Quick questions and (maybe) answers Hertford Memories thread

[J.R.]

Yes, there was. The left hand corner, playground side. In front of it was a display case containing some rather unexciting fossilly things, and on the side wall of the store cupboard, a rainforest poster.

Weren't they the teaching staff ?

[englishangel]

Well they seemed it at the time. I left in 1972 and they stayed until the move to Horsham and as the RIP thread says they are/were 83 or so, can only have been fifty at most.

[Angela Woodford]

Yes, watch it, JR!

Those mistresses weren't so ancient - the age some of us HOBs are now - so careful!.....

[Katharine]

Younger than some of us are now - what a thought!!!

[englishangel]

Scareeeee

[kerrensimmonds]

I feel the need for a darkened room coming on again............while I enjoy Mr. Darling's winter fuel allowance and extra cold weather payments.....

[J.R.]

I feel the need for a darkened room coming on again............while I enjoy Mr. Darling's winter fuel allowance and extra cold weather payments.....

Have yours arrived yet, Kerren ?

[midget]

Younger than some of us are now - what a thought!!!

But I am certain that some of them (and even more so the Ward staff) were never young.

[Katharine]

Younger than some of us are now - what a thought!!!

But I am certain that some of them (and even more so the Ward staff) were never young.

Oh so very true, Maggie! I'm still the same age as when I left school inside my head (well some of the time!)

[kerrensimmonds]

Well, to answer the last few responses to this thread!
Yes JR almost immediately I had my £250 plus £10 extra from the Budget, but I have not yet checked my bank account for the recent additional cold weather allowance - though I think that I should be getting it, cos geographically I am in the area which was highlighted on the BBC weather map. Watch this space!
I guess that like most people I still think of myself as 18 and tall and vigorous - and it comes as a shock to find that I have shrunk more than 4" since then. Also I recoil in non-recognition when I see myself reflected, e.g. in a shop window, as a plump little bumbling ''old" lady who can't walk very well.
Whenever I interact with former Hertford staff - e.g. Joy Holmes - I STILL think of myself as being say 11 and in an era long passed (for instance a gibbering non-Mathematical idiot in Joy's Third Form Maths class) even though she herself must now be well on in years!
And the saddest thing (is it?) is that when I am asleep, in my dreams I am still young, vigorous, athletic - and I re-enact running (I can still feel how my ankles 'clicked' as I ran), playing hockey or tennis and all the things I used to do all those years ago, including - within the last 30 years - dog walking for hours on the beach or over the Downs. Then when I wake up I find that I cannot get out of bed properly because of my arthritis, and that I am hobbling everywhere - and it's only by car that I have to take the current dog to someone else who can walk her, because I no longer can! The realisation that I will never again wander over the Downs for hours, or walk along the beach, is sometimes hard to contemplate - but one makes the best of one's circumstances - and 'self pity' is definitely not in my agenda!
OOPS ..... I think I might have diverted this thread. Sorry! Bet JR will clobber me....

[J.R.]

Whenever I interact with former Hertford staff - e.g. Joy Holmes - I STILL think of myself as being say 11 and in an era long passed (for instance a gibbering non-Mathematical idiot in Joy's Third Form Maths class) even though she herself must now be well on in years!

How true ! When I was re-introduced to 'Rocker Ray' who taught me maths at Horsham, I was surprised to see how short he was, me being 6'-2", and him.....

It wasn't until he spoke I remembered how he used to strike the fear of God into me.

His words on introduction, were, "Well, your name and face don't ring a bell so you can't have been all bad !"

I suddenly felt shorter than him.

[jhopgood]

Whenever I interact with former Hertford staff - e.g. Joy Holmes - I STILL think of myself as being say 11 and in an era long passed (for instance a gibbering non-Mathematical idiot in Joy's Third Form Maths class) even though she herself must now be well on in years!

How true ! When I was re-introduced to 'Rocker Ray' who taught me maths at Horsham, I was surprised to see how short he was, me being 6'-2", and him.....

It wasn't until he spoke I remembered how he used to strike the fear of God into me.

His words on introduction, were, "Well, your name and face don't ring a bell so you can't have been all bad !"

I suddenly felt shorter than him.

I met Rae at a CH Club AGM, and was surprised when he claimed to recognise me, probably because as Editor, I had been pointed out. He then said that he always thought of me as "One of his Lads", which worried me.
I hope he just meant that he taught me, either in 2nd or 3rd form.

[Angela Woodford]

For days now, I've had on my brain the setting we sang for the Prayer Book Canticles.

Miss Taverner took it at quite a cracking pace. The setting got through all the things to Bless, Praise and Magnify by putting them in sets of three, as in

O ye Whales and all that move in the Waters, bless ye the Lord
O all ye Fowls of the Air, bless ye the Lord
O all ye Beasts and Cattle, bless ye the Lord

Praise him and magnify him for ever

I know it's unlikely that anyone will remember, but when did we sing this every year? Was it during Lent? I've been hunting in my Prayer Book, but no success!

[kerrensimmonds]

Yes Angela... during Mattins in Lent, we sang the Benedicite (Song of Creation) - as opposed to the Benedictus for the rest of the year.
There are several settings of it and these days (though Mattins is no longer commonplace) it is usual to group the verses by three in order to 'move it along a bit'

[Angela Woodford]

Kerren, you are brilliant!

Thank you very much. An obscure thing to keep wondering, but now I know.

Lent! I remember the Chapel Altar was draped in a different colour - purple? Or that might have been Advent.

Quite a few of us gave things up, such as sugar. Carola Curwen in 8's attempted to give up bread! Her resolve was crushed by DR, who summoned her for the stern rebuke "I command you to give up your Lenten Vow!" Carola had been overheard anticipating how slender she would be by Easter... We did get through a lot of bread!

Then there were the Lenten Addresses after morning school on Wednesdays, which I rather enjoyed. A change of routine!