OGS Newsletter 2016-2017

MAIDSTONE GIRLS’ GRAMMAR SCHOOL OLD GIRLS’ SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER 2016 – 2017

www.mggs.org

COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESIDENT Headteacher Miss Deborah STANLEY VICE PRESIDENT Miss Mary HARVEY 74 Poplar Grove, Maidstone, Kent ME16 0AL HONORARY SECRETARIES Mrs Carolyn CHRISTIE (Blight) Knowle Cottage, The Green, Bearsted, Kent, ME14 4DN (Minutes) Mrs Margaret MILES (Pearce) 14 Birch Crescent, Aylesford, Maidstone, Kent ME20 7QE (Social) Mrs Dawn Munn (Herbert) 41 Palm Way, Lyminge, Folkestone, CT18 8JN (Membership HONORARY TREASURERS Mrs Kathleen CARTER (Hall) 9 Creve Coeur Close, Bearsted, Maidstone Kent (Accounts) BARNARDO’S REPRESENTATIVE Mrs Monica BLIGHT (Chambers) 47 Rectory Lane South, Leybourne, West Malling, Kent ME19 5HA HONORARY AUDITOR Mrs Fiona RINGWOOD (Hesketh) NEWSLETTER EDITOR Lindsay HORNE (Booth) 75 Grace Avenue, Maidstone, ME16 0BS COMMITTEE MEMBERS Debbie FENN (Taylor) The Grange, Maidstone Road, Marden, TN12 9AG Lyn GODWIN ( Bourne) Hambleden, Queens Avenue, Maidstone, ME16 0EN Sonia WALSH 4 Bockingford Mill Cottages, Bockingford Lane, Tovil, ME15 6DP Sharon TAYLOR 46 Essex Road, Halling, ME2 1AU Elizabeth GOODMAN (Smith) 54 Church Road, Paddock Wood, TN12 6HE Christine COX (Bennett) Butterflies, Somerfield Road, Maidstone, ME16 8JJ Alison HESKETH 4 Highberry, Leybourne, West Malling, Kent ME19 5QT OGS REPRESENTATIVE ON THE Lindsay HORNE (Booth) BOARD OF GOVERNORS

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR I’m very pleased to have this opportunity to introduce myself as the new editor of the annual newsletter.

The very first thing to do is to thank Alison Hesketh for her hard work, over a number of years, both as newsletter editor and membership secretary. Alison has decided to step back from those roles, but happily is still very much involved as a committee member. Thanks also to those members who have been in touch with their news and I hope to hear from more of you over the next year. You can either send me your news or email me at Lindsay@kent75.force9.co.uk. As always we are dependent on all of you to keep your newsletter interesting for the members.

A highlight of this past year was the official opening for the school’s new sports centre. I was delighted to be invited as an old girl and we all enjoyed a wonderful afternoon at the school. The ribbon was cut by our Olympic medallist old girl, Lizzie Yarnold who, although being impressed by the fabulous new facilities, did also reminisce about her fond memories of the old hall. We were treated to displays by the students of dance, rowing (on machines!) and netball from the viewing gallery. It’s very different from the hall many of us remember and I wonder how many more future Olympians might use it. The event was, however, tinged with sadness. Molly Tipples, the Chair (and old girls’ representative) of the Board of Governors, passed away just before the opening. Molly was a driving force in getting the sports hall built and her commitment has been recognised by the hall being named after her. It was wonderful that her family were able to attend the opening and share in a special day.

We have been working with the school to explore how we can better keep connected with former students. As many of you will know, there is an Alumni group and it makes sense to work more closely to improve communications. Many of you now receive your newsletter by email and we are making plans to also have this on the school website where it can be available to everyone. Of course not everyone has access to a computer so some of you will still receive your newsletter by post. This is very expensive and we would prefer to switch as many people as possible over to an electronic distribution. If we don’t have your email address, please contact myself or Dawn Munn (membership secretary).

Finally, just to say that I hope to meet as many of you as possible at the AGM.

