In 1920 the family
lived in a house used by CMS missionaries in Herne Bay until our father
came home and was offered the living of St Mary's, Boulton on the
outskirts of Derby and I started school in the locality.
When he became bishop we moved to Birmingham and again I went to a
local school. It wasn't until we moved to Shudy Camps in 1925 that I
went with Betty, Phil, Basil and Hugh to St Michael's. Betty had been
there before, as a little girl at 'The Nursery' so she could settle
down in the same form as her old friends. All was new to me but I was
in the same form as Eileen (Clarke). She was head girl of the form and
always had good marks because her writing was beautifully neat (and
still is!) and she was a very good reader. She was an outstanding
pianist too. I was horribly shy and my only good subject was
arithmetic. My highlight was the holidays at Shudy. My friend Betty
Richards (now Sewell) came to spend one of the Easter holidays there
with us. Rosemary Britton was sometimes in the form above me and
sometimes in the same form.
St Michael's School, Limpsfield, Surrey. 1. The front
2. From the air 3. The chapel 4. The Dining
room 5. From the common 6. From the tennis
courts 7. Part of the grounds
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
My schooldays were much like other girls' of our generation -a mixture
of pleasures, pains, pleasantnesses and unpleasantnesses. In 1932 I
managed to matriculate which meant I could go on for the next two years
to study for the higher Oxford Certificate. Unfortunately I was the
only one so all my English, History and Maths lessons had to be one to
one - not easy when English was in the headmistress's study at 2pm in
front of a warm fire in a comfortable armchair!
In 1934 I went to King's College, London. The first year was a repeat
because London University wouldn't accept Oxford Higher Certificate and
I had to take the London Intermediate in the same subjects. So it
wasn't a strenuous time.
I joined the college ladies rowing club at Putney for a year, learning
to row in fours, catching crabs and suchlike. After a year I gave it
up: first, it was too expensive travelling from north to south London
on a Saturday, my monthly allowance being only £2 - 15s. That had to
cover all my fares, food, clothes, outings, etc. My tram fare to
central London was 2½d and, if I was in funds, my lunch at King's was
7d - roast lamb rib, potato and veg. When broke I had to rough it on a
2d Mars Bar. My parents certainly couldn't afford to give me a larger
allowance. Secondly, I decided I didn't want to become a look-a-like of
all the other women in our rowing club - very manish, with large
muscles and eton-cropped hair!
Four of us went around as a group - Sheila, Joyce, Daphne, and me and
on two occasions we hired a cottage at Shanklin in the Isle of Wight
for happy holidays together and a third year at Chideock in Dorset.
After graduating in 1937 and a year's teacher training at King's
College I took a job as history teacher at St Brandon's Clergy
Daughters' School in Bristol. When war broke out the school was
evacuated to the Bishop's Palace in Wells. A lot of the girls and staff
were billeted out in surrounding houses: Audrey, the French teacher and
I, with a few girls, slept at the Dean's house. The Dean and his wife
were charming people. Doris' memoriesDoris' reflections on her war years