Pauline Ball (Allen 1948 -1952)
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I joined CCHS in the second year of secondary education, having spent the first year at a grammar school in Birmingham. When I first started at Greyfriars, I thought I had stepped back in history as my school in Birmingham had been a new building, but I soon loved Greyfriars.
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In the latest edition of the OGA newsletter I was sad to see two obituaries of girls who were in my year, Elizabeth Stewart and Una Daldry. I was in the same class as Elizabeth, who I remember as a very clever, hardworking girl. I did occasionally manage to beat her in maths and science and she did keep me on my toes as I was inclined not to work too hard. Una and I were out of school friends as we both belonged to the Girls Brigade and spent a lot of time together. I have happy memories of both Elizabeth and Una.
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I left school after my O levels. I had wanted to stay on and become a maths teacher and Miss King said that I should stay on and train to be an accountant. Looking back on my life I think that Miss King knew me better than anyone. Unfortunately, I don’t think that as young girls we really appreciated Miss King and it wasn’t until later in life that I really understood all that she had done for me.
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My mother was not keen that I stay on at school, so I left and worked in the Midland Bank in High Street for a while. The family then left Colchester and we moved to Portsmouth. I was lucky to get a transfer in the bank. Whilst still at CCHS we had had a career’s talk on the WRNS by an officer and I said there and then that if I couldn’t stay at school I would join the WRNS. Consequently, when I was 18 I applied and was accepted. I spent 13 very happy years serving and was lucky enough to become an officer.
My husband and I settled in Scotland at a time when Scotland were very short of secondary teachers, particularly in Maths. I decided to try and qualify. I managed to get into Glasgow University and duly qualified as a teacher of mathematics. When we both retired we moved back to Portsmouth and I spent a few years doing Supply work and didn’t hand in my ‘chalk’ until I was 69.
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Having no family, I now live in a block of flats which is for ex Royal Navy and Royal Marine personnel. It is a very happy little community. Everything that I have achieved stems from a very good grounding at CCHS although I probably didn’t appreciate it at the time.
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