Lizzie cuts the ribbon to open the new sports hall Lindsay Horne

MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY Please send any changes: names and/or address to Dawn MUNN

BARNARDO’S STALL 2016 The Barnardo’s stall at the AGM on 19th March raised £164 including donations.

As usual our continued fundraising and commitment was much appreciated by Barnardo’s. Their ongoing purpose is to transform the lives of the most vulnerable children across the UK through the work in their services, campaigns and research expertise, and our own donation goes towards this work.

Monica Blight

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE There are generally two committee meetings per year, one in either October or November and one in March, and then there is the main event, the Annual General meeting which is normally in late March. In February committee members meet to pack the AGM invitations and the Newsletter into envelopes ready for postal distribution. Although it is preferable that committee members can attend all meetings, it is not essential. The main day is the AGM when the committee meets early to prepare the buffet and the rooms in advance of the AGM, helps with refreshments during the day, and then cleans up afterwards.

If you would like to join the Management Committee, for which the only qualifications needed are a sense of humour and enthusiasm, please contact Carolyn CHRISTIE .

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS 2017 Saturday 25 March 2018 Saturday 7 July (combined 130th anniversary celebrations)

OLD GIRLS’ SOCIETY PRIZEWINNER 2016

Philippa Child

MAIDSTONE GRAMMAR SCHOOL FOR GIRLS OLD GIRLS' SOCIETY FINANCIAL SITUATION AT 31ST DECEMBER 2016 INCOME AND EXPENDITURE (GENERAL FUND) FOR YEAR ENDED 31ST DECEMBER 2016 EXPENDITURE

INCOME £ p 472.30 276.07 50.00

Administration AGM lunch Speech Day Prize Excess of income over expenditure

Annual subs AGM lunch AGM raffle Transfer from Life Fund

1.63 £800.00

£ p 80.00 555.00 110.00 55.00 £800.00

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE (LIFE FUND) FOR YEAR ENDED 31ST DECEMBER 2016 EXPENDITURE

INCOME

Transfer to General Fund Excess of income over expenditure

£ p 55.00 16.65

£ p 50.00 1.65 20.00

Life Subs Interest Donation

£71.65

£71.65

BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31ST DECEMBER 2016 LIABILITIES General fund balance at 1.1.15 Plus excess income

ASSETS £ p 1119.38 1.63

£ p

1121.01 Life fund balance at 1.1.15 Plus excess income

2147.26 16.65

Royal Bank of Scotland Treasurer's Account Premium Account Cash

3291.28 10.14 1.72

2163.91 Sundry creditors b/fwd

18.22 £3,303.14

Note: Life Fund balance at 31.12.16 includes £180.00 Overseas Travel Fund

£3,303.14

TREASURER’S REPORT FOR 2016 I am pleased to report that at the end of 2016 our total assets had increased compared to the position at the end of 2015, although only by approximately £18!

It was good to see that numbers attending the AGM lunch were slightly higher than those attending in 2015. The AGM generated a useful income of almost £280, thanks in particular to committee members who give so much in both time and money to ensure the event’s success. An additional £110 was raised by the raffle. The income provided by the AGM continues to be vital to our existence, as the income generated by subscriptions would meet only a fraction of our administration costs.

Although our financial situation is not a cause for concern in the immediate future, the committee is anxious to continue to find ways of cutting costs wherever possible. We would ask you to consider switching to receiving items by e-mail rather than post if this is at all possible and would especially encourage more of you to return to school for the AGM lunch. Your Society needs you!

Kathleen Carter Did you know? … We have our own area on the school website. Click on www.mggs.org and look at the connected community drop down list.

Recommended Read!

Mary Smith, head teacher at MGGS from 2006 – 2014, has written a book, A Schoolgirl’s War about life in school during the Second World War. It includes pictures drawn and painted by the art teacher at the time— Miss Keen; along with interviews with Old Girls who were students at MGGS during the war. Their true life experiences make fascinating reading and an insight to life at MGGS at this time. You can purchase a copy of the book for £9.95 via the school website www.mggs.org/news plus P&P (UK only) or in person at the AGM, where Mary will be our guest speaker.

