Quick questions and (maybe) answers Hertford Memories thread

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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Alexandra Thrift
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Quick questions and (maybe) answers Hertford Memories thread

Post by Alexandra Thrift »

Does anyone else remember..........?

1. Yuri Gagarin's ( first man in space...Russian) framed photo and Autograph in the hallway of the Science Block,Hertford and how/why it got there? What happened to it?


2.Saying "Quis or Quiz !" and holding up unwanted items to give away ?

3. Any other strange CH language that we used at Hertford ( "Square bashing" , "Ashbourne hats" and "sticking and licking" have already been mentioned) ?

4.Drinking hot "Milo" and inhaling sticky black goo dissolved in a stoneware pot full of boiling water in the Infirmary ?

5. Reading the collected works of Dennis Wheatley including "The Devil Rides Out"....... in the infirmary ?

6. An ancient book (also in the infirmary library)full of sepia photos of a round- the- world type ship expedition including photos of a native South Sea islander ( female) covered in thick hair ?

7.The flower arranging and miniature garden competition ,dutifully organised and judged annually by DR ?

etc etc

Please add your quick CH Hertford memories to this thread....and any answers forthcoming.

BTW.......I am reminded after the seeing the pics of the Dining Hall staircase in the recently delivered "Old Blue"........to ask Who was Sir Harry Vanderpant ? ( late school Benefactor and close friend of DR I know, but what else is known about him ?) What happened to his bronze bust (as seen in aforementioned photo and remembered by Munch ,as a target for the wet dishcloth as we descended the stairs from lunch.) ?

Best wishes to all.
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Re: Quick questions and (maybe) answers Hertford Memories th

Post by Katharine »

Alexandra Thrift wrote:Does anyone else remember..........?

1. Yuri Gagarin's ( first man in space...Russian) framed photo and Autograph in the hallway of the Science Block,Hertford and how/why it got there? What happened to it? YES I think but am not certain, he gave it to the then Lord Mayor of London who passd it on to us!


2.Saying "Quis or Quiz !" and holding up unwanted items to give away ? Yes standard school ploy according to various public school books

3. Any other strange CH language that we used at Hertford ( "Square bashing" , "Ashbourne hats" and "sticking and licking" have already been mentioned) ? I don't understand the word strange in the question, :wink:

4.Drinking hot "Milo" and inhaling sticky black goo dissolved in a stoneware pot full of boiling water in the Infirmary ? Hardly ever in the infirmary - so no

5. Reading the collected works of Dennis Wheatley including "The Devil Rides Out"....... in the infirmary ?

6. An ancient book (also in the infirmary library)full of sepia photos of a round- the- world type ship expedition including photos of a native South Sea islander ( female) covered in thick hair ?

7.The flower arranging and miniature garden competition ,dutifully organised and judged annually by DR ? Vaguely

etc etc

Please add your quick CH Hertford memories to this thread....and any answers forthcoming.

BTW.......I am reminded after the seeing the pics of the Dining Hall staircase in the recently delivered "Old Blue"........to ask Who was Sir Harry Vanderpant ? ( late school Benefactor and close friend of DR I know, but what else is known about him ?) What happened to his bronze bust (as seen in aforementioned photo and remembered by Munch ,as a target for the wet dishcloth as we descended the stairs from lunch.) ? We thought a) he was DR's boyfriend and b) he had paid for an extra set of underpants for the boys - but that wouldn't explain why his bust was at Hertford

Best wishes to all.
Katharine Dobson (Hills) 6.14, 1959 - 1965
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Re: Quick questions and (maybe) answers Hertford Memories th

Post by Mrs C. »

Alexandra Thrift wrote:2.Saying "Quis or Quiz !" and holding up unwanted items to give away ?
Still very much in use at CH ,along with the reply "ego" and then "dici fine"
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Re: Quick questions and (maybe) answers Hertford Memories th

Post by cj »

Alexandra Thrift wrote:3. Any other strange CH language that we used at Hertford ( "Square bashing" , "Ashbourne hats" and "sticking and licking" have already been mentioned) ?
We still use the phrase sticking and licking when tidying up at home. I have no idea what the origins are.
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Post by ben ashton »

Did you use cave (?) pronounced KV as a warning of an approaching teacher?
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Re: Quick questions and (maybe) answers Hertford Memories th

Post by icomefromalanddownunder »

Alexandra Thrift wrote:Does anyone else remember..........?

