Tudor archives

First Lacrosse Team Photo circa 1956

From Ann Curwin (Hellings, 1957)

“After almost half a century there are still certain things about playing lacrosse at Tudor that I remember. We wore skirts together with dreadful green knickers, as shorts were deemed to be ‘unladylike’. Some of my generation are now duchesses, so maybe every little helped, as they say. We had absolutely no protective gear – even the goalie only had a sort

of padded apron/waistcoat and padded gloves, poor girl!

I vividly remember the feeling of coming back from a freezing cold January practice on the distant sports field to the long serving table in the dining room, where large roasting tins piled with hot beef dripping toast awaited eager hands! We had wonderful homemade food from the kitchen of Miss Doorbar every day.”

Prefect’s badge from 1957

From Susan Oliver (Worsley, 1959)

“This is the Tudor Rose badge which I was given in 1957, when I was told that I would be a Prefect. Imagine what interest that caused. I was not particularly bright, not very sporty – didn’t really like horses – and wanted to be a ballet dancer. Something was wrong somewhere; I could not really be the sugar plum fairy at my size and weight! I expected that I had been given the job of being a prefect to stop me smoking and behaving badly. I found out later that it was neither of these things. My one fear was losing the badge – how would I ever explain that?”

After keeping it safe for all these years, Susan has kindly donated her badge to the School archive. Interestingly, Tudor’s Prefect badges have changed very little over the years – the same supplier still makes them for the School seven decades on.

OT gifts portrait of former Headmistress Margaret Blyth to Tudor

From Emily Saner (Tunstall-Behrens,1980)

OT Emily Saner and her sister have generously donated a portrait, oil on hardboard, of former Headmistress Margaret Blyth (1969–1983) to the School. The portrait was painted by their mother, artist Romi Behrens, in the summer of 1976 when Margaret Blyth was visiting the family of OT Emma Slack (Glossop, 1970), whose parents were friends of the Tunstall-Behrens family.

Romi Behrens (1939 – 2019) was born in Wiltshire and began painting when she moved to Cornwall in 1959, on marrying her husband. Inspired by her love of Matisse, Picasso and Van Gogh, she was largely self-taught. Romi’s talent was to instinctively capture the subject in a vibrant blaze of energy and colour. Her work has been exhibited from Cornwall to London, including the Royal Academy and the Arnolfini in Bristol.

It was wonderful to have the picture on display for our ‘Maggie’s Girls’ reunion lunch on Saturday 29th February and we look forward to finding it a permanent home at Tudor. R