NEW MEMBERS

NAME

NEE DATE AT MGGS Holly COWAN 08 -15 Iona TURNER 06-13 Teresa SMITH 1970-77

ADDRESS 23 Adbert Drive, East Farleigh, Maidstone, ME15 0DE 49 Whiffen Walk, East Malling, ME19 6TZ Lark Rise, Holywell Lake, Wellington, TA21 0EL

CHANGE OF ADDRESS NAME

Jane TURNER

NEE

DATE AT MGGS THOMAS 43 - 49

Jeanne BETTS AITCHISON Sylvia WARMAN Heather WEST STEVENSON Dorothy FROUD ROBINSON

37-42 86-91 71-78 58-66

NEW ADDRESS

2 Tintern Road, Allington, Maidstone, ME16 0RT Apartment 9, Ocean View Apartments, Maida Vale Retirement Village, PO BOX 7015, NEW PLYMOUTH, New Zealand 4341 22 Church St, Circencester, Gloucester, GL7 1LE

12 Sytche Close, Much Wenlock, Shropshire, TF13 6JJ

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Miss Kirsten Lewis 88-92 Mrs Elizabeth Towns (Percival 56-61) Mrs Marian Drew (Peattie 70-77) Miss Judy Harris (77-82) Miss Fiona Watkins (77-82) Mrs Ruth Sims (Oliver 90-95) Mrs Rosina Graf- Hessing (Hessing 60-64) Miss E Milena Young (64-67) If you have news of any of these “Old Girls”, do please get in touch. If you are trying to trace any old friends, they may well be members, so let us know, and if we have their contact details we can put you in contact.

Did you know? … We have our own area on the school website. Click on www.mggs.org and look at the connected community drop down list.

NEWS AND LETTERS Pat Sturgeon (King) 1943-1948 Writes about her time at school during WW2…I was one of the lucky girls to go to Brunswick House. We walked to ‘big school’ daily for lunch and considering it was war time, they fed us beautifully. We had Miss Evans, Miss parks, Miss Elder and the fourth name is forgotten, I’m sorry to say.

Whilst there – we spent one night in the shelter at Brunswick House, in the middle of the playground. Only narrow benches to sit on – very scary. There were a lot of aircraft about and we were all glad to go home in the early hours of the next day. We all went to school that following day! I’m sure there must be others who remember that day and night. After lunch at ‘big school’ we went back to our school and to lie down for half an hour whilst one of the teachers read to us – we learned more about books that way, those of us who managed to stay awake!

Theresa Knight (Garner) 1943-1953 Writes about her time at Brunswick House and MGGS …The ‘infant ‘classes, for girls and boys, were Kindergarten and Transition both in one large classroom and taught by Miss Buckland. I started at Brunswick House in spring 1943 in the First Form with Miss Evans in a rather dark classroom behind the stairs. The 2nd form was taught by Miss Parks, most of us spent two years in the 2 nd form so it was a large classroom. The Upper 2nd form room was upstairs with high single desks. Across the landing was the Woodwork room.

We went over to the main school for school dinners and when we returned to Brunswick House we rested on the hall floor (had to provide our own blanket and cushion) while a member of staff read to us.

When the 1944 Act came in, Brunswick House gradually closed down from the bottom upwards. I remember one girl who left said, ‘Daddy says they won’t teach us manners anymore.’ Presumably because it was now a state school. In fact nothing changed and my father was pleased as he didn’t have to pay fees anymore.

When I was at MGGS the school hymn was ‘Land of our Birth we pledge to thee’ by Rudyard Kipling. The last hymn in the Public School Hymn Book (the complete version of hymn 292).

I remember our first lesson with Miss Levy, she went through it with us and we had to cross out the three verses in the middle which we did not use. In OGS newsletters I have seen other hymns mentioned as the school hymn, surely it has not changed?

