Housemistresses

[Angela Woodford]

That's more like the kind of naughtiness I got up to at the end of my days there.......though one or two of my stories are unmentionable on the www

Obviously, you are a mistress of subterfuge Alex - remember the rave leaving report DR wrote about you? Console me by telling at least one of these stories... c'mon....

Waiting - fascinated -

Munch

[EvilAkela]

In the early 80s there was a Housemistress of 6s called Mrs Milligan.
My first job after college was a junior House mistress at St Mary's School in Calne (at the time Jade Jagger was thrown out) and Mrs Milligan was there as an asst Hosemistress (and yes the adverts were still in The Lady).

[Vonny]

I don't remember Mrs Milligan. I do remember that 6's seemed to be the only house that went through housemistresses like no ones business though! I know Pot took over for some time but I can't remember who else there was now

[icomefromalanddownunder]

I don't remember Mrs Milligan. I do remember that 6's seemed to be the only house that went through housemistresses like no ones business though! I know Pot took over for some time but I can't remember who else there was now

Our record during my era was two veryshort terms. Mrs Blunt and I entered the hallowed grounds at the same time, but she beat me out the gates by leaving at the end of Christmas Term.

Then came, er, can't remember - sister of 5's Housemistress - who was reasonably quickly followed by Pot, who outsurvived myself and my contemporaries.

xx

[Fran]

Anyone remember Mrs Walters, house 4, who replaced Bessie?

[Angela Woodford]

Our record during my era was two veryshort terms. Mrs Blunt and I entered the hallowed grounds at the same time, but she beat me out the gates by leaving at the end of Christmas Term.

Then came, er, can't remember - sister of 5's Housemistress - who was reasonably quickly followed by Pot, who outsurvived myself and my contemporaries.

xx

Poor, poor bewildered Mrs Blunt. She had a large darkish daughter called Felicity, who, from time to time, stayed in the Maid's Room, and would sometimes emerge clad in karate kit. Goodness knows where in Hertford she would go.

The 5's Housemistress Caroline remembers is Mrs Curtis (The Goat) who, as Mrs Blunt fled defeated from our community, produced a slimmer more elegant sister, Miss Jackson. Jackdaw! A bit of a shoo-in. Remember the perfectly set silver hair, the pastel co-ordinating pencil skirts and pure wool polo-neck jumpers, worn with immaculate 3" heel court shoes? All horribly unsuitable for belting up and down the stairs - say, Wardrobe Room to riot in Cloakroom. The graceful slow pace, audible from a distance, enabled us to create a Jackdaw-tease warning cry of "B-aa-p! B-aa-p!", so that by the time the poor woman arrived at the trouble spot, there would be nothing but hysterical giggling, and nothing, but nothing to merit reproach.

I really think that we caused Jackdaw to crack up. She didn't last long - maybe a year? B-aa-p!

Then the more robust Miss Scott-Haughton (Pot) arrived. Ee..eee... m'chuldren!

[icomefromalanddownunder]

The 5's Housemistress Caroline remembers is Mrs Curtis (The Goat) who, as Mrs Blunt fled defeated from our community, produced a slimmer more elegant sister, Miss Jackson. Jackdaw! A bit of a shoo-in.
Then the more robust Miss Scott-Haughton (Pot) arrived. Ee..eee... m'chuldren!

Thanks Munch . The Jackdaw year seems to be one that has been mostly wiped from my conscious memory - not sure why.
xx

[Liz Jay]

Hi All

Well I had slightly longer with Miss Scott-H but The Jackdaw came first and I remember her very well. She stood no chance of ever sneaking up on us with those noisy tapping heels (and we would sing...." I hear the sound....of fairy foo-ooot steps...") and collapse about giggling, assuming innocent expressions as she approached. I think actually she was quite kindly but totally bemused by our naughtiness!

Not as much of A Character though as her successor!

[Alexandra Thrift]

Hi Everyone and love to all,

Sorry I haven't posted much lately but really am very busy.

Just wanna say how lovely that weekend in Hertford was xxx and if Kerren's reading , I'm going to try and make 2nd August.

What a joy to read Munch's hilarious and oh so accurate memoirs ! Please write that book Munch ! I hope you are feeling much better after your op.xxx

As for our Housemistresses....well from what Katharine ( and others) say, all Sixes penances were paid after suffering the dreaded Miss Jenkins ( the Hag) for several years. I have to say that Mrs Blunt, Miss Jackson and even Pot ( Miss Scott-Haughton ) were quite kindly and had to put up with us ( abandoned, adolescent and sometimes resentful as we were).

I feel quite ashamed about the way I behaved....making those "Jackdaw" noises whenever Miss Jackson approached ( fragile and delicate as she was )!

Miss Scott-Haughton was made of Iron Scottish grit and survived our behaviour without flinching...returning to work victorious ,when necessary, even after her retirement.

