NEWS FROM OLD GIRLS
Liz White (Bailey, 1960-66)
With a serious lack of copy from Old Girls I am including more memories from CCHS in the 1960s!
The system of punishment was theoretical rather than practical – but it seemed to work. For a minor contravention of one of the many rules an Order Mark would be awarded to be held on your school record and noted in your school report. Three of these would automatically earn a Conduct Mark, one of the worst penalties for a young school girl. For major contraventions a Conduct Mark would be awarded directly. Detentions were given out infrequently and seemed to be more a waste of time for both pupil and mistress than of any great significance. Lines were a great favourite with some mistresses as the girls would have to spend their free time in purposeless activity. To the girls concerned, it was just a laugh as this punishment was not recorded and didn’t take long to complete. In my form particularly, few of these punishments were incurred and whether this was due to the calibre of girl, mistress or school I shall never know.
“House Points” were awarded for exceptional work. I received them occasionally and was very proud but really had little to show for them!
Such accumulations of House Points were reported to your School House, as were Order and Conduct Marks and these latter marks could be detrimental if too many were acquired during the school year, denying the award of top House in the school. There were eight houses named after the English Royal Houses, ie, Plantagenet (dark blue badge), Anjou (pale blue), Hanover, Tudor, Stuart, Windsor, York and Lancaster. (I’m afraid I can’t remember all the colours, so let me know for future newsletters.) This system was started by Miss Vashon Baker in 1953. I was allocated to Plantagenet House with the grand motto “We sweep all before us”. We had regular House meetings, fortunately in school time, and were presided over by our own Head of House, secretary and treasurer. All positions were held by sixth formers and we never thought we would ever reach such dizzy heights as those, but of course, in time we held those posts – I became Treasurer of Plantagenet House – and it wasn’t that hard! After I left I was astonished to see it recorded in the school magazine that I was its “efficient” treasurer! Competition was encouraged between the Houses and there were endless hockey, netball, tennis, rounders matches, etc. I don’t remember ever winning one, but as long as the weather was fine I didn’t mind playing.
I was a proud member of the School Second Netball team and travelled around quite a bit, sometimes playing for the first team, if someone was ill. It seems my obvious prowess was not much appreciated as my role as a team member was never recorded in the School Magazine, much to my chagrin! I was quickly out of breath if I played anything but shooter, but was fortunately quite accurate in that position helping to win a tournament when I managed not to miss once! I enjoyed Wing Defence but having to cover two-thirds of the court was a lot when Shooter only covered one third! I sported the School second team colours, a loosely woven narrow sash carefully tied around the waist to leave two long ends falling over the left hip. The first team had white crossbanding on their colours, but I never managed to get one of those! Netball and rounders in the summer were my particular games. I was fortunately able to hit the rounders ball some distance, allowing me sometimes to saunter round the pitch, but hockey I hated. I wore glasses and, amongst others, was terrified of being hit in the face and splintering my glasses. This never happened but it was a very real and not uncommon fear.
I was also not so good at tennis which we played in the summer. Although I could hit the rounders ball with no difficulty and run and aim with a netball, I could not co-ordinate a tennis racket and ball. I did very occasionally umpire at school matches or act as ball boy to the school team, but even then I only succeeded in tripping on the tennis net and sprawl bleeding over the court! My father had been a county tennis player for a short while in Northamptonshire and used to encourage us to play. I really thought I had achieved something when I nearly beat him, only to discover that he had been playing lefthanded!
Mrs Pipe was our games mistress and although she was considerably more feminine in appearance than many games mistresses, she could make verbal mincemeat of anyone. The staff must have known from very early on those who would excel in games and those who wouldn’t. In particular, few girls seemed to really enjoy hockey and to be forced on to a windswept field in the depth of winter with only short box pleated culottes, aertex top and if it was really cold, a cardigan, was cruelty in the extreme. We would chase around after the hard little ball, leaving the keen girls to do most of the real work, and get shouted at for not keeping up. My usual position was wing, ensuring that I had very little contact with the ball, let alone the game, for a good half an hour. I would spend my time appearing to enjoy running up and down the hockey field after a ball which, if I was lucky, remained a good fifty feet away. After such vigorous exposure to the elements we usually returned to the changing rooms, frozen and red raw from the wind and weather.
We also had to be quite stoical when forced to “take advantage” of the school swimming pool which gave no protection at all from the elements. This had been built in 1961 with funds (£2,500) raised by our own ardent activity and was conveniently placed just outside the gym. It was so exposed to all the elements but couple of years later a rather inadequate six foot high wooden fence was erected around it and whether this was to shield the class from the worst excesses of inclement weather or prying eyes we never knew. We were told we had to go into it when the water temperature reached the sultry heights of 55°F (13C), ie, we could just about break the ice! It was unbelievably cold and
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for a non-swimmer, which I am to this day, the pleasures of the water became remoter by the minute. I think I did splash around in the pool twice in my
regulation black nylon swim suit and white skull-tight rubber bathing hat and vowed I would not do it again.