(Editor’s note: although the OGS sing ‘Land of our Birth’ at the AGM, it has not been the School Song for a number of years now.)

My aunt, who attended MGGS in the 30s, died on 13 November 2014. I’m not sure of her exact dates at MGGS but she was born in December 1920 so it must have been in the 30s. There may be an elderly member who remembers her – Margaret McKay nee Abra.

José MACLEOD (Farmer) 1970-1977.

I arrived at MGGS in September 1970, having got through the very scary interview with Miss Barnes, and wearing my regulation spanking new uniform, with beret. I can't recall if I had knee length brown or beige socks ("short ankle socks may be white"), but the blouse was champagne nylon, not poplin! And the shoes were brown walking shoes that supported the whole foot.

I was in form 1M, Miss Melsom (who taught English), in A3, along with Jackie Wells, who had also been at Snodland C of E Primary. Over time, we both made new groups of friends. I met up with Teresa Smith last summer for a lovely lunch and chat in Lyme Regis, and I am also in touch with Jo Smith through the splendours of Facebook. In 2009 I also met with Teresa, Jo, Linda Clayton, Penny Spice and Angela Barnicoat, at the Old Girls Reunion and dinner afterwards, it being the (school) year of our 50th birthdays. We hope to meet again in 2017, with which will be 40 years after we left the school.

I left in the summer of 1977 and worked in Chatham at Lloyd's of London in the Membership Department. I met Andrew MacLeod on HMS Plymouth at a ship's social; we married in 1979 and relocated to Portland in Dorset. My first job in Dorset was as a Burials Clerk at the local Borough Council, which was quite slow going, and although it was quite pleasant sitting in the rose garden at the Crem with a book some afternoons, it was a bit of a dead -end job. I then joined the DHSS Short Term benefits section for a while, before producing our daughter in 1981.Dr Nicci MacLeod can be found at forensiclinguist.co.uk She has certainly made more of her academic talents than I ever did!

When Nicci was at school, I took on the mandatory dinner lady/ classroom help/ lollipop lady roles until I was able to take a "proper" job, which was in 1990 with New Look at their head office in Weymouth. Now a thriving international brand, at that time we had less than 100 shops, in the south of England and Wales and in northern France. I began working with the accounts team, looking essentially at the drivers' hours and pay. It was part time, and I had to work at home, which suited. By the time I left New Look in 2011, I had been a Transport Manager with responsibility for scheduling deliveries to 600+ stores, through several depots nationwide, with teams of drivers and fleets of lorries. The Logistics functions had been outsourced, and due to redundancy I took another Transport Manager role with a Laundry in Yeovil. Very different product and customers, but essentially still the need to deliver an efficient, effective and economic service.

I parted with the laundry in May 2015, partly due to a family bereavement and partly because I decided the time had come to spend the summer in the garden rather than in the car. I am currently working part time as a Transport Manager/ Health and Safety adviser/ gdb for a local small business, and am looking forward to supplementing this with another part time admin role at a local college. As time goes on, I no longer want to be the responsible person at the end of a midnight phone call saying that a lorry has overturned.

I love my greenhouses, germinating, growing on, turning produce into lovely things, and sharing those with people. I am also involved with Guiding, quizzes and am a keen darts player. I remember my time at the school with great fondness, even the freezing cold swimming pool and the detention in the Sports Hall.

When answering quiz questions, 70's music is a bit of a strength and I think back to which classroom I was in to pinpoint the exact year of a track! So, it isn't just the academic learning that has stood me well in my life, it is all that I learnt in breaks as well!

Beverley Davison-White (Wilson) 1970 - 77 I attended MGGS from 1970 – 1977 and, like most people I guess, I have good and bad memories of the school. A bad memory – standing out on the field on a freezing winter’s day in my gym kit while the fire brigade searched the school following a bomb scare. I’m not sure what was worse, being so cold or knowing we had no chance of pulling one of the hunky firemen dressed in our blue aertex blouses – not the most attractive of looks! A good memory – listening to our English teacher reading Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in the original old English, it was mesmerising. I think she really instilled in me my love of literature and language. I still have my nose stuck in a book at every opportunity and I have recently started working as a medical secretary for the histology department at Maidstone Hospital where I am learning a completely new vocabulary – most of the words would be too long to fit across a Scrabble board!!

