabulous film it was. Also the delectable , late Alan Bates in "The Go Between" and "Far From The Madding Crowd" as well as the Zefferelli " Romeo and Juliet", and " A Man For All Seasons".

Best wishes to all.

[cj]

I liked letter writing. I found it a sort of escapism to put pen to paper and often wrote several pages to my parents, about what, goodness knows ! Probably everyday mundane things such as what we'd had for lunch and snippets of information about school work. I never wrote about anything BAD, just incase letters WERE read, and also I wanted to block out negative thoughts. School life was gloomy enough without reinforcing this in writing....

I had forgotten all about letter-writing. We sat at the dayroom tables in silence, supervised by either wardmistress or one of the seniors, and wrote home. We were allowed to write to a short list of people other than our parents (was it six?), all to be named on a list agreed by our parents. Letters were handed in unsealed, ostensibly so that any notices could be added, but you could never be sure whether your letters would be read, so had to be careful what you wrote. Bear in mind that we did not have the option of telephoning home to give the real version of the fiction that we had written!!

I had a very long phone call (4 hours!) with a housemate of mine from 1s a couple of days ago and she reminded me that after our letter-writing sessions, our creations were read through by our housemistress, ostensibly to check our handwriting but more likely to check for unsuitable content. Incredible!

[Angela Woodford]

Thank you Catherine --- that was exactly the unfettered opinion which I wanted to hear -- and it was delivered with Humour

Your remark about Alcohol Therapy, was what I needed, after reading about some of the experiences of the tortured "Hertford Lot"

Oh - so glad you needed alcohol therapy after reading about the "tortured Hertford Lot", NEILL.

How amusing!

Some of us coped with Hertford, but some didn't. So... go on

[Angela Woodford]

i was just getting tarted up to go out for a family dinner last night when a really odd thought occurred to me -

Why did none of us have the opportunity to do Scripture/Theology/Religious Knowledge or whatever at 'O' or 'A' level? it could easily have been incorporated into the curriculum, and would have been most suitable for the exam achievements of the Religious Royal and Ancient Foundation.

Perhaps DR's idea of Scripture studies wouldn't have tied in with the accepted exam requirements?

Just wondering.

[midget]

You are probably right, Angela. None of us questioned the fact that we couldn't do Scripture for School Cert, it was part of Holy Writ or something.Actually anyone intending to read Theology at university was allowed to do it, but I am not aware of any occurence in my time at Hertford. The ban didn't stop us having 2 compusory Scripture lessons a week, in UV and VI form We did Church History with Miss Page (Catholics excused after we reached the Reformation) and Prophets with DR.

[kerrensimmonds]

[chaosriddenyears]

Later some did do Scripture at A level because I remember Charlie Lycett doing it and going on about Dead Sea Scrolls and things. Mr Upton taught it I think. Perhaps they did'nt have anyone before that qualified to teach it at O and A level.

[Angela Woodford]

I can remember when Deaconess Ridsdale began teaching Scripture. She must have been qualified to teach the required syllabus. I recall Liz Plummer talking about an Old Testament lesson with interest and enthusiasm.

Recently I inherited, with my late Godmother's book collection, a copy of JB Phillips' Letters to Young Churches. I picked it up and leafed through with a vague curiosity... then realised that this was fascinating stuff. Here was the material that DR had covered in the LV, which I hadn't actually taken in at all. Drone, drone, drone.... It had seemed so dull. Not at all!

Even with her enthusiasm for St Paul, DR had failed to make the Early Church come alive for us.

In retrospect,I should have loved to have studied Scripture properly. When did Mr Upton arrive, Lynn?

I had to chuckle, Maggie, at the Catholics in your class doing Miss Page's Church History only as far as the Reformation!

[icomefromalanddownunder]

My only memory of Deaconess Risdale is being whacked with her bible to wake me up. Very unchristian of her, I thought at the time.

[Fjgrogan]

In fact I did once ask DR why we were not allowed to take RE/RS/Scripture for GCE; I think her answer was that there was nobody qualified to teach it. My memories of school scripture lessons with DR are largely of having to learn chunks of the OT (mainly prophets) by heart, which I have occasionally been thankful for more recently! I also remember in my more junior years learning church history with Miss King which never really inspired me, but later I wished that I still had my notes! Incidentally I also once asked DR why we, not being Roman Catholic, always had fish on Friday; she said that we needed to include fish in our diet and Friday was a convenient day to order it! Nothing to do with abstaining from meat, at all! I also remember JB Phillips translation of the NT being the 'in thing' at the time; it has to be better than today's 'The Message'!