mmm This started out as a music thread ! I'll try to swing it back in that direction but meanwhile I must comment on some of the other off-topic posts!
Firstly....Mary McDonagh...she was my friend and started in sixes at the same time as me.She came from Plumstead SW London and her father died when she was young leaving her Mum ( a civil servant) bringing up two kids alone.I stayed at Mary's house one holiday.Two up,two down with outside loo ( no inside loo ). A lovely family who really struggled to get by.If any story illustrates what CH could do for some children ,then Mary's does.
Mary told me that once in a maths lesson at her South London Primary school, the teacher announced that all Prime Numbers could be divided by themselves only and were therefore all odd numbers...In a flash Mary ( aged about 10) had her hand up, asking the teacher " What about 2 ? " .
The writing was on the wall.
When Mary first started at CH she was a bit behind everyone, possibly due to going Primary School in a disadvantaged ( in those days) part of London, possibly also her poor eyesight.I felt sorry for her and used to help her as she struggled with homework.
Well ( tee hee) I must have been a good teacher because by the time we reached the lower fifth Mary was top of the class in many subjects but particularly and especially MATHS and anything mathematical
(Physics /Chemistry/Logic and also er Latin).
Always the last to be picked in sports teams and sometimes teased for her short sight and clumsy gait ( I think "dyspraxic " would be a fair diagnosis....sorry Mary if you're reading this!), Mary had the last laugh.
She was a true genius gaining,I believe, straight As in Pure Maths ,Applied Maths , Physics , Further Maths ,possibly Latin and probably others aswell, at "A" Level.
Oxford and Cambridge fought over her, offering ever more seductive scholarships ,and eventually she went to Cambridge.
She was ( and still is no doubt) a very funny, lovely, most modest person and an eccentric who wandered around calculating strange ,mathematical formulae ( all squiggles and symbols ) just for something to do ! I knew she went on to work at GCHQ ( MI6 ??...do they still use codebreakers?...Mary would get bored!) but sadly we lost touch and I haven't seen her since the day she left CH....though I heard she had two or three kids.
Englishangel....I remember meeting you in the car park when I was with Sue .....she left her unusual surname behind twice...marrying first an Atkinson....and now married to Mr Robinson ( Steve) with a twelve year old daughter Cassandra. She lives fairly near me and is still recruiting. She once got me a job in the City of London as a temp...I became permanent ( of course they couldn't manage without me
) and eventually transferred to Paris, as Office Manager, for the same company where I worked for years. (on the Derivatives Markets.....and yes...it still irks me that Rogue Trader Nick Leeson earns thousands giving "after dinner speeches" having done his job so badly...for another company I hasten to add...as I don't think he would have fooled me!!)
Jude.....You were clearly fantastic at sport and music. The tennis ban seems a bit harsh to say the least ! Aswell as Rosemarie ( Gaye) , there was another fab. swimmer called Roberta Ayles( sixes). She was also exceptionally artistic and lived a bohemian life in Totnes, Devon....I've always looked out for her name on posters ,cards or whatever but never seen it.
I remember Margaret Foxton.There was a whole run of sixes " Headgirls".
Back to music.I remember singing at Westminster Abbey for the 1000th anniversary and marching about in the streets of London.
I also have to mention Catherine Ennis ( sixes) , who got an Organ scholarship to Oxford , has a web site I believe, is illustrious in the world of Organs (
) and still gives recitals in the City of London ...one of which I'm hoping to attend ( thinks...must email her ).I was so lucky ( didn't realise it at the time) to practice my singing ( choir leader) with Catherine playing the piano for me!
