Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

sejintenej wrote:

Angela Woodford wrote:

sejintenej wrote:compulsory cinema in Big School once every every month. Rubbish fillums which has put me off films for life - I got punished for walking out in disgust one evening; I had no authority to criticise the choice made by one of my elders and betters.

Put you off films for life, David? What a shame!

ISTR actually seeing about five fillums:
Dambusters at CH - thanks to Barnes Wallis, and on TV several time since
White Christmas on TV - good the first time but after 100 showings no thanks
Sink the Bismark - I have referred elsewhere to my mother's employer (the Boss) who was involved in the intelligence side of that operation and wanted to see the filmed version and took me
there was one I saw about 3 years about shenanigans prior to Xmas with a mass of soppy endings, everyone getting off with everyone else
a current one about the last months of a couple of terminally ill cancer sufferers - very well made despite the (abridged) plot

I don't think I have missed too much

Love Actually, don't know about the last one.

I love films and my daughter is a film student so perhaps I see more than the average person of my age.

The last ones I saw were "St Trinians" (not a patch on the old ones) and "I am Legend" a post apocalyptic film.

englishangel wrote:
The last ones I saw were "St Trinians" (not a patch on the old ones) and "I am Legend" a post apocalyptic film.

Quite agree Mary.

I haven't seen the latest, but no-one could possibly surpass Sir Alistair Sim in the dual role as the Headmistress and 'Her' brother, AND his protege, the young George Cole as Flash 'Arry !

ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT !

I do like watching films...i watched a mighty heart last weekend-about the american journalist taken hostage and killed in Pakistan! It was very good, i do like films that make you think about other things going on that you generally just ignore in your life.

Saturday evening films happened about once every three weeks. We had to pay for them (1s. 6d. a term, I think.) They were unofficially compulsory, because of what people might get up to otherwise.
We took our travelling rugs, because Big School was cold.
The quality of the projection, and especially the sound, was abysmal.
I mainly remember mediocre war films, like "Albert RN", and the occasional Ealing comedy. The best one I remember was Tati's "Mon Oncle".

The nicest Saturday evening films I remember were when I was a student nurse at St Georges, Hyde Park Corner. In Knightsbridge there was a tiny cinema called the "Minema" - holding maybe 30 people. Incredibly cosy; like having, as nowadays, a huge screen in a sitting room. If you went to an early screening on a Saturday, not crowded at all.

I remember seeing "Cabaret" there. Sighs

englishangel wrote:

sejintenej wrote: there was one I saw about 3 years about shenanigans prior to Xmas with a mass of soppy endings, everyone getting off with everyone else
a current one about the last months of a couple of terminally ill cancer sufferers - very well made despite the (abridged) plot

I don't think I have missed too much

Love Actually, don't know about the last one.

Correct on that one; thanks for the reminder. The last one (currently showing) is "The Bucket List". Two cancer patients, previously total strangers, make up a list of things to see and/or do before they die like skydive, see wherever, do a good turn to somebody ....... Despite the context it is a good fillum

In fact SWMBO and I have a sort of similar list though I can't get her to jump out of a plane and I don't really fancy going back to Manaus when I could go to Peru instead. Some years ago when Ford paid for staff education SWMBO took a one day cookery course which I also paid to attend. The security guard from Ford was also there and he explained it to us. Since then a number of "To Do" books have come out; it gives focus and is worth thinking about. Yes - we have had an original sling!

Of course, Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, haven't seen it but would like to.

Weekends for me were lessons on a Saturday until lunch (in dining hall) then games regardless of the weather!, and finally about 4pm we were allowed into home clothes - to be out of them again by 7.30pm!

Sunday - breakfast in house - usually grim bread - but we did manage to get some toasted! Once a quater we would get a basket of boiled eggs - that was a very special treat as we also got baps instead of bread - we grabbed the eggs, removed the shell and with some butter mashed the hard boiled eggs into our baps... oh luxury!!!

We then had letter wrtinging or prep until Chapel ( bar those of us in senior choir ) chapel, free time until lunch (bar those of of us in the wind band) march to lunch, then the rest of the day was ours... home clothes being again an option.

Long Sats we had breakfast in Dining hall, 2 lessons, then the mid morning break was the end of the day of school, into home clothes and out if you had someone to go out with... there were a few of us who didn't have anyone, and it was an incredibly long and boring day for us!

Jude wrote:Weekends for me were lessons on a Saturday until lunch (in dining hall) then games regardless of the weather!, and finally about 4pm we were allowed into home clothes - to be out of them again by 7.30pm!

That must have changed just after you left then as from 1981-1985 we had no lessons on a Saturday - "just" 1 hour 30 mins (I think) prep. The only way you could miss prep (which was in your form classroom) was if you had a sports match which I invariably did in the summer. I think we could change into our own clothes after lunch - I can't remember if we had to change out of them for tea
The only meal I can remember having in house was on a Sunday - 2 of us had to fetch the fruit (and probably the rest of the tea) from the catering area near the cloisters.

We had no lessons ("only" prep) on a Saturday and changed into own trousers after lunch on Saturday. All evening meals were in house. 65-72.

We certainly had lessons on Saturdays, I thought the whole time I was there. As Jude said it was different on Long Saturdays, we had two of the lessons the previous Wednesday afternoon (making it a Long Wednesday!) and did Prep on the Saturday instead.

As to meals in houses, tea every day of the week and Sunday breakfast were the regulars. Other special occasions, when the Dining Hall was needed for other things presumably, we had lunch in house and also breakfast on the last day of term (every term? just sometimes? can't remember!) I know my last meal at CH Hertford was breakfast in house!

wow - how the system changed - prep on Saturday to lessons on Satruday to prep on Saturday!! I guess with each new Headmistress a few changes were made - After DRW we had Miss Tucker she left a couple of years after me, and Miss Morrison became head - so I can see that each had their own ideas of how we "gals" should be treated!

On two Sunday mornings every term, we got an in-house breakfast, which was a bit of a treat and consisted of pains-au-chocolat and proper coffee and hot chocolate (not just the stuff that came out of the machines in the dining hall) and some eggs, beans, bacon etc. It was always a really nice treat but sometimes it was spoiled a bit by the ever-present idiots who were too self-centered or immature to realise that it was everyone's to share and that they were not entitled to twice as much as anyone else just because they were taller or older.

On the last morning at Hertford in 1985 we had breakfast outside! The benches were all set up outside the front of the houses. I have some pictures of it all somewhere.

We kind of did that too on our last morning! It was more like a barbecue and it was at about 4am or 6am or something, as people were going to and from Sharpenhurst to watch the sun rise.