Guildford High SchoolOLD GIRLS’ NEWSLETTER

CREATIVE THINKINGCREATIVE LEARNING

SUMMER 2016

Natural rhythms guide all that we do. Our breathing and our heartrate are constant reminders of life’s pulsing rhythm that moves within and around us. Our lives are guided by the rising and setting of the sun, changes in temperature from day to night, the cycles of the moon, the tidal ebb and flow and by our own internal rhythm. Our circadian rhythm ticks like a clock in every cell of our body.

At GHS there is a rhythm to our day. A rhythm that creates movement and pace and energy. Our rhythm is strong and our beat is powerful, we know where we stand. The rhythm of our year allows for the old favourites. GHS would not be GHS without the Year 7 Panto or Mrs Denny announcing the girls who have got through to the kangaroo competitions in the Mathematical Olympiad. This year was an outstanding one for Guildford High School, with excellence in exam results, sport, music and drama. During the course of the last few weeks, GHS has opened the doors to the stunning 2016 Hall for the first time. Housing 80 orchestral chairs and including a recording studio, control room and teaching studios, this new music recital hall space has been designed to be flexible enough to meet the demands of a huge and varied range of musical activities including concerts, rehearsals and workshops. It was also be used for academic lectures. At the close of the school year, Dr Suzannah Lipscomb, Historian and television presenter, was welcomed to Guildford High School as Prizegiving speaker. Prizegiving is always a special occasion as it offers the chance to reflect on the highlights of the year and also look forward to the new opportunities and adventures awaiting all of our girls, especially those who are about to leave and embark on the next phase of their lives. Suzannah’s speech to the assembled pupils, parents and staff was engaging, funny and inspirational. The evening also featured a performance of ‘Toccata for Cello and Strings’ with a beautiful solo from Poppy in the Upper Sixth, and the Lower School Chamber Choir’s rendition of ‘When I Grow Up’ from the musical Matilda. On the following pages we have selected just a few highlights from the rhythm of the past year. I would also like to thank all the ‘Old Girls’ and former staff who take the time to get in touch, it is wonderful to hear news of your lives after GHS.

Mrs Fiona Boulton, Headmistress

SUMMER 2016

Left to right: Isabel Towell (Head Girl 2015-16) Dr Suzannah Lipscombe, Mrs Fiona Boulton (Headmistress) Niluka Perera (Head Girl 2016-17)

WELCOME

To kick off the academic year, Year 8 and 9 brought Shakespeare’s plays to life with innovative and imaginative creativity in the GHS Shakespeare Festival.In the Michaelmas Term, the Senior Plays were also a huge hit. Our Senior double drama bill of Caryl Churchill’s 1982 ‘Top Girls’ and John Vanbrugh’s 17th century satire ‘The Provoked Wife’ presented the audience with edgy, feminist themes, albeit written centuries apart.

The annual pantomime, a firm favourite in the GHS calendar, brought the Michaelmas term to an end with Year 7 girls taking to the stage under the direction of the Lower Sixth to perform ‘Frozen’. From the famous talking trees to dancing snowflakes, the audience were astounded by how convincing each girl was in her respective role, the beautiful costumes and backdrop also contributing to three fantastic performances.

The Lent Term saw a distinct change of rhythm with the performance of ‘Noises Off’, a hilarious, manically paced farce that had the audience laughing and in awe of the timing and energy of the cast.

Other exciting events in the Drama calendar have included the Wordworks Poetry Festival and the Prose Fiction Festival, where girls took parents and guest judges Christopher Wakeling and Ros Barber, on an incredible journey through their imaginations. The girls were also treated to two visits from the Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy; firstly in the Michaelmas Term where she partnered with the band ‘LiTTLe MACHiNE’ to perform some of her work to the whole school, and more recently in the Trinity Term, when she came to school to give the Sixth Form a workshop about her anthology ‘Rapture’.

To end the academic year, Years 7-9 performed ‘Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat’ to sold-out audiences. The Main Hall was transformed into a palm tree desert landscape, flanked by Egyptian hieroglyphics and images of Pharaoh, and the musical rhythms of the songs were influenced by beats from across the globe. This, combined with the vibrancy of the young performers, made for an unbelievably fabulous climax to the year’s dramatic repertoire.

A YEAR OFINCREDIBLE DRAMA

DRAMA at ghs

The rhythm of the school year has been punctuated with our regular pattern of wonderful concerts and services, but as ever, new events have been introduced and eagerly embraced by the girls.The programme of Music throughout the year has been incredibly vast, from the 220 solos performed by girls at the Informal Concerts, to the polish and poise of ensembles at the Chamber Concert.

