Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

That was my main problem regarding the staff and me too whilst at school.

Once out of school I became the person I was supposed to be and discovered the joys of fresh air and water on my skin.

getting a bit long in the tooth and a bit saggy to do it in public nnowadays.

englishangel wrote:Come on ladies, I am sure we know some stuff from Hertford.

There was the time when one of the prefects was going back to the flat late at night and heard splashes and shouts coming from the pool.

Thinking some folk from the town had got in (it was next to the back gate) she went to investigate.

There were apparently several menbers of staff skinny dipping.

The thought makes me feel sick even now, and I am probably older than they were then.

Not that I am averse to skinny dipping you understand.

Nothing more salacious than a bit of skinny-dipping?

Aaaah, innocent times! Did your teachers all really behave themselves?

Well there were rumours, but as I don't wish to speak ill of the dead I will say no more.

Oh, go on.

(I've been dead for years and I don't give a monkey's what anyone says about me.)

I meant deceased, not from the neck up.

Word was that a couple of the staff were gay but one of them taught me for years and I think it was a load of nonsense myself.

We also had a maths teacher still lived with his mother. The A'Level maths group had hours of innocent fun 'Sharon Stoning' him. He was a redhead which meant he blushed terribly.

There was a catfight in the playground one night when the games mistress accused a Sixth Former of stealing her boyfriend, that was fun. I learned words I use to this day.

It didn't seem strange a the time but it certainly does now, I suppose about 60% of our staff were unmarried females. Make of that what you will. I suppose some of the older ones had lost their 'sweethearts' in the war, but that certainly didn't explain all of them.

Unfortunately, as far as I am aware there is only one other woman of my generation on this forum, I know she would probably have some strong opinions.

I admit that I used to feel sorry for (and still do) single teachers/matrons at boarding schools who, by living onsite, effectively sever all links with the outside world. So many of them must just shrivel up inside by the age of 40, contemplating what might have been (relationship-wise) and resigning themselves to growing old and grey in an entirely passionless, loveless environment. It must be very hard for them, seeing young male-female relationships going on all around them. (And being sniggered at and being given unkind nicknames must really rub salt into the wound.) One assumes that matrons and teachers develop unrequited crushes on each other, too. I particularly remember a much-loved assistant matron who turned bitter and miserable in the space of six months, transforming into another person entirely. As far as I know, she never smiled again. 'Twas all to do with unrequited love, one understood.

At least lighthouse-keepers used to go home on leave now and then.

I think though that there were an old generation of teachers who remained single because all they wanted to do was teach kids... most have now left CH and are last of a dying breed...

Great Plum wrote:I think though that there were an old generation of teachers who remained single because all they wanted to do was teach kids... most have now left CH and are last of a dying breed...

Those'll be your "Mr.Chips" types. Dedicated schoolmasters who were happiest with chalk on their cuffs, umpiring a house cricket match, that sort of thing.

However, they weren't monks, so their desire for a spot of nookie must have been either have been heavily surpressed, or confined to activities during the holidays or in the absolute dead of night.

Self-imposed celibacy seems a high price to pay for teaching Horace's Odes to a bunch of teenagers.......

Richard Ruck wrote:


"However, they weren't monks, so their desire for a spot of nookie must have been either have been heavily surpressed, or confined to activities during the holidays or in the absolute dead of night.

Self-imposed celibacy seems a high price to pay for teaching Horace's Odes to a bunch of teenagers.......


Don't forget that CH is a religious foundation and many of the staff, certainly 30 years plus ago, had a deep personal faith based on the Commandments.

For that reason celibacy, self imposed or otherwise, may not have been as big a deal as we might imagine looking at it from the different moral standards of 21st Century Britain.

Also, if you think at the accommodation that was provided for the masters in 1902 - they obviously did not expect many members of staff to be married... with the exception of 6 housemasters (with the 2 rooms in the attic for the maid and butler!!) and the houses down the avenue...

Great Plum wrote:Also, if you think at the accommodation that was provided for the masters in 1902 - they obviously did not expect many members of staff to be married... with the exception of 6 housemasters (with the 2 rooms in the attic for the maid and butler!!) and the houses down the avenue...

True, but that was a reflection of Victorian attitudes, i.e. in order to get a job you had to be a bachelor (preferably ordained), wield a mean cane and sport enormous whiskers....

Aren't you just glad this is the 21st Century?

i seem to remember that in my day one of the nurses in the infirmary had - according to popular gossip - been through a significant proportion of the senior end.

And then there was the Spanish/Portugese kitchen worker who was supposed to have been active will lots of grecians.

Amazing what the teenage mind will invent, isn't it.

richardb wrote: .... a significant proportion of the senior end.

Sorry, can't help sniggering!

Mid A 15 wrote:Richard Ruck wrote:


"However, they weren't monks, so their desire for a spot of nookie must have been either have been heavily surpressed, or confined to activities during the holidays or in the absolute dead of night.

Self-imposed celibacy seems a high price to pay for teaching Horace's Odes to a bunch of teenagers.......


Don't forget that CH is a religious foundation and many of the staff, certainly 30 years plus ago, had a deep personal faith based on the Commandments.

For that reason celibacy, self imposed or otherwise, may not have been as big a deal as we might imagine looking at it from the different moral standards of 21st Century Britain.

On a slightly technical note (very slightly, as it's not really my thing) if you use the "quote" button you can keep your text and the bit being quoted completely separate. Apologies if you think I'm being impertinent!