Hi Alex

Firstly, I hope that you have a great birthday :)



1. Yuri Gagarin's ( first man in space...Russian) framed photo and Autograph in the hallway of the Science Block,Hertford and how/why it got there? What happened to it?

I remember this, and think that there was a message with the photograph which explained why it had been presented to the school, but, um, can't remember what it said.


2.Saying "Quis or Quiz !" and holding up unwanted items to give away ?

Remember this too. Was it not pidgeon latin - as in 'Who' (wants this)?

3. Any other strange CH language that we used at Hertford ( "Square bashing" , "Ashbourne hats" and "sticking and licking" have already been mentioned) ?

4.Drinking hot "Milo" and inhaling sticky black goo dissolved in a stoneware pot full of boiling water in the Infirmary ?

Yay! Friar's Balsam :lol: I tried it once, when living in NZ I think, and forgot to keep my eyes closed - ouch.

5. Reading the collected works of Dennis Wheatley including "The Devil Rides Out"....... in the infirmary ?

Scarey, scarey books. No way would I re-read them now.



7.The flower arranging and miniature garden competition ,dutifully organised and judged annually by DR ?

Remember this: and was reminded of it when attending a pelargonium show in Adelaide. Miniature gardens made by grown women :? - and nothing to rival our creations :lol:


Please add your quick CH Hertford memories to this thread....and any answers forthcoming.

Um, think that most of the things I remember have already been mentioned - Midsummer Revels, wandering around the grounds in the wee small hours garbed in our sexy flanalette nighties and blue dressing gowns; walks to the Lees (Lees? the fields with a river running through them). Other walks to a walled estate - lots of red brick buildings and a hounds graveyard.

Sliding downstairs on mattresses at the end of term - possibly only one term. Can't remember why the mattresses were being bought down from the dorms.

Getting dosed with something disgusting (cod liver oil?) at the beginning of each term. Apart from the foul taste, I felt that it was a huge insult to our parents and their care of us.


Best wishes to all.
Looking forward to reading everyone else's posts.

Love

Caroline
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Post by englishangel »

ben ashton wrote:Did you use cave (?) pronounced KV as a warning of an approaching teacher?
Latin for beware as in 'Cave canem' beware of the dog.
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Re: Quick questions and (maybe) answers Hertford Memories th

Post by englishangel »

Alexandra Thrift wrote:Does anyone else remember..........?

1. Yuri Gagarin's ( first man in space...Russian) framed photo and Autograph in the hallway of the Science Block,Hertford and how/why it got there? What happened to it? I remember

2.Saying "Quis or Quiz !" and holding up unwanted items to give away ?

3. Any other strange CH language that we used at Hertford ( "Square bashing" , "Ashbourne hats" and "sticking and licking" have already been mentioned) ? Sticking and licking -so called because back in the days before self-adhesive tape the glue on the brown paper tape used to repair books had to be licked before it was stuck. Before my time but I have come across it and if you survive you are high as a kite for days.4.Drinking hot "Milo" and inhaling sticky black goo dissolved in a stoneware pot full of boiling water in the Infirmary ? Friars Balsam was the sticky black goo, cleared the brochilas something lovely

5. Reading the collected works of Dennis Wheatley including "The Devil Rides Out"....... in the infirmary ? so that was where I read it, I just couldn't remember.

6. An ancient book (also in the infirmary library)full of sepia photos of a round- the- world type ship expedition including photos of a native South Sea islander ( female) covered in thick hair ? don't remember this one tho' we did have a 'Guionness book of records from about 1957 in 2's which fascinated me.

