School Recollections

RECOLLECTIONS OF CNHS 1943-1952

After reading the Alumnae newsletter last year, Anne Kirkham was reminded of her time at the Central High Senior School and was inspired to put pen to paper. Here are her recollections...

I arrived at CNHS at the age of 10 years and two months, having sat what was then known as “The Scholarship” the previous March. There was some discussion between my parents and Miss Leale, the Headmistress, as to whether I should start at the Junior House in Gosforth because I was so young, but Miss Leale was of the opinion that if I could do the work I should be allowed to enter the school in Form 3A. I didn’t realise at the time that the school had only recently returned from evacuation, nobody seemed to mention it at all.

We were all told that we had to keep up the reputation of the school when out in Newcastle by dressing immaculately at all times and we were inspected by prefects on leaving the premises to make sure that we were wearing both hat and gloves. I was humiliated in the Summer term by having to wear my grandfather’s old Bowls Club genuine panama hat which my mother had cut down and altered for me, while my contemporaries all had a kind of imitation panama which actually fitted them. In addition to this and winter felt hats with elastic under the chin we had a little hat called a ‘storm hat’ although it was ill suited to protect one from any kind of rain. Some allowances had to be made on account of clothes rationing and there was even an occasional sale of second hand clothes from one of which my mother triumphantly returned with some of Rosemary Graham’s vests. The school had had to drop the requirement for each pupil to have a white party dress for special occasions and it was never reinstated in my time there.

Shoes were another problem. Our feet were measured periodically by the gym mistress and if they had grown we were allotted extra coupons. My feet stubbornly refused to grow for a long time and my shoes became progressively shabbier. At last the gym mistress (I think it was Miss Thorp), took pity on me and seeing that my foot still did not reach the line in front of it gave me a sharp crack on the back of my ankle so that my foot shot forward and crossed the line to make me eligible.

Meals were another wartime problem for the school. The puddings were the most memorable. We had boiled sultana (rather nice) baked sultana (rather dry), and occasional rice pudding (tasteless) which involved a Chinese whisper type question passed down the table “Does anyone want rice?” Once a week we were given semolina with a dollop of concentrated orange juice. When I eventually became a dinner monitor I discovered that the large cat belonging to the cook, Miss Bailey, was in the habit of sleeping on top of one of the piles of plates.

Sport. We had some form of exercise every day, two sessions of gym, one of netball, a whole afternoon of hockey and swimming lessons. Hockey and its summer counterparts, tennis and rounders, were played on a field out at Paddy Freemans in High Heaton which belonged to the Sports Club of one of the Banks. We had to make

Form VA 1948

Back row L-R: Joyce Blackburn, Anne Hardy, Pat Robinson, Marjorie Hall, Audrey Varley, Dorothy Dodd, Sheila Pringle, Vera Johnston. Centre Row L-R: Jean Lamming, Avis Welch, Cecily Smith, Valerie Phillips, Eileen Wilson, Anne Hildreth, Marion Scott, Edna Gow. Front row L-R: Anne Fawcett, Lilian Cherry, Joan Bowie, Marie Rickard, Miss Calvert (later Mrs. Greener), Dorothy Fowler, Mary Laws, Isabel Davison, Sheila Walker.

our own way there on the bus. In the early years of our time at the school we used to go in a crocodile to Jesmond Baths. This was usually supervised by Miss Calvert (later Mrs. Greener), and a friend and I always tried to walk with her because she was so interesting. It was she who gave me the good advice on leaving school “Never let me see you wearing ankle socks with a skirt”. More memorable and useful than any serious homily. She also urged us to visit a travelling exhibition known as The Belsen Train which visited the Central Station soon after the War which showed photographs of Bergen-Belsen camp after liberation. I have never forgotten them. Later when the RGS returned from evacuation we were allowed to use their swimming pool across the road.

Another favourite mistress was Miss Linfield who took the VIth and was a disciplinarian and fearless commentator. She passed through the playground one lunch hour and observed some of her form sitting in the sun with their dresses turned up over their knees exposing a few inches of leg. When next we saw her she observed “I came through the playground today and thought to myself ‘Flesh is very cheap this afternoon”.

Prizegiving. One of the year’s big occasions. My first Prizegiving took place in Trinity Church on Northumberland Road which I knew well as my grandmother’s family were members, but later ones

were held in the City Hall. The school entertained the audience with choral singing and we all took part whether we could sing in tune or not. The platform party would enter the stage to the tune of the Keel Row, which caused many of them to adopt a curious hopping gait in time with the music. The prizes were usually presented by a local dignitary, preferably titled, but there were two delightful exceptions, namely Esther McCracken and Miss Tanner, then Headmistress of Roedean school which had been evacuated very near the Central High in Keswick. Miss Tanner delighted us by advancing to the front of the stage, saying “Now gels” in stentorian upper class tones and giving a short and sensible speech. Old Girl Esther McCracken did even better by coming forward and asking the audience “Can you hear me?”, then adding “Mother”, to complete the catchphrase of popular comedian of the day Sandy Powell before her amusing address. End of term assemblies were less enjoyable and involved sitting on the floor for hours while the end of term marks of every girl were read out. Singing was a feature here too. We had borrowed the Eton school song Forty Years On, and sang with great gusto the line “Visions of boyhood shall float them before you” Another staple of the day was Heroes (words by Browning), and we ended up by singing Blaydon Races. Interesting that this continued under two southern headmistresses, Miss Leale and Miss Belton.

CNHS Prefects 1950-51

Back Row L-R: Anne Fawcett, ( ?), Shirley Drape, Beth Scougal, (?), Margaret Macintyre, Doreen Watson (?), Vera Johnston, Sheila Bannerman, Joan Bowie. Centre Row L-R: (?), Jean Lamming, Rosemary Bilton, Anne Hardy, Jennifer Thompson, Marion Scott, Elspeth Seggie, Sheila Walker. Front Row: L-R: Avis Welch, Pat Wardropper, Betty Duns, Margaret Baister, Helen Tulloh , Shirley Bell, Barbara Walton. Seated in front: Sheila Oliver (?), Irene Harris.