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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Vonny
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Ashbourne

Post by Vonny »

Anyone remember traipsing all the way up to Ashbourne for games?! Funny how we weren't allowed out on our own shopping until we were around 16 but were OK to walk a couple of miles through alleys in the middle of nowhere!





[Had to remove the etc after the word shopping because of the censor - Mod]
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englishangel
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Ashbourne

Post by englishangel »

MY first year there was a sixth form review for some reason or another and they did a song about walking up to Ashbourne to a tune from My Fair Lady. The name of the song escapes me although I can still sing the Ashbourne song.
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Ashbourne

Post by Alexandra Thrift »

How could we possibly forget " Ashbourne" after all the hours we spent traipsing up there and back. It was usually in a "crocodile" though wasn't it.The journey took longer than the game of hockey or er...what else did we play there? I remember the strange musty,leathery smell of that 30's pavilion with all those photos of past girls , looking mournful, with long plaits. I hated hockey...freezing b####y cold...and all those rampant girls with sticks!

In a way , the journey there and back( considering we had no choice about going...indeed , at Hertford we had little choice about anything did we?) was quite scenic, and changed with the seasons.However, I loathed Ashbourne.I wonder if the plot is all built on, now.It was massive and must have been worth a fortune! I remember when I first went ( I don't think we went in our first year?) the field seemed so huge I felt minute, a tiny ant on the vast face of the globe :shock:

If you can remember the words to the Ashbourne song englishangel, I might be able to match it to the My Fair Lady tune ( "Wouldn't it be Luvverly" is a good tune to write a silly song to....?) There was a sixth form revue every other year( I think). Actually wasn't it to " Walk up the Avenue "( NOT from My Fair Lady...but some Judy Garland film) but we sang " Walk up to Ashbourne"....we changed the words for more apt modes of transport ?? Or it may just be my false memory syndrome and wild imagination :D


Yes, googled and found the original words....do you have the C.H. ones eenglishangel?

We're a couple of swells
We stop at the best hotels
But we prefer the country far away from the city smells
We're a couple of sports
The pride of the tennis courts
In June, July and August we look cute when we're dressed in shorts
The Vanderbilts have asked us up for tea
We don't know how to get there, no siree
No, siree


We would drive up the Avenue, but we haven't got the price
We would skate up the Avenue, but there isn't any ice
We would ride on a bicycle, but we haven't got a bike
So we'll walk up the Avenue
Yes, we'll walk up the Avenue
And to walk up the Avenue's what we like


Wall Street bankers are we
With plenty of currency
We'd open up the safe but we forgot where we put the key
We're the favorite lads
Of girls in the picture ads
We'd like to tell you who we kissed last night but we can't be cads
The Vanderbilts are waiting at the club
But how are we to get there, that's the rub
That's the rub


We would sail up the Avenue, but we haven't got a yacht
We would drive up the Avenue, but the horse we had was shot
We would ride on a trolley car but we haven't got the fare
So we'll walk up the Avenue
Yes, we'll walk up the Avenue
Yes, we'll walk up the Avenue till we're there


We would swim up the Avenue but we haven't any lake
So we'll walk up the Avenue
Yes, we'll walk up the Avenue
Yes, a walk up the Avenue's what we'll take

songs from Judy Garland
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englishangel
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Ashbourne

Post by englishangel »

Wow Alex, well done.

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.

Do you remember 'Heroes through the Ages' in our second year? William Tell, John Smith and Hercules are the three who spring to mind.

Then in the final year (the year of the TutanKhamen exhibition) we did a skit on the finding of the tomb, and I (as Howard Carter) lit a cigar and smoked it to the 'Hamlet' music when I found the tomb, to a great gasp from the rest of the school.
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Post by Vonny »

:shock: Obviously we weren't so poetic in my day :lol:

Btw - did you not have tennis courts at Ashbourne in your day? There were at least 6 or so right at the far end in my time.
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englishangel
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Ashbourne

Post by englishangel »

Vonny wrote::shock: Obviously we weren't so poetic in my day :lol:

Btw - did you not have tennis courts at Ashbourne in your day? There were at least 6 or so right at the far end in my time.
We played cricket, and I think the tennis courts and an all weather hockey pitch were put in while we were there.
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Re: Ashbourne

Post by Euterpe13 »

englishangel wrote:
Vonny wrote::shock: Obviously we weren't so poetic in my day :lol:

Btw - did you not have tennis courts at Ashbourne in your day? There were at least 6 or so right at the far end in my time.
We played cricket, and I think the tennis courts and an all weather hockey pitch were put in while we were there.
Must have been in your last year, because I don't remember an "all weather pitch", just your basic mud. However, I do remember playing hockey up there in the fog, when from the middle of the pitch you could not see either goal... the best bit about Ashbourne was indeed the walk -remember the bit that goes through the grave-yard? And, of course, the terribly seductive Ashbourne hats...
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englishangel
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Re: Ashbourne

Post by englishangel »

Euterpe13 wrote:
englishangel wrote:
Vonny wrote::shock: Obviously we weren't so poetic in my day :lol:

Btw - did you not have tennis courts at Ashbourne in your day? There were at least 6 or so right at the far end in my time.
We played cricket, and I think the tennis courts and an all weather hockey pitch were put in while we were there.
Must have been in your last year, because I don't remember an "all weather pitch", just your basic mud. However, I do remember playing hockey up there in the fog, when from the middle of the pitch you could not see either goal... the best bit about Ashbourne was indeed the walk -remember the bit that goes through the grave-yard? And, of course, the terribly seductive Ashbourne hats...
I think it was just as I went into Sixth Form. I had forgotten about the graveyard but I do remember the fog.

