Proposed gathering at Hertford Museum - 4/5 April 08

[kerrensimmonds]

'Housey!' (or 'Housie!') is such a Foundation of CH-specific acclamation nowadays that I can't imagine anyone rolling back the carpet of history to come up with an appropriate and relevant word to use in a similar way for just the Hertford element......
Ideas, anyone? And a separate thread, as John suggests?!
If anyone comes up with something suitable, perhaps we will use it to close a toast at the end of our evening at Cafe Rouge in Hertford on 5 April. Tho for the time being I can't think of anything better than 'Housey!'!
Kerren

[Angela Woodford]

I'm not in favour of saying "Housey!"

it just doesn't seem relevant to us Hertford girls. "Housey" was them, not us. Perhaps it seems a bit sad that "toasting" was a bit irrevelent to our austere way of life.

We could chorus with raised glasses "Hertford! and the Future!" The best with which I can come up with at the moment...

[Angela Woodford]

Or (having brain blasted through after walk in bitter cold)

"Forgotten Blues!"

or

"Hertford Girls!"

[sejintenej]

Should you not remember with respect those who gave their (near) all to ensure that your successors should never again suffer from the privations and house mistresses that you endured?

Should you not raise a glass of best Tesco's bubbly to

­´­´´´´Tesco!


David Brown (shareholder )

[icomefromalanddownunder]

Or (having brain blasted through after walk in bitter cold)

"Forgotten Blues!"

Well, forgotten by some, but to me we are 'Unforgettable Blues'.

Quick note to all of you who are planning to write about your experiences of the exhibition for possible inclusion in The Blue:

I bags that title

Off to the airport in an hour..............................

xx

[MKM]

Off to the airport in an hour..............................

I hope the journey goes well, and you don't freeze on arrival. We've had cold wind and hailstorms today.

[MKM]

I think we did say (or rather shout) "Housie", at the end of the pinny-flinging ritual at the end of term (or maybe just at the end of the school year). We all stood in a circle on the playground and chanted "The Royal, Religous and Ancient Foundation of Christ's Hospital; may they prosper who love her, and may God increase their number". Then we threw our pinnies (or Black or Green Aprons) into the air and shouted "Housie". Then we sorted out the pinnies, so we all had the right ones, and wandered off.

I'm not sure when this custom was introduced, it may have been part-way through my time at Hertford.

Should we wear pinnies/aprons to the Cafe Rouge, oe will serviettes do?

[Vonny]

I remember the pinny throwing - I think it was only done at the end of the summer term.

[J.R.]

I suppose at the end of the other two terms, it was dummy & rattle throwing ?

[Angela Woodford]

I know, to you "pinny" must sound very babyish, but we wore them and called them that. I think they were changed on a Tuesday, and very grubby they were by then, too.

My older sister once was passing through Hertford at midday, and asked if she could come in to say hello to me. I was wearing my pinny before lunch. Afterwards she rang my mother, and said that I was looking like an orphan in a filthy pinafore.. oh dear!

I'm not sure if our everyday/also worn for games tunics were ever cleaned? Without the pinnies they would have been in a sorry state.

Munch

[J.R.]

Pinnies ???

French-Maids ???

I think I'll stop right there !

[kerrensimmonds]

There was absolutely no resemblance between our blue pinafores (all enveloping, front and back, slip over the head, with a round neck and round armholes) and French Maids, JR. So your blood pressure can come back down.
Once we were senior enough and deemed good enough, we did wear 'black aprons' (and then if very senior, 'green aprons'). These were sort of French Maid models but much bigger - a broad flat panel over the top half at the front, with a broad waistband, from which a pleated skirt hung down to knee level. The waistband buttoned up at the back, where there were also buttons for the straps which went over the shoulders (and crossed over the middle of the back?).
And we had to make them all ourselves......

[Angela Woodford]

Did we make a batch of pinnies as needlework with SWSNBN, Kerren? I've got a dim memory of doing the facings on tough blue fabric - and making a BA ... By the time a pinny was really old, the fabric was unbelievably faded and soft, and a new one seemed a very bright colour.

Getting us to make an item of school uniform! A bit like making a prisoner dig their own grave?

Having read Away From The Bombs and BSIBS, I can't find when the GAs were introduced. Anyone know? Perhaps they were green as in Susannah's dress?

Love from Munch

[kerrensimmonds]

I think I remember GA's being introduced, so it could have been sometime after 1957. Maybe when the Junior Houses were abolished and everyone moved round to live in 8 'all age' Houses?
Wonder if DR mentions it in Half to Remember?
I am sure I made my own BA (maybe two of them? - ?in the Lower Vth?) and possibly later made my own GA as well, just in case?
I remember making one whole blue pinafore (?in the Third Form? - it gave us the opportunity to learn and to sew different types of seam, I think.....) but before that I must have worn someone else's hand-me-down!
Oh happy days....

[Katharine]

I THINK GAs came in in 1960, my second year at the school. It was certainly about then. Before that there were a strictly limited number of Mons Badges, I think 2 for each Ward (yes, Ward!), 2 for HM Mons and Head Girl (possibly also Deputy Head). In my first year, one of my duties while working in the dayroom was to clean the silver Mons Badges each week. Two of them had a 6 on the back, one HG (Claire Roper Power, Head Girl) and one HM for Anne Macintyre HM Mon. (We didn't have a DHG in 6s that's why I can't say whether there was a badge with DHG on the back!) These badges had the head of our Royal Founder, wearing a large hat, on them but had been polished so often that he was frequently mistaken for an oak tree! If more people were worthy of the status of Mon they were awarded a Senior BA, which meant they had to embroider the initials CH on the strap of the BA. Maggie (Midget) remembers doing it for someone. I can't remember whether the new Mons Badges came in at the same time as GAs or later.

As far as I remember, we made pinnies in school needlework in LIV, Spring term. We hand stitched the long seams which seems a bit foolish considering how often they would be washed. Were they run and fell seams? In 6s we made one BA each in LV, as an extra to other needlework. I don't remember making a GA, but I do remember the first lot to wear them having to make them, and grumbling at it! They also complained at the special status of Senior BA going.