I’ve never moved away from Maidstone and when I see the current pupils around the town, it takes me back to my time there. They don’t look much different from the way we did – although their skirts seem to look much shorter - we would never have got away with that under the scrutiny of Miss Harvey and Miss McCabe!

I have two sons, the younger of whom attended MGGS to take his A levels (and was taught IT by my old Latin teacher, Mr Watkins!), and am now the proud grandmother of two beautiful grandsons. I hope they go on to enjoy their school experiences as much as I did.

If any of you remember me, I hope you are well and enjoying life as much as I am.

Jane Brooks (Meacham) 1968-1975 I was one of the few girls in my year that didn’t go to university straight from school. My father thought students were a waste of time and money. So, I became a Commissioned Customs Officer instead; a grand title for a tax inspector. When I joined HM Customs and Excise back in 1975 there were very few female commissioned officers; this rank only came in when VAT was introduced. There was an awful lot of prejudice in those days, especially since female officers got paid the same as their male counterparts. My male bosses had no idea how to cope with female staff and when I visited traders in business it was usually presumed that I was someone’s secretary. When I got married it was expected that I would give up work to be a ‘housewife’ and when I fell pregnant with my first child I was taken off visiting duties since ‘I couldn’t be seen by the public since I was pregnant!’ HM C & E was like being back in the 1930s.

I gave up work to bring up my three children and when the youngest started school I started teaching Sugarcraft at Adult Education. Then when my youngest started secondary school I decided that my grey cells needed stretching so I thought I would go and study the course I had wanted to do when I left MGGS, namely Town Planning. Not having studied for nearly 20 years I did a foundation course at Mid Kent College, where I soon realised that Town Planning was not for me. There was too much politics involved. I had always enjoyed maths so I opted for Civil Engineering instead and studied at the University of Greenwich at Dartford; narrowly missing a first. To be honest, studying full time, bringing up three children and working part time meant I was quite happy with a high 2:1. I had intended teaching A Level Maths at grammar school, since I felt that the practical applications of Civil Engineering would give a good focus to A level students, and I actually got offered a part time position at Rochester Maths School, where my two boys were studying. However, the lady I was replacing decided not to take up her new post and I got headhunted by a Civils company for a large project in Hackney, so off I went to be an actual Civil Engineer. At Uni, the consensus amongst the other students was that I was the wrong age and sex to cope with that career, but I informed them that my work for HM C&E had prepared me for anything builders could throw at me. When my project in Hackney came to an end I got offered a scholarship to study an MSc in Geomaterials at Greenwich where I came top in my year and won the Industry Prize for my thesis on the repair of reinforced concrete. This might seem a very boring subject but I loved it! I feel there is a Doctorate waiting for me there but perhaps in a few years. Sadly, an injury to my spine put working on site out of the question. The most frustrating time was the 3 months after my surgery when I was stuck with a neck brace and couldn’t drive, fortunately my youngest son passed his driving test while I was in hospital so we made an agreement that he could borrow my car providing he drove me to Bluewater to do all my Christmas shopping.

Another change of career and I started working for my college tutor, who had decided to leave teaching to continue with his Architecture Practice. I could do CAD drawings and book-keeping and progressed to being his Business Manager. The crash of 2008 hit the construction industry badly and three years ago the Practice folded. Another change of career and I started designing and making jewellery on a part-time basis together with collecting and restoring vintage and antique baby dresses. My daughter lives in Sydney and is a fashion designer and we are thinking of setting up in business hiring out these beautiful dresses for christenings and special occasions. Her 2-year-old daughter, River, is often seen wearing some delicate creation from the early 1900s that I have restored. It seems such a waste to store these clothes and not let them be seen.

