NEWS FROM OLD GIRLS
Diana Childs (Pennick 1953-60)
In Praise of Miss Nordquist
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You may have read an article by me about Miss Nordquist in a past Old Girls’ Newsletter. Miss Nordquist, the fierce gym mistress of the early 50s with white hair, cut in a severe “short back and sides” style and wearing below the knee, navy pleated shorts, which rose up when she bent down and exposed navy directoire knickers, secured firmly to her knees by strong elastic.
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It was she who would run down the lined up pupils, ready to begin their gym lesson, rub their backs and shout at some, “You are wearing your liberty bodice (right), go and take it off.” She also tied my ankles together with a coloured band, so that my feet stayed together and then made me do bunny hops over a bench in front of all the rest of the class: and showed no sympathy when I fell off the wall bars whilst trying to do a reverse hanging. My goodness, no one would be allowed to attempt such a dangerous thing nowadays, let alone be ordered to do it!
However, I believe that I have a lot to thank Miss Nordquist for. Every girl who entered the hallowed portals of Grey Friars was subjected to a physical assessment and those that were deemed to have problems with their feet were called for remedial exercises with Miss Nordquist. Now, this wasn’t an invitation, it was an obligation! It was held during the lunch hour and Miss Nordquist dealt with flat feet, pigeon toes and fallen arches by making us pick up small bean bags with our toes and throw them into a bucket, pull the arches up and pick up pencils with our toes. We were expected to do “homework” on this by practising at home what we had learned.
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She also ran posture classes during the lunch hours and this required our walking with books on our heads to make us straighten our spines and walk tall. Debutantes at finishing schools could not have had better instruction. After I completed this course, I was awarded a posture badge, a bar of navy blue enamel with a gold edging and POSTURE written along its length. I wore this with pride on my tie for the rest of my time at CCHS!
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Some 70 years later, I am still grateful for these remedial lessons. Although with the passing of time, we are not able to determine how our bones will change in shape, I do believe that Miss Norquist’s intervention and remembering to put it into practise, has kept my feet and frame in better order. I don’t imagine that she was rewarded with any extra payment for the time that she had to put into this extra work, but I am sure there are others who are truly grateful.
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Can anyone else let us know about their time at the Norman Way School?
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