Up t'inf

[J.R.]

That totally dispels the stories I was recently was told by a lady who attended a strict Catholic boarding-school run by nuns.

[chaosriddenyears]

But then the only evidence we had of male life was Monty, Mr Upton and the Rev. Walker - Peter White was an absolute sensation.

Mr Upton's passionate reading of Catullus ("Mea Lesbia") threw us into spasms of embarassment - after all, he must have been over 50.

And all those bits cut out of schoolbooks!

No wonder if many of us ran away from boys.

Which school was that JR? Why didn't I go there?

[J.R.]

I'm not sure which school it was.

She's the friend of a friend and several of us were all sitting and drinking in a quiet pub one winters evening, all discussing the more interesting school experiences.

[kerrensimmonds]

In my day we only had the two Revd. Walkers - father and son/Ancient and Modern, as examples of the male sex. Oh and Mr. Kelynack, director of music at the Grammar School, who came to play the organ etc. as a stopgap for some reason (was MIss Taverner or her predecessor ill at some point, I wonder...?). Oh, and Mr. Robinson, who was the Steward but then went on to Great Tower Street to be the Clerk.
And gardeners, and estate staff etc.
One of whom reported to DRW that he had found an empty Tampax box in the rubbish. Anyone else on this Forum remember what happened next.....................................??!!

[midget]

It was alleged that a HM before DRW thought that the "teaching" (or lack of it) at Hertford meant that the majority of leavers became maniacs, either religious or nympho. No further comment required.

[kerrensimmonds]

Well at least DRW might have been a bit more informed, albeit wrongly! The incident to which I referred (which will have involved both Katharine - away at the moment - and Frances) occurred when I was in the Lower IV (so my year group was 12/13 ish). When the empty Tampax box was discovered and reported, DRW came into lunch one day and summoned the Upper IV and upwards to the School Hall, after lunch. The rest of us were dispatched to our Houses, anxious to find out what was going on. When those above us returned, some laughing, it transpired that DRW had chosen to lecture them that the use of Tampax would 'ruin them for their future husbands'. In the light of later knowledge, oh how sad.....!!

[Fjgrogan]

Now you come to mention it Kerren, yes it does ring a vague bell, but not something that I would have remembered without prompting!

[chaosriddenyears]

It was alleged that a HM before DRW thought that the "teaching" (or lack of it) at Hertford meant that the majority of leavers became maniacs, either religious or nympho. No further comment required.

Perhaps it was a sign of more modern attitudes that by the time I left alot of leavers simply became maniacs.

[fra828]

Well at least DRW might have been a bit more informed, albeit wrongly! The incident to which I referred (which will have involved both Katharine - away at the moment - and Frances) occurred when I was in the Lower IV (so my year group was 12/13 ish). When the empty Tampax box was discovered and reported, DRW came into lunch one day and summoned the Upper IV and upwards to the School Hall, after lunch. The rest of us were dispatched to our Houses, anxious to find out what was going on. When those above us returned, some laughing, it transpired that DRW had chosen to lecture them that the use of Tampax would 'ruin them for their future husbands'. In the light of later knowledge, oh how sad.....!!

This subject has prompted a memory for me! Mrs Gardiner (aka Mrs Pryke) mentioned before on this forum-housemistress of 8's early 70's- once gave us a pep talk re tampax, but hers was about personal hygeine, and a warning about what is now known as toxic shock syndrome. Thinking about it now, it was a wise, sensible talk and so much more forward-thinking than DR's 'theory'!

[englishangel]

I think Euterpe has mentioned the sixth Form Tampax talk, before but the first week of Lower sixth DRW would come in, tell us she had spoken to the Doctor and as so many of us rode bikes, did gymnastics and so-forth, that it was doubtful if using Tampax would make any difference to our 'virginity'.

Fortunately we were all fore-warned by the previous year so we managed to accept it with straight faces.

[chaosriddenyears]

I think we have to view these things as being a relict of the Victorian era - the 60's and 70's were the beginning of great change, of which we are still a part. Not everyone is able to adapt to change, and many of the older staff, including DR, were too firmly fixed in times that were already past by the time they actually went. We caught the tail-end of this iconoclastic ideology I feel - DR was for me a very hard and relentless person, as were all the staff who sharpened their already razor-edged tongues on our vulnerability. Now and again they scattered a few crumbs of kindness, probably in the view that to show too much would be weak - the fact that we derided Miss Tucker's efforts to humanize and modernize Hertford as "soppy" shows only too clearly how far we were in the process of accepting dehumanization as an optimal form of existence - as a proof of strength in fact.
These tales about tampax are really bizarre, even for the time we were there. I had an older sister - 7 years older than I - who was not at CH and laughed herself silly over my reports of what we were told.

[chaosriddenyears]

Well? Is no-one going to challenge me on this?

Or even make a nice comment?

[Jo]

I think you're right about Miss Tucker. I've said elsewhere that I feel a bit guilty now about my attitude to her at school. I saw her as weak because we were so used to being dictated to, rather than consulted. She had to tell me when my grandmother died, and she was lovely.

I was glad to have seen her again a couple of times last year, including at the carol service where she hugged me and told me I didn't look a day older than when I left (obviously her sight is going...... )

I was very fond of DR at the time because she was quite nice to me - that's partly why I didn't take to Miss Tucker's style, but looking back, DR was a very flawed character in many ways, and just plain wrong about some things.

[chaosriddenyears]

Well, I remember that Miss Tucker told me that I was like the rotten apple in the barrel that would inevitably affect the others. Whatever did I do wrong, apart from ask questions?

But for all that, she invited dialogue, which DR did not.

[Angela Woodford]

Well, I remember that Miss Tucker told me that I was like the rotten apple in the barrel that would inevitably affect the others. Whatever did I do wrong, apart from ask questions?

But for all that, she invited dialogue, which DR did not.

Oh Lynn! "The rotten apple in the barrel". I'm feeling a wave of fury on your behalf!

Why did these women think that they should say such incredibly horrible things to us? No, don't answer that. When I remembered the rude brusque-and-blunt manner of DR, I always thought that never mind, she was gone after 1973 - too late for me, but at least Hertford would now have a good thoughtful kind woman in charge... but perhaps Miss Tucker wasn't as I had hoped.

Lynn, what were your major talents and abilities? Did you feel that any of the staff gave you the right encouragement?

Fume! Fury! Indignation!