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It was amazing how many girls developed incurable athlete’s foot (what a misnomer!) and verrucas, not to mention the longest menstrual periods in history (tampons were not so commonly used in those days) to excuse them, by parental letter, from the horrors of the swimming pool. Together with the usual line of girls and, armed with one or more of these excuses, I eagerly joined those lucky enough to escape this particular torment. In the end the mistresses gave in and didn’t argue with the hard core of dissenters, especially as we moved further up the school – it wasted too much of their valuable lesson time with those who were keen on physical activity of any sort – and we were allowed to play tennis, in a very desultory manner as no one was watching, (apart from the rest of the school peering from their class windows!) However, if we had failed to escape the lesson, we were then expected to have a shower, ie, strip and run into the showers with all the others in the class. This was not popular and none of us really enjoyed running naked in front of our peers, even though the hot water seemed appealing. However, the water was not always hot, the towels inadequate - even if you had remembered to bring one - and to try and dry off and put on school uniform in a crowded and wet changing room in the five minutes allowed was well nigh impossible.
Gym lessons could be more frightening than games lessons. We wore regulation navy interlock knickers (some even had pockets!), our aertex shirts, with our names boldly embroidered during Needlework lessons, and no socks or shoes, unless you suffered from the very useful verrucas or athlete’s foot. I preferred to plead athlete’s foot and wear plimsolls as it was hard work jumping around on the wooden floor or climbing up wall bars in bare feet. I found these lessons terrifying as if you fell it hurt and then you were shouted out for falling in the first place. I failed miserably to climb ropes, balance on bars or vault the leather horse and succeeded in nothing! The only protection from the wooden floor was a series of thin rubber mats, but I really don’t remember any serious injuries being incurred by girls, whether good at gym or not.
Mrs Pipe’s main authority, other than head of games, was maintaining discipline in the school. School uniform was her bête noir and woe betide any girl who contravened the regulations. School gymslips for the Lower School and grey pleated skirts for the Upper School were supposed to be exactly three inches above the floor when kneeling. This, of course, did not account for any growth and to be fair unless the skirt was very short nothing would be said. However, a great deal was said when the mini skirt became fashionable and we all tried to raise our hems by turning the waist band over and over, to be quickly let down again if danger (Mrs Pipe) approached!
Blouses had to be tucked in and no sleeves were to be turned up. Cardigans and jumpers had to be the right navy and could only be removed or replaced during school hours if approved by the mistress of the lesson. The blue, red and yellow ties (left) had to be knotted correctly with no extra long or short ends. White socks or natural coloured stockings had to be worn but we did win the day eventually and were allowed to
wear thicker black stockings when they became the height of fashion. We argued, of course, that they were more practical and warm and didn’t get caught on the rough edges of the chairs and tables as did the 15 denier stockings. There were no tights in those days and we all had to wear suspender belts or, if really daring, the new hold-ups. I always had trouble with suspender belts as the clips were lightly painted metal which inevitably wore through to the bare metal very quickly. As a result my skin readily erupted in eczema causing great irritation and soreness, leaving red, raw and bleeding patches front and back of each thigh. Similarly the rubberized grips on the holds-up caused problems, but I was not the only one to suffer this and we would have loved to wear tights if they had been more readily available.
There was also a navy blazer with the school badge (right) and motto “Wisdom Giveth Life” on the top left-hand pocket. The winter uniform allowed for a navy coat or gabardine mackintosh. Many girls had the popular duffel coats with hoods which were warm and successfully concealed the hated beret! An important part of the uniform was the fully adjustable regulation belt, a three inch wide leather and navy buckram strip with integral zipped purse on the right side and a three ball
clip. They were actually quite practical and saved many a lost or stolen purse as these belts would be put in a large box at the beginning of each gym or games lesson together with watches for safe keeping. However these belts were also the curse of many pupils, especially as they were deemed unfashionable and uncomfortable. Mine was not uncomfortable as I was very slender and if anything it would hang loosely on my hips! In the summer we wore red/blue/green and white striped shirtwaister dresses gathered at the waist with our purse belts.
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We all tried to cheat the system and modify the uniform rules, but the real uniform discipline problem was the cherry red wool beret. This was supposed to be worn on the head in a straightforward way, but it was the era of beehive hair styles and many girls would spend hours in the cloakrooms backcombing their hair and securing a very flattened beret or even a beret folded in half, on the back of the beehive with many hairgrips. This was frowned upon heavily by Mrs Pipe and her minions, but it was great fun seeing how far you could go and how often. I never had any luck with backcombing as my hair was too fine and slippery to hold any hairstyle other than pudding bowl. If the berets got too wet (or, perish the thought, were put in hot water!) they would shrink and lose their bright colour – what an invitation to schoolgirls trying to beat the system! The other tactic guaranteed to upset the powers was to keep turning the little stalk in the middle to leave a hole and then pull some hair through it. You always knew if a girl had been caught without the beret as she would be wearing it all day or at least into assembly – this troubled few girls and even earned some kudos amongst the less adventurous!
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