7.The flower arranging and miniature garden competition ,dutifully organised and judged annually by DR ? The youngest Hayward (Emma?) once entered the 'Music' theme section with a vase of dead flowers as 'Symphonie Pathetique'. DR was not amused but I thought it was pretty clever, and it is the only one I can remember 30 odd years later.

etc etc

Please add your quick CH Hertford memories to this thread....and any answers forthcoming.

BTW.......I am reminded after the seeing the pics of the Dining Hall staircase in the recently delivered "Old Blue"........to ask Who was Sir Harry Vanderpant ? ( late school Benefactor and close friend of DR I know, but what else is known about him ?) What happened to his bronze bust (as seen in aforementioned photo and remembered by Munch ,as a target for the wet dishcloth as we descended the stairs from lunch.) ?

Best wishes to all.
Caroline - the mattresses for disposal were slid down the stairs at the end of the summer term.
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Re: Quick questions and (maybe) answers Hertford Memories th

Post by midget »

cj wrote:
Alexandra Thrift wrote:3. Any other strange CH language that we used at Hertford ( "Square bashing" , "Ashbourne hats" and "sticking and licking" have already been mentioned) ?
We still use the phrase sticking and licking when tidying up at home. I have no idea what the origins are.
More correctly it should have been licking and sticking. Before the days of Sellotape we used Butterfly sticky paper, which had to licked before you could stick it (repairing torn text books) it was not very efficient, and you could easily find yourself repairing the same bit term after term. Your books had to repaired and bundled up before you could wander off to more interesting places, such as the labs, art school etc. Those not engaged in such activities had to polish the desks.

Does anyone remember beeswaxing the Chemistry benches in the lunch break, using a lump of beeswax and a Bunsen burner?
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Post by cj »

I think this was a Hertford thing, and I also remember using it as a junior after the move, but if you wanted to sit next to someone, eg. in Chapel, you would ask if you could "squat" them, and they would reply in the affirmative ("yes, and Esmeralda is squatted on my other side") or negative ("I'm already squatted on both sides"). It was more complicated at Hertford as you had to walk in crocodile to Chapel and it had to be prearranged in House before moving off (without hands in pockets etc), whereas you could just amble in at Horsham. I think we tried doing the crocodile to Chapel when we first moved down but sundry senior boys got in the way and it was soon forgotten. Learning to form up into four ranks from two lines for dinner parade was enough of a trauma.
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Re: Quick questions and (maybe) answers Hertford Memories th

Post by icomefromalanddownunder »

midget wrote:Does anyone remember beeswaxing the Chemistry benches in the lunch break, using a lump of beeswax and a Bunsen burner?
Don't remember doing that, but do remember cleaning out the sink traps in the Chem Lab - Mercury (from broken thermometers) and who knows what else would be down there: amazing that we can remember anything at all, really :lol:
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Post by Katharine »

cj wrote:I think this was a Hertford thing, and I also remember using it as a junior after the move, but if you wanted to sit next to someone, eg. in Chapel, you would ask if you could "squat" them, and they would reply in the affirmative
For Chapel we had a list up (numbers only of course, no names on it) and you had to sit in your appointed place between whoever the Mons had appointed. You very quickly learnt where to stand betwen the garden and the dayroom wall waiting to go to in crocodile to chapel. When they were junior houses 1s & 5s always sat at the front, and then the other houses changed the order of seating behind them. I think our side of the square always sat on the road side of the chapel - am I right?
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Post by englishangel »

I do remember sitting on the field side of the chapel but not sure if it was mandataory. Also I don't think we had to walk in any particular order from 2's, it was just juniors at the front and seniors at the back.
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Post by Vonny »

In 2's we always had to line up in house number order so you always sat next to the same person.
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Post by englishangel »

Well I was 17 and Jane erskine was 18 and in the same year so I would have sat next to her any whichway. I cannot remember who was 16.
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