I was there from 1964-71, so your sister had just started as I was leaving Pam. And A Sparks you'd have been two years ahead of me.
Oh I remember Margaret Pasqetti - always smiling. Amazing athlete. Didn't know she had a sister in the school. She was a few years above me - we looked up to these girls !
Been rummaging through my old PC files and I've found the the piece I've written. But it's very long. So here's an extract. Viv.
Top of the class was Miss Jones, a very caring, first form tutor and inspiring PE teacher. Second up, Mr Evans - history - looked like the blonde guy from the Man From Uncle (Ilya Kuriarchyn?) and was adored by many. He drove a green MG (?) sports car and, I think, married either a former Head Girl or teacher. Mrs Bates, another form teacher, very prim and neat, taught Physics. Mr Denton for Maths, scary as hell. He'd throw missiles at you for the smallest mistake. Headmistress - Mrs Cockbain - pronounced Cobane girls - and please, no sniggering! She wore her hair plaited in an earphone style or fixed over her head. Miss Foxon, a slightly eccentric but sweet English teacher, usually wore socks. Miss Russell, French teacher insisted we greet her with "Bonjour Miss Rooooooooselle". Only the French way would do for her. Mrs Banner (Miss Wilkinson), brilliant German teacher, wore quite short skirts, sported Supremes-type big hair and was married to Mr Banner, a teacher at Marsh Hill Boys'. Brown corduroy always brings to mind the Geography teacher, Mr Slinn. Mrs Box, Deputy Head, usually dressed head-to-toe in tweed, could be quite formidable. Then there was Mr Manning - English, with Manfred Mann type specs. And Miss Lingham(?) also English teacher, very, very enthusiastic about everything, bless her. Many names I still can't recall such as the elderly and kind grey-haired Russian teacher, a native Russian who'd allegedly escaped from Russia. And there was a very tall French teacher with light brown chignoned hair, either married to a Frenchman or was French herself.
And what about the serious studying that went on in the science labs ? Watching from the chemistry lab as Marsh Hill VI form boys came over for mixed classes was a lesson in itself. Distracted by their strutting forms, science had absolutely no chance. But we sometimes mustered inspiration for one or two experiments like those involving the use of the ventilation shafts into which you'd put the test tubes of stinking H2S. The door pulled down like a dumb waiter but the putrid smell still permeated much of the school, especially the dining hall where dinner was being prepared. On leaving the lesson we'd announce to others "yeah, WE made that smell". An experiment guaranteed to get our attention was exposing phosphorous to the air, and watching it's magical glow. I remember only one fire in the labs - very surprising considering our willingness to 'experiment'. Never fully mastered the periodic table (but hey, we were lucky, it's even bigger today). Memorable biology experiments covered the usual dissecting of dogfish, frogs, ox's hearts and sheep's eyeballs. All pretty disgusting, but it 'enriched' the lesson. As for physics - making one of those thingys where a light came on if you touched the wire. Remember leaving one lesson with massively static hair - the lengths teachers will go to get you involved !
A fond memory is of the tuck shop shoe-horned into the space under the main staircase. Many entertaining morning breaks passed there queueing to be served; chatting, combing our Troll's long hair or creating enormous fluff balls from the bobbles collected off sweaters. Yes, high-brow stuff indeed. One special memory is sitting on the grass at the back of the Main Hall, listening to someone's transistor radio playing the Beach Boys: 'God only knows'. Radio's weren't allowed, but we lived on the edge!! This glorious summer's day still comes back every time I hear that song.
Viv (Jackie)
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