Some nice pics on FRU of the Ashbourne hats.

I have a pic of my husband in something very similar though it is covered in Sherbet dips.

My kids do their cross-country runs through a cemetery.
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Post by Vonny »

I remember taking a detour on the way to Ashbourne with another girl so she could have a fag - we cut through a residential area (Mr Bentley the maths teacher apparently lived somewhere around there) - we got set upon by a group of about 10 girls from a local school. We legged it (luckily I was very fast at running in those days :lol: ) - the girls chased us but we managed to get away & rejoin the main Ashbourne route when the girls stopped at a bridge at the bottom of the alley 8)
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Ashbourne

Post by Alex vS »

I remember Sports Day up at Ashbourne, and the weekly walk up there running the gauntlet of the local kids waiting for their buses to go home.

We used to have cricket practice at the main school on a Thursday evening. It meant getting out of prep, and ran from 6pm to 7pm. That meant you were back in the house in time to get a good seat for Top of the Pops! It was the only reason I started playing cricket - I never made a team! The cricket coach would stand in the middle of us round in a circle and whack the ball into the air. He'd only let you leave if you'd caught one. Still bl**dy good at catching 22 years later!
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Re: Ashbourne

Post by Vonny »

Alex vS wrote:We used to have cricket practice at the main school on a Thursday evening. It meant getting out of prep, and ran from 6pm to 7pm. That meant you were back in the house in time to get a good seat for Top of the Pops! It was the only reason I started playing cricket - I never made a team! The cricket coach would stand in the middle of us round in a circle and whack the ball into the air. He'd only let you leave if you'd caught one. Still bl**dy good at catching 22 years later!
I did cricket practice as well :lol: Think our coach was Mr Lewis :?
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Re: Ashbourne

Post by Jude »

Euterpe13 wrote:
englishangel wrote:
Vonny wrote::shock: Obviously we weren't so poetic in my day :lol:

Btw - did you not have tennis courts at Ashbourne in your day? There were at least 6 or so right at the far end in my time.
We played cricket, and I think the tennis courts and an all weather hockey pitch were put in while we were there.
Must have been in your last year, because I don't remember an "all weather pitch", just your basic mud. However, I do remember playing hockey up there in the fog, when from the middle of the pitch you could not see either goal... the best bit about Ashbourne was indeed the walk -remember the bit that goes through the grave-yard? And, of course, the terribly seductive Ashbourne hats...
That walk up to Ashbourne in our games kits, looking back no wonder we have paedophilia! what with blues, short skirts (I had yellow socks) and a yellow shirt ( oh what is the propper name for it....??) not only in crocodile formation, but being yelled at by both public and staff to get a move on.. I do remember going up to Haleybury to play cricket once - but that was an even longer walk!!

During my time there were about 8 tennis courts / netball courts, hockey pitch/cricket pitch and the 1500 metre track, plus all the nets for javelin throwing shot putting and discus throwing - I did shot and discis - couldn't throw a stick consistently enough - however was in the cricket team as was ambidextourus (speel chock?) and could bowl or bat with either hand!! :roll:
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Post by WildOne »

I remember captaining 4's cricket team one year at Ashbourne, and being totally frustrated by one girl's refusal to 'back up' (ie leave her crease just after the ball was bowled, in hopeful anticipation of a run).

After yelling "Back up!!!" at her from the boundary, I was warned that this was unladylike behaviour, and the second time it slipped out I was barred from batting for my house in that match! Oh the desperation I felt at the unfairness of it all! LOL

On another occasion, I was writing to my boyfriend at Ashbourne whilst waiting to bat, and for some reason, in total innocence, I told him I was sitting under a big tree wearing PE socks and gym shoes. Needless to say, he thought I was being deliberately provocative and wrote back that he had many 'enjoyable moments' envisaging me under a tree in nothing but my socks and gym shoes!!! (which, at the time, I STILL didn't get his drift... LOL)

So there is definitely one person somewhere who has delightful, albeit imagined, memories of that dreaded place! ;)

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Post by englishangel »

He obviously couldn't imagine your grey nylon socks and Dunlop Green Flashes.

You were a fiendish hockey player too Rosemarie if I remember.
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Post by Jude »

Lost me health
have no wealth...

but the GP has prescribed a 12 week course at the local leiseure centre Gym to try to "make me happier" as it were.....

It's almost as embarassing as Ashbourne.... all these incredibley well toned bodies running on the treadmill, pushing up and down on that weird walking thing, zipping along on the rowing machine (I lasted 3½ minutes...), and me in a Trashco "track suit" (nee leisure suite!!), no trainers (haven't had a pair since my youngest was 2! and she's 18 in Feb - arghhhhhhhh) trying to look as elegant as a michilin body can....

Well in 12 weeks I might be thinner - or happier - currently neither - waiting for builders to arrive - already an hour late........... guess I'd better go boil the kettle before I boil my head!

:oops:
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