CCHS

if I had yet been asked to play in that match.  She was to Captain the Oxford side and wanted a goal keeper.  I said Yes! - this would round off my first season splendidly even if I was apprehensive.

 

After about 10 minutes play in that match the Cambridge team were awarded a corner and all the Oxford team (at that time) had to retire behind the goal line.  I remember Miss Van der Spey (PE Netball) sprinted back to take up a position next to me as she asked “How long do they keep this pace up?”  I smilingly told her “Today - probably the whole match!”  At another instance I came quickly alert when Bunty Payne, playing for Cambridge broke through our defence, although quite a way from our circle.  Now I would find out if all those extra practices had born fruit.  That quandary was never resolved as I heard a shrill whistle.  Miss Holmes, umpiring at our end of the pitch had her arm up in Oxford’s favour and the word rang out “offside”.  What a relief and the match finished 0-0.

 

The Team Criticism - 1st XI (1949-50)            *Colours were awarded (!) Colours already held

RB       Margaret Edwards - she is a hard hitting back who has improved during this season.  She is reliable but needs to gain full control over the use of her stick.

LB       Doreen Jay - During this season she has learned to combine well with her half and other back but is still rather slow at clearing the ball.

RH (!)  Mary Long - A very capable player - she controls and clears the ball well and quickly combining well with both forwards and defences.  A captain who will be sadly missed for her team spirit and keenness; her thoughts were always for the team and the welfare of its members.  I should personally like to thank Mary for the help she gave me in my first term here (SMO)

CH      Elizabeth Barton - she is a keen and enthusiastic player who has settled down well.  She is fast and has good control of the ball which she distributes well, but needs to keep her own position more carefully.

LH (!)  Rosemary Palmer - She is a capable and reliable half who works well with both forwards and backs.

RW*    Thelma Smith - She is a fast wing with good control of the ball who combines well with the other forwards and has learnt to distribute the ball more freely.

RI        Leanne May - Although she has settled down well in her new position she is still inclined to be slow.  She rushes well in the circle, thus helping to score several goals.

CF (!)  Pat Moon - Her ball control still needs improvement but she is fast and a good shooter, so that it was unfortunate that she was unable to play in many of the matches.

LI*      Ruth Payne - She is fast and combines well with her wing.  Her ball control has greatly improved.

LW*    Rosemary Gollifer - She is very fast but needs more control over the ball which she is apt to leave behind.  She combines well with her half and inner.

GK      Kathleen Wilson - Although she has come straight into the 1st XI with little experience, she has been quite reliable.  She has improved through continual practice but needs more confidence.

 

I believe Clare Dolph RB, another VI Form prefect, played in the practices and at least one of the first matches, so I give her a mention.  She was also the Team’s Captain.  However, she was due to leave early with plans to go to Australia.

 

In my last year at CCHS (1950/51) I managed to keep my place in the team, which then had six more newcomers, three from my own class.  That season we added knee length red socks to our kit, although they did not always inspire our performances.  Our playing record was:  played 12, won 9, drew 1 and lost 2.  Rosemary Gollifer became Captain with Bunty Payne as Vice and Rosemary Palmer became Head Girl.  Also Rosemary Palmer was absent from the team and school for a while as she recovered from a time in hospital.  The Captain’s Critique at the end of the season, as far as I was concerned, was a different one from that of my first rookie year, and along with Maggie Edwards and Elizabeth Barton (call me ‘Barton’) I too was awarded my colours.  At the end of the season the Oxford v Cambridge match was cancelled due to poor weather, but there was another treat in store for us.  A bus load of hockey enthusiasts, myself and other team members included, left North Hill on Saturday 3rd March for Wembley Stadium.  We were due to see a Women’s International Match - England versus Ireland.  I believe it was the first time the AEWAA (All England Women’s Hockey Association) held a match there.  As Barton said in her report “We saw some superb hockey played, especially by the English forwards; Ireland put up a game fight and the match was not as one-sided as the score of 6 goals to 1 in England’s favour seems to show”.  My diary states “Play was super, magnificent, ever so good.  Wish we could play like them”.  One further point - if you have never had the experience of attending Wembley Stadium for a Women’s International with an audience in excess of 50,000 - mostly schoolgirls - with the noise, shouting, screaming, stamping and applauding - you have really missed a treat!!

 

At the end of the previous hockey article in the Autumn 2020 CCHS OGA Newsletter, the question was raised about further new of team members.  What little information I have of those 1st XI members of 1949/50 after leaving school I include below:  Those leaving in 1950 all completed the Cambridge Higher Certificate.

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• Mary Long was awarded Entrance to Edinburgh University and later on an MA Honours Class II in Modern History from that university.

• Pat Moon, Head Girl.  In her last term at school Pat was Captain of Tennis, playing 1st couple with her hockey team mate Leanne May, with Elizabeth Barton, Mary Long and Thelma Smith also in the 1st VI.  Pat gained a County Major Exhibition to the Royal Holloway College London University (Mathematics).  In 1953 she married Michael Clay and on 7 July 1954 had a daughter, Caroline Jane, and then Pat was in Montreal enjoying Canadian life.

• Leanne May went to the London College of Secretaries.

• Doreen Jay went to Bath Training College for Teachers, was Vice Chairman of the Students’ Council and Deputy Senior Student at that College and gained Distinction in her teaching certificate.  She went on to teach Art and English at Stansted Secondary Modern School.

• Thelma Smith, Senior Deputy Head Girl, won a County Major Scholarship and later a BA Hons Class II in Modern History from Oxford University and later was taking a Secretarial Course.

• Clare Dolph who left and was due to go to Australia, married Ronald Thompson in Hong Kong Cathedral on 25 October 1952.  (Did she ever reach Australia?)  Her daughter, Angela, was born on 14 November 1953.   (Clare travelled as a receptionist to Sydney in October 1949.  The question is did she return to England before marrying Ronald?)

 

Among the team members leaving in the summer of 1951 was:

 

• Elizabeth Barton who went to Leeds Training College; Bunty Payne nursed at University College Hospital.

•  I (Kathleen Wilson) went to continue my education part-time via BX Plastics Research Station where my laboratory was a hot, noisy, steamy environment - an ‘alien’ world.

 

The remaining three members of that 1st XI team of 1949/50 all left after one more year in the team:

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• Rosemary Palmer returned to the team and her Head Girl duties, gained Entrance to Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford (French).

• Rosemary Gollifer became Deputy Head Girl leaving the Hockey Captaincy to Maggie Edwards.  Rosemary gained State Scholarship and Entrance to Bedford College London (German).

• Maggie Edwards went to the FEI Training College at Roehampton. 

 

One is left to wonder why four members of that team of 1949/50 were honoured with Head Girl or Deputy duties.  Was is due to hockey or were they all exceptional young women?

 

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