Page 1 of 1
Sometimes I forget
Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 5:18 pm
by Katharine
This morning I was talking with a group of ladies about my age en route to a meeting. Somehow, we got to talking about school uniform, and once again I completely forgot that my experience wasn’t the norm for schools in the 60s. I had said that all uniform was provided including underwear. Somehow it then got round to how frequently we were allowed to have a bath (3 times a week, no showers at Hertford in my day). I had more and more questions, I’d just have kept quiet had I remembered the usual reaction!
I was someone who accepted life at CH happened like that, never questioned it, but definitely became a rebel in later life. Do you ever have similar experiences?
Re: Sometimes I forget
Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 5:36 pm
by LongGone
Horsham in the fifties allowed one bath a week, though showers after sports were common. Truth is, that was probably more than I got at home. The building I lived in had just one bath for four flats, in an unheated room, so not much incentive in the winter.
I agree, I just accepted everything as normal back then. Talking about it to people in the US gets some very strange looks!
Re: Sometimes I forget
Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 6:05 pm
by J.R.
Katharine wrote: ↑Thu Oct 18, 2018 5:18 pm
This morning I was talking with a group of ladies about my age en route to a meeting. Somehow, we got to talking about school uniform, and once again I completely forgot that my experience wasn’t the norm for schools in the 60s. I had said that all uniform was provided including underwear. Somehow it then got round to how frequently we were allowed to have a bath (3 times a week, no showers at Hertford in my day). I had more and more questions, I’d just have kept quiet had I remembered the usual reaction!
I was someone who accepted life at CH happened like that, never questioned it, but definitely became a rebel in later life. Do you ever have similar experiences?
Oh Katharine! Your last paragraph describes me to a 'T'.
I am now sometimes told I'm not PC in my local because of my views by some of the young 'know-all' sprogs. 'Good' I tell them. Nothing will change me at my age.
Re: Sometimes I forget
Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 8:56 am
by michael scuffil
Somehow it then got round to how frequently we were allowed to have a bath (3 times a week, no showers at Hertford in my day).
Three baths a week would have been a luxury in most households in those days, and it was well into the 1970s before most homes had a shower. (It is said that the first showers in Buckingham Palace were installed to meet the wishes of the visiting King Faisal of Saudi Arabia in (?) 1971.)
The first shower I ever experienced was in a college hostel in Cambridge (needless to say, there were no showers in the College itself, where 60% of the students lived.)
Re: Sometimes I forget
Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 11:31 am
by John Saunders
Ref baths.Before 1955 Th.B had showers and a tiled trough bath in the changing room. We used to unscrew the shower heads and let hot water rain down after rugby. We could also fill the bath to overflowing to get a bath about 1 ft deep! THE tiled trough was also useful for keeping carp,caught in the duck pond. This was additional to a rostered bath at night.
In 1958 St Johns Cambridge had a large shower block with many comforts. It was quite usual for undergraduates to stroll through the courts in dressing gowns after games en route to the baths to the amusement of tourists.
Re: Sometimes I forget
Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 6:39 pm
by sejintenej
LongGone wrote: ↑Thu Oct 18, 2018 5:36 pm
Horsham in the fifties allowed one bath a week, though showers after sports were common. Truth is, that was probably more than I got at home. The building I lived in had just one bath for four flats, in an unheated room, so not much incentive in the winter.
I agree, I just accepted everything as normal back then. Talking about it to people in the US gets some very strange looks!
In Col A the showers simply didn't work - the taps were seized solid. As for baths the limit was 5 or six inches depth. At home we had to carry buckets of hot water up three flights of stairs. (The owner's family had working hot water taps but that was not for those "downstairs")
Re: Sometimes I forget
Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 9:16 pm
by michael scuffil
John Saunders wrote: ↑Fri Oct 19, 2018 11:31 am
Ref baths.Before 1955 Th.B had showers and a tiled trough bath in the changing room. We used to unscrew the shower heads and let hot water rain down after rugby. We could also fill the bath to overflowing to get a bath about 1 ft deep! THE tiled trough was also useful for keeping carp,caught in the duck pond. This was additional to a rostered bath at night.
In 1958 St Johns Cambridge had a large shower block with many comforts. It was quite usual for undergraduates to stroll through the courts in dressing gowns after games en route to the baths to the amusement of tourists.
The showers and trough were still there till 1963. But not once did I ever see a shower being used, and I always presumed they didn't work. If you count the trough as a bath, then of course we had lots of baths, most days (in the winter), in fact (but that's a big 'if').
Re: Sometimes I forget
Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 9:32 pm
by J.R.
I can't remember any showers as such in Coleridge B. Just the two baths and the one long trough with tin basins, and that was it. Then there were the two stand up urinals and the one semi shielded sit down bog.
Re: Sometimes I forget
Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 11:27 pm
by jhopgood
The showers over the trough did work, at least in Barnes B.
I seem to remember someone being pushed under the shower, fully clothed, and on other occasions, a coat could be hung over the shower head, making it easier to clean, (a swab's trick).
Re: Sometimes I forget
Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 11:28 pm
by jhopgood
J.R. wrote: ↑Fri Oct 19, 2018 9:32 pm
I can't remember any showers as such in Coleridge B. Just the two baths and the one long trough with tin basins, and that was it. Then there were the two stand up urinals and the one semi shielded sit down bog.
You're talking about the lav ends. The trough and showers were in the changing room area.
Re: Sometimes I forget
Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2018 12:22 am
by J.R.
Oh yes. Sorry. Age marching on I'm afraid.