ALUMNAE IN FOCUS: 22
Gillian Brooks (Fulcher) DH’53 Gillian Fulcher is clear about what Sherborne Girls gave her during her time at the School: a zest for life and a commitment to “never waste a minute”. The life of a schoolgirl in the 1940s and early 1950s was different in many ways to that of one now. For a start, as Gillian Fulcher explains, the food available was far more meagre. She says that a clandestine trip to Milborne Port, on foot, for fish and chips was the only way to get a decent feed on a Saturday afternoon during termtime, when the house fare tended to be a slice of toast under white sauce. But some things rarely change, and for Sherborne Girls that is an understanding of the value of being busy, with a variety of activities to keep everyone challenged and amused. “I remember one afternoon when I played squash for 20 minutes, hockey for 50 minutes and lacrosse for a further 50 minutes,” says Gillian. “I suspect this has something to do with my unwillingness ever to be still. I am constantly on the go.”
Happy memories Gillian’s memories of Sherborne are many and varied. She looks back with cheer on that fish and chip sortie, when six girls from Dun Holme walked together in search of supper. She also remembers a half-term holiday spent at School, during which she and her friends hitched a lift in a furniture van to Lulworth Cove. “This would not have been approved of by our teachers,” she says. “And we didn’t give a second’s thought to how we might get back.” The girls obviously did return, and despite their modest acts of rebellion, Gillian says she and her friends had a deep respect for “right and wrong” and a strong moral code. “There was a clear discipline to life at School,” she reports. “We had a set of ideals and were encouraged never to waste a minute. We were expected to
