The Newsletter of the Old Girls’ Association
No. 3 Autumn 2013
Happy Birthday To Us! – 100 Years Whilst rummaging through the archives, searching for material to display at a recent Open Morning, we discovered that the Old Girls’ Association was founded on September 16th, 1913 - 100 years ago!
A Minutes Book (part of which is reproduced above) informed us that the Association had an elected committee, which planned annual meetings with the goal of keeping girls connected to the School. The headmistress and two recent leavers were required to be on the committee in order to connect the interests of different generations. There was an annual membership fee, which contributed to the growing number of social events; they organised dances, picnics and sporting fixtures, with more and more girls becoming involved each year. The membership was increased in order to fund multiple charity projects. The money was used to support local families, help the relief effort in Belgium during the war and to care for children injured when working in the factories. One movement also saw the money used to buy wool to knit blankets for Serbian children during the war. Closer to home, the funds were also used to provide refreshments after sporting fixtures and to fund an annual tennis tournament between former and current pupils. It was also decided that the girls would have an OGA blazer and follow rules which were noted in their minutes book. At our regular OGA Committee meeting in September, we raised a toast to the Old Girls' Association on her 100th birthday! Ruth Parker
For Staff Too, Those Were The Days!!! If my memories are correct, it was the year 1957 when I had a series of minor misadventures that caused great amusement in the Staff Room. I had not long been at the High School and I had already made friends with the Art Teacher, Bronwen Roberts, who in those days was very slim and elegant and smoked the occasional cigarette using a long-stemmed holder. I rented a garage in Castledine Street from a very fearsome lady governor known to all as ‘Mrs. D’. One day I left my car in the garage, walked through the back School entrance, and soon discovered that I had left an important set of corrected exam papers in the car. To my horror I couldn’t find the garage key. Miss Andrews, the then Headmistress and a lady to be treated with great respect, had to have these papers the same day. I consulted my friend Bronwen and we decided that there was nothing for it but to take the garage door off its hinges. A car was standing outside the next garage and I hung my jacket on one if its handles before we set to work. Mission accomplished, the papers retrieved and the door back on its hinges, I looked around for my jacket and found that the next-door car had been driven off with my jacket still on its handle. Most fortunately it fell off a little way down the road. It was also the year of the bicycle affair. I often came to School on my rather posh Raleigh bike, which I left propped up against the School wall outside the Rokeby entrance. One day during the dinner hour I needed to go to the bank. I took my bike and left it outside the bank. Coming out, and being very short of time I grabbed the bike and rode it rapidly back to School. At four o’clock I went to get it and was puzzled to find that the only bike outside Rokeby was a very elderly ‘sit-upand-beg’ affair with a basket in front and a purple velvet seat cover. It slowly dawned on me that I must have taken it by mistake in my haste to get back to School. Next morning I went sheepishly to the Police Station and claimed back my own bike, which had fortunately been handed in. The fatherly officer looked at the two bikes and said,
“Well, young lady, you must have been drunk at the time!”. It must have been a bit later when we invested in one of those new-fangled tape recorders and French tapes. The beginners’ course was excellent, and the Upper Thirds were soon finding their way around an imaginary French town and buying croissants in the bakery. But I remember one occasion when I must have pressed the wrong button and the tape unwound itself and caused havoc in the lesson.
Those were the days! Today Bronwen and I share a house in Dolgellau. No longer, at 95 and 90 respectively, able to get around much. We are content to read, watch TV and play with our beloved dog Brith. From our front windows we have wonderful views of Cader Idris – that is, when it is not veiled in cloud! Mary Chipperfield Modern Languages Teacher (1955 – 1977)
Ruth Griffiths The Old Girls’ Association Committee is losing one of its long-standing members and it is with mixed emotions that we say goodbye to her. Ruth Griffiths, formerly Miss Goodwin, first joined the Modern Languages Department of Loughborough High School in 1955 and from that time she has always been interested in the Old Girls’ Association. Later in her career when she rejoined the staff, Ruth became more involved as the staff representative on the Committee. She was particularly active in encouraging sixth formers to join the Association and she worked hard in her quest to swell the membership. She adopted a very practical “hands on” approach towards the recruitment of new members by speaking at morning assemblies about the Association and visiting forms to talk to students and collect subscriptions. On the occasions when Old Girls were invited to call in to the School for coffee when the Annual Fair came to Loughborough, Ruth would be at the helm opening the building and helping to prepare the refreshments. She also became heavily involved working on the Old Girls’ Newsletter. While the production of the early Newsletter in the 1950s can be attributed to the hard work of “Woody” (Miss Woodward Secretary to the Headmistress)
Ruth and her grandson. Ruth, in collaboration with Betty Mackley, updated and developed the publication considerably. Ruth has witnessed many changes during her thirty-five years as a member of the Committee. She has given a lot of time and energy to its work and the Committee recognises and appreciates her contribution. During my recent discussion with her she acknowledged she has gained a great deal of enjoyment by being involved with the Association and valued having had the opportunity to meet and work with so many people. We trust Ruth will continue to join us in future activities. She will always be very welcome. Jane A Matthews