Well, here we are back again after a long pause - I hope you are still with me! As I mentioned at the beginning, I'm imagining that I'm relating these stories to my grandson Daniel, in a few years time when he's old enough to care! Time has passed, however, and Daniel is now a bright young man of 5 years old, so I think that I'd better update his photo to begin with! He wouldn't appreciate that one of him in the bath any more!! So here he is now, a student at Junior Kindergarten!

Daniel - Age 5

Now, back to the memories of life in Chesham Bois. From an early age I used to attend Sunday School at St.Leonard's Church with many of my friends. In this group, taken outside the church door, I was one of the older pupils (marked with an arrow, on the left side.)

Sunday School Group

Following this, I was confirmed in the same church at about 12 years old. I remember kneeling on the ancient stone floor to receive the blessing from the Bishop of Buckingham, and thinking with awe about how for many hundreds of years, people had knelt to worship on that same floor! The original part of St.Leonard's was built around 1215 A.D. - the year that the Magna Carta was signed!! The church still contains old plaques and brasses and stained glass windows in memory of local families down through the centuries!

St. Leonard's	Confirmation Dress

At home,during my early teenage years, I guess I was a real pain in the neck to live with. My parents even considered sending me away to Boarding School, even though it would have been terribly expensive!
   One of the problems was that I had been taking ballet lessons since I was small, and now my parents were advised by the orthopaedic surgeon that my feet and ankles were too weak for me to continue dancing on 'pointe' - and that I should really give it up. I had loved ballet with all my heart, and when told that I could not go on to be a ballerina (my secret dream!) I thought my life had come to an end right there. It took a long time to get over it, with much resentment against my parents.
   Finally my mother introduced me to English Folk Dancing, and I took to this whole-heartedly as a substitute form of dancing. As long as I could dance, I was happy! During the rest of my teenage years, I took classes and attended Dance Festivals, and made many good friends. (More of that later.)

Dr.Challoner's School crest

In September 1948 came the Big Moment - I started as a student at Dr.Challoner's Grammar School!! TaDa!! Here I am on the first day, so proud of my new uniform with the school crest on the blazer - but pretty scared too of course!

First Day of School

How did I get along at school? Well, I suppose you would call me an average student, academically. However I must admit I really didn't like school much. In the mornings I dawdled slowly on my bicycle on the way there, and so was often late. This meant I would miss Assembly, which was actually a good thing, as I was known for fainting during the ordeal! I suppose the reason why I was unhappy there was mainly because I was painfully shy and didn't make friends easily. I grew up as an only child, and was rather a loner I guess. I certainly didn't like boys....and the feeling was reciprocated I'm sure!! For the same reason I hated having to attend school dances. It's most uncomfortable and embarrassing when the only people who will dance with you are teachers!! I can smile about it now, after a lifetime of satisfactory adult relationships, but at the time it was agony. I guess I was just a 'late-bloomer'!!

My best friends were Mary Dumain, Hannah Harman and Margaret Paulden, and we would hang around together a lot. After school we would visit each others' homes, and go to birthday parties, etc. Sometimes we would even play tennis with my Dad on our neighbour's grass court! Oooh! The people at the birthday party are (L.to R.) myself, Mary, Margaret, Hannah, and at the back Anne Dumain(Mary's sister) and Judith Young. The tennis group are my Dad, Margaret, me and Mary.

Mary's Birthday Party	Tennis Group

After leaving school I lost touch with all of them unfortunately. Mary played the clarinet very well, and went on to play in an all-girls band, but that was all I knew. I have often thought I would like to locate them again, but after 50 years it seemed impossible. Imagine my joy when, just one month ago, I received an email from Hannah who now lives in Alabama!! She had seen my website and read these Vignettes, and wrote to ask when I was going to get to the Dr.Challoner's era!! So here we are! How exciting it has been to chat about old times - and she has given me Mary's address too! Pause to sing 'It's a small world after all'!

Mary, Hannah and Margaret	5th Form Group

Strangely enough I do recall many of my teachers, and some of them really stand out for various reasons.

• Mr.Harrow, our Principal, whom I always found to be most awe-inspiring! In those days, boys who misbehaved were sent to him to be caned!!
• Mr. Hartland taught Math when I was struggling with it in the 3rd Form. He took the trouble to help me over the algebra hurdle, and as a result of that I went on to love all parts of Math, thanks to his patience!
• Mr.Carrit taught Biology, and somehow put up with our embarrassed giggles when we read THAT page in the book on human anatomy!!
• Mr.Rawcliffe taught Latin, and was very tall and handsome! He used to drive to school in a little old-fashioned car, which had wigwag arms that came out of the sides for directional signals!