I have an abiding vision of her, standing in her living room, her hand behind her back as she interrogated me, with a plume of acrid yellow smoke rising above her hair. ( cork tip Craven A, wasn't it ?....or Black Cat ? )

[Liz Jay]

Hi Alex

Definitely Craven A!

Love
Liz x

[Angela Woodford]

Cork-tipped Craven 'A' it was! I feel that they may well have done for her in the end.

I must have been in the LV1 - I was in the Wardrobe Room, ironing the latest stage I'd reached in my School Needlework. A sort of button-down-the-front effort it was, in my favourite scarlet, but I'd attempted bound buttonholes which looked horrible; puckering and boggling. A total -despair situation! Anyway, there I was desperately pressing away with a damp cloth, when I heard Pot emerge from her bedroom. I heard her cross the landing. Silence. She was checking through the crack in the door to see if anyone was there.

She always was cautious smoking outside the confines of her room in case she ran into an easily corrupted junior.

But it was only me in the Wardrobe Room, and in she came.

"Eee-ee, Angela (cough cough) I've something to tell ye!" She regarded the smouldering tip of the Craven 'A' with careful consideration. "I've decided to - eee - give up smoking. Ye know tha' they call me "Pot" because of the smoking?".

I was startled. Such an ambition seemed well nigh impossible, given the strength of her smoking habit. Her nickname was unrelated to smoking anyway! Scott-Haughton = Pot Haughton.

"Ah" I said carefully, moving the iron in a completely preoccupied way.

"And wha's more" Pot said triumphantly "I ha' told Miss West! And do ye know wha' she said?"

I indicated that I couldn't imagine.

"She said "Verra guid, Miss Scott Haughton!" What d'ye think o'thart?"

I said that I was bowled over by such an amazing response. Pot and the smouldering Craven 'A' ambled off and I folded up the ironing board and my stupid bl**dy Needlework - and by chance, looked down into the Square. DR herself was heading purposefully in the direction of 6s front door! I was just in time to belt down the stairs to warn Pot, who was quickly there to meet and greet, beaming effusively, breathless and fagless. E-eee ee-ee! (Cough)

The "giving up smoking" lasted a few days, no doubt horrible for poor Pot. After that, I'd say goodnight to her, and there wouldn't be the fag concealed behing her back, but smoke would be billowing forth from behind one of her sitting room curtains. Then it was back to the old ways again, and there was no more talk of giving up.

(My buttonholes never did look presentable. )

[Vonny]

Pot was still smoking in the early 80's

[Ajarn Philip]

Angela Woodford, ma'am, I love your stories.

[Angela Woodford]

Thank you Philip... weird how things come back to memory in the twilight years...

I know I've said so before, but those Housemistresses had a very insulated life, didn't they? They had a sitting room and a bedroom rather horribly in juxtaposition with our living quarters. Very little privacy, or the chance of a social life of their own.

Did they even have a telephone in their sitting room?

I don't remember ever hearing a phone ring in Pot's room. Perhaps she had a landline, but nobody ever rang her? Although I'm sure that if she had had a phone, we would have cracked some method of making illicit calls on it.

Pot had one day off per week. After a while, she announced proudly that she was buying a flat - could have been in Hoddesden? I felt very pleased for her - she was really delighted to have somewhere of her own (ee - eee (cough) m'flart) and territory free from us lot! The sad thing about the giving up smoking story is that she was so thrilled that DR had said "Very good!" to her at all! DR had said something encouraging! Amazing.

It comes back to me now that on Pot's day off we had a replacement Housemistress called Mrs Warner. She was a big introverted woman with a strange stiff gait, who seemed to be blind in her left eye. Nobody played up to this poor woman. She didn't seem very up to the job.

What a life those Housemistresses had. But no excuse for the dreadfulness of Millie, or the meanness of The Hag.

[Jo]

We shared Mrs Warner with you as a deputy housemistress. The deputies only started sometime after I started at CH, probably 1968. I think the idea was to be able to give the regular housemistresses a bit more time off, at least during the daytime - the deputies didn't live in, or even sleep over (except perhaps very occasionally). There was one per two houses.

Mrs Warner I think meant well, but as you say wasn't really up to it. I remember when the cubies were being built, there were pencil marks on the walls that the builders or decorators had left, and Mrs Warner made the mistake of asking Linden Fletcher, then in the LVI, whether she had been drawing on her walls. Anyone who knew Linden would know what a misguided question this was - she was the sort of person who was probably born grown up . Linden's response was something along the lines of "Really, Mrs Warner! How old do you think I am?" Her health got the better of her in the end and she ended up virtually blind. I remember going with Judy Debenham to visit her, possibly even after I'd left, and she was very kind and pleased to see us.