I also started studying with the RHS and have reached Level 3 Diploma which was great fun and also means that I could teach up to RHS level 2 if I wanted to. For some strange reason I like studying and even enjoy exams which might seem a little strange.

My husband took early retirement so we lead a fairly relaxed life; we have 3 grandchildren in England and 4 in Australia and we fly off to Sydney every other year for 6 weeks, which is both exciting and a little exhausting.

As far as MGGS is concerned I joined the OGS as a life member when I left school and attended a few reunions in the early years after I left. However, my youngest son was born in the last week of March so the reunions always coincided with his birthday parties. I did, however, make the Centenary cake in 1988, which is the largest cake I have ever made. It weighed in at a little under 4 stone! I managed to put the marzipan and sugarpaste on in a single piece with the help of friends. We needed a very large surface to roll out the covering and then four of us lifted the pieces onto the cake. For anyone who didn’t see it I made the decorations all out of icing and these included a school tie, the hymn book with the words of the school song, badges for each of the six houses and a banner with the MGGS logo on. I remember helping Miss Barnes cut it at the reunion that year. The cake was displayed in the front hall outside the headmistress’ office but sadly my married name was put down as the maker rather than my maiden name so teachers or pupils who might have known me at school wouldn’t have recognised the name.

This year I hit the big 60 and would love to meet up with other old girls from my year to swap stories and catch up. I am still in touch with several girls and hope to bring them along for this year’s reunion. (If you are one of this year group please get in touch if you would like to make contact with Jane to celebrate- ED) Margaret AMOS (1932-42) Domestic science in the “old school” – A few old, old girls may share my memories of domestic science lessons in the early 1930s. We had to cross the Sittingbourne Road to an old house in Albion Place. The teacher was a strict lady called Miss Beswick.

We were taught how to black-lead the stove in the basement and were given recipes for cleaning materials. The recipe for floor polish was: One ounce of beeswax, one gill of turpentine. The occasioned much (concealed) mirth as Miss Beswick’s nickname was “Beeswax”.

In laundry lessons we washed clothes, scrubbing them on washboards and using mangles. For ironing we used flat irons heated over the gas. I can still chant our “order of ironing”. It goes: “Tapes, double parts, trimmings, small parts, main parts”.

There were no “regulos” on the gas stoves, so small pieces of greaseproof paper were put in the ovens and the colour of the paper indicated the temperature. One poor girl put in a whole packet of greaseproof paper and there was a great scene as everyone was told of the blunder. No teacher wold be so cruel today. It was another world!

DEATHS AND OBITUARIES Julia BANWELL 1968 - 1971 Marjorie J HUMPHREYES (Coast) 1931 – 1938

Mollie Richford (Pickett) 1938 – 1945 21 January 2016 Advised by her son David…Mollie attended Cambridge University and became a teacher. She taught in Biddenden, Balfour Road Rochester, Hunton, Nettlestead and Wateringbury.

She had three children, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

June Young (Pickett) Mollie’s sister writes…She was always involved in church and village activities in East Farleigh, where she spent most of her married life. She was passionate about The Galapagos Islands, which she visited five times and became a Guardian of them.

Sheila Wilson (Wincott) Advised by Babs Ward...It is with great sadness that I am writing to inform you of my sister Sheila's death.

Sheila Wilson nee Wincott died peacefully after her long battle with cancer, on 1st July 2016.

Sheila had attended Maidstone Grammar school during the late 1950s attaining the position of head girl.

She spent many years teaching at home and abroad, Nepal, Iran, South Korea, Dubai.

In her late thirties she married and had four children, a daughter and three sons.

However she was kept busy right up until just before her passing with a counselling group at her local Baptist church. Many of whom paid tribute to her at the funeral. She also employed her teaching skills to help others.

Although she lived in Welshpool Wales, Kent was still her home and she had fond memories of her time at the Grammar School. She was always interested in the news from the OGS. She will be greatly missed.

Molly Tipples (Kershaw) 1954 – 1959

The Molly Tipples Sports Hall and Buckland House