Sports were a mixed bag for me. Indoors, I hated Gym because I couldn't do most of it! Climbing ropes, vaulting over horses, etc. - those were definitely not my cup of tea! Miss George our teacher didn't appreciate my non-efforts at all!!
   Out on the playing fields things went a little better. I loved Tennis, and had a wicked serve (as long as I could get it in!) And Netball (aka basketball) was great because I was tall and could shoot and retrieve well. But forget Field Hockey! That was too much like hard work - and too dangerous!! Rounders (aka baseball) terrified me too - you had to hit the ball with a skinny little bat - so most of the time I didn't!......and the ball hit me instead!!
   Sports Day was bearable for me however, as I was chosen to demonstrate fencing with a friend, Sheila Hebron. Also I shone at throwing the discus, of all things - so I wasn't a total wash-out!

Fencing Duo - Sheila & I

As far as lessons went, my grades were saved by being good at languages, and I majored in French, German and Latin in the 6th Form. In practical subjects however, I see now it was my habit of being slow and painstaking in details that held me back. I just never got projects finished!
   In Art for instance, we sat out on the driveway to make a drawing of the scene, and I spent the whole class drawing detailed leaves on one of the overhanging trees!
   In Home Economics, I spent weeks carefully hand-sewing a pair of pyjamas..... they were never finished!
   In History, I took enormous pains over drawing detailed pictures of Elizabethan costumes, instead of learning dates!

Prefects

In the higher forms my life really became a burden, as many of us were made prefects. Our main task was to go to the various classrooms between classes and keep the little brats (er - students!) quiet while they waited for the teacher to arrive! How I hated that - I was too shy to throw my weight around, and the dear little brats soon knew this, and always gave me a hard time!! I wonder if they still have that system? Here in Canadian High Schools, it's the students who move from room to room.

Now about canteen lunches! We all used to complain a lot of course, but I suppose they weren't bad, considering it was 1948 and rations were still not plentiful. How about that mince with mushy peas and mashed potatoes made from 'Pom' - a reconstituted potato powder! Plus lots & lots of turnips! Yuck! But we always enjoyed the desserts - especially treacle tart with custard! Yumm!! Also we were given free bottles of milk at recess time in the mornings (to keep our growing bones strong!)

And what about wearing uniforms? The debate still waxes strong, on both sides of the Atlantic, I'm sure. In my day we had to wear them, and we felt quite proud of the link they provided with Our School! We even wore House ties - Challoner, Hampden, Milton and Penn - which made us even more partisan! Just for interest, here is a photo of our Upper 6th class in our summer uniforms. In the back row (L.to R.) are Rita Brackley, Guy Woodford, Olga Chaces & Ripple Stangroom. In the front row, Pauline Bates, Hannah Harman, Sheila Hebron and me. (I hope I have the names right!)

Upper 6th Photo

On the last day of term we would sing the School Song, and yell out our House name with great pride! Here is the verse of the School Song which describes our four 'patrons' so to speak:

Nowadays when I see young people here attending High School dressed up in the latest fashions, wearing make-up, jewellery and vivid hairstyles .......I realize I'm dating myself badly, but I'm secretly glad that I went to school 'way back then' !! I know that my parents couldn't have afforded for me to dress like that - and I would have felt very much the 'poor relation' among my peers at school. There is certainly a lot to be said for uniforms.

One experience I always thought was interesting : we had a teacher who came to spend 6 months with us on an exchange from the U.S.A. Her name was Mrs.Noble, and we used to ask her about school life in the States. We were amazed when she told us that they needed large parking lots there, because many of the students had their own cars and drove to school!! For us it was quite a luxury to own a bicycle!! She showed us photos of the cars - they looked enormous long brutes compared to our sedate small English cars!

We suffered a major crisis during my time at school - and there were no counsellors in those days to help us deal with it. A fellow student of mine, Elizabeth Caudery, was a very good student - a quiet girl who always took life very seriously. We were stunned one day to hear that she had been riding in the car with her father, going down Chesham Hill, when he had a heart attack and lost control of the car. It smashed into a brick wall at the bottom of the hill, and Elizabeth was killed outright. Her father was badly injured, but survived. It took us all a long time to get over the shock of losing her from our midst.

Well, to end on a more positive note, I should mention my few achievements:

• I wrote an article for the school magazine 'Alauda' entitled 'We the British as others see us.'
• I sang in the school choir, and when we put on a performance of the 'St.Matthew Passion' at St.Mary's Church in Old Amersham, I sang a solo - all of 4 notes!!! (I was the Second Maid!)
• And finally, at Speech Day I received a school prize in the 5th Form, and later the Headmaster's prize for French!! Yahoo!

So you can see that in schools today, even though life is faster-paced and technology-based, many of the problems that young people have to deal with are much the same as in my day. Relationships with peers, parents and teachers pose the same challenges. Life still throws similar difficulties in one's path, and it is in learning to deal successfully with them that one grows and matures.