our school | from the archives
D
uring the first lockdown in March 2020, RMS wrote to Old Girls who had attended the school during the 1940s. We invited them to send in their memories of RMS along with photographs and memorabilia. In January 2021 Memories of my Schooldays, RMS in the 1940s was published. It captures beautifully what life was like at RMS before, during and after WW2. Thank you so much to everyone who contributed.
A selection of quotes, photographs and bonus features are displayed across these two pages. To read the book you can find it online at https://tinyurl.com/y6gobcq5. If you would like to have your own copy then please do contact the Development Office. We will be putting together a book about RMS in the 1950s next. If you were at school at that time and would like to write down your memories of the School please do send them by email to development@rmsforgirls.com or by post to the school.
Joan Mutch and friends
Guides, 1938
There were rumours that the war was about to end. It was Prize Day and we were going to do School Drill in front of the Committee and visitors. The news was coming through that the announcement of the end of the war was due at any minute. The gardeners were placed by each door in the Great Hall and they each had a walkie talkie; if the news came through that the war had ended they were to signal to Miss Fryer up on the platform and she was going to stop the proceedings and tell us. It wasn’t actually until the next day that it happened, but there was a feeling that it was going to happen at any moment. When the announcement finally came through, we all went mad but we weren’t allowed home. Luckily for me, my mother was allowed to come and visit because she only lived in Watford and that was a great thrill. Sheila Side (Whittington) 1945, Cumberland
32 | Masonica 2021
The first year of the war was relatively quiet. We had several air-raid drills where we practised going to the shelters which had been built on the edge of the school grounds – well underground. We had to be very careful with our water supply because they were going to need the water if there were ever any fires in London. So we had a line painted on our baths and we were only allowed three inches of water in our baths, no more. All our windows were blacked out with dark curtains so no light could escape, and if there was ever an air raid then the planes wouldn’t be able to see us. Then, in 1940, we started having air raids in London and although we didn’t experience any over our school, we could hear them because London was only 20 miles away. We could hear the bombs dropping. If we peeped out from underneath the blackout curtains in our dorm (all of our beds were around the edges of the wall of the dorm, and you had a window practically by every bed) we could see the red sky at night and in the morning we could see the black smoke from the bomb damage. Rosemary Matthews (Prosser) 1945, Cumberland