The Michaelmas and Spring Concerts are regular fixtures in the GHS calendar and this year, there were exhilarating solo concerto performances from Susanna Pointer, Laura MacDonald, Alice Woffenden and Poppy Miller. These concerts always showcase the extensive variety of repertoire performed by our ensembles and this year was no different, exhibiting the impressive musical talent of all those involved and the breadth of music-making at GHS. A few months ago, the GHS and RGS Music Departments combined to perform Verdi’s Requiem at Guildford’s G Live. The strength and quality

MUSIC at ghs

of the chorus was of the highest standard, and the orchestra, made up almost entirely of pupils, was on top form - powerful and exhilarating when required, subtle at other times, creating moments of fantastic contrast and colour. The brass section blazed with sound when called upon, in contrast to the delicacy of the woodwinds while engaging with the soloists. Elsewhere, the strings were outstanding throughout, mastering many challenging moments with precision and astonishing might. Mention must be made of the percussionists, too - the bass drum and timpani thundered majestically in the Dies Irae. This was a most impressive concert and an emphatic declaration of the strength of music at both schools.

The 240 singers who make up the five distinct GHS choirs have, again, been on top form, singing beautifully at the many school concerts and services. Highlights have included the Carol Service at Guildford Cathedral in December, and the wonderful Choral Evensongs at Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge, and Winchester Cathedral.

During the Summer break, our musicians will end the academic year on a high when the GHS and RGS Joint Swing and Concert Band head off to Croatia on tour.

A WONDERFUL PROGRAMME OF MUSIC

For the third year in a row, the National School Sports Magazine has declared Guildford High School as the top independent girls’ school in the country for sporting achievement. This is a wonderful accolade that fills us with great pride, particularly since it is measured by Regional and National success. The breadth and depth of talent amongst our passionate, committed and dedicated young sportswomen is a reflection of what happens in school on a daily basis. We have teams participating competitively in an enviable number of sports, including Athletics, Badminton, Biathlon, Cross Country, Fencing, Golf, Gymnastics, Hockey, Lacrosse, Netball, Rowing, Show Jumping, Ski Racing, Tennis and Swimming. In all of these sports, individual medals and/or team trophies have been earned. It is also exciting to report that three new sports teams have emerged this year: two girls’ teams in Cricket and Football, and one highly enthusiastic male staff Football team. All three have already taken local opposition by surprise and are keeping GHS’ winning reputation intact!

Celebration of all our team and individual successes came to a crescendo at our Sports Awards evening in April, where the prestigious Team of the Year award was presented to the Senior Gymnastics Squad for their performance at the National ISGA Championships. The U14 National Netball Team is also to be congratulated for winning the ‘Junior Team of the Year’ in recognition of their fantastic result at the National Schools Final Tournament, where they finished second in the country.

Another highlight of the evening was the presentation of two worthy ‘Sports Personalities of the Year’ awards. Emily Appleton, who is playing at the Wimbledon Junior Tennis Tournament this year, now has a World ranking inside the top 40. Anna Maine continues to follow her Olympic pathway in Swimming, breaking national records en route. Other girls deserving to be congratulated for representing their country this year include: Samodani Wijetunge, the number one U17 Badminton player in England and Serena Patel, who is one of our country’s top fencers. Samantha Martyn and Sophie Thompson have recently represented Great Britain in Kayaking, Nell and Louisa Piper compete in Archery, Issy Adams in Climbing and Zara Mullooly in Para Swimming. Emma Brown, Lizzy Gartland, Milly London, Zoe Macrae, Lucy Devine and Polyanna Wright are also wished the very best of luck in their forthcoming U19 England Lacrosse Tour to Canada in August.

If people believe, however, that GHS is solely concerned with the pursuit of excellence, then they could not be more out of sync. The Easter Sports Tour to Club La Santa, Lanzarote, was a hugely enjoyable ‘sport for all’ success, providing a mixture of budding young athletes and swimmers the chance to spend a week of programmed exercise at a world-class facility. Our daily extra-curricular programme is also thriving, with a constant flow of fresh, recreational activities for girls to sample and enjoy. Whether their interest lies in Pilates, Spinning or Zumba, there is something for everyone to appreciate and develop healthy mindfulness in the frenetic swing of every day school life.

A INCREDIBLE YEAR OF SPORT

SPORT at ghs

There is such a rich and diverse array of opportunities and interests at GHS beyond the classroom that the calendar is always packed with fascinating trips and events.Our Year 7 girls all began the year with an exciting ‘Bushcraft’ trip. During their time in the forest, they learnt how to be outdoor survivors by making a fire, building a shelter and cooking their own meals, whilst also getting to know each other and their new Form Tutors. Other exciting adventures have included a Year 8 trip to the Eden Project and Cheddar Gorge, girls from Years 9 and 10 having an incredible adventure on a trekking expedition through Morocco, and girls from Years 9-11 traveling to Texas, USA for a week of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) activities at NASA’s Johnson Space Centre. The Easter break saw a breath-taking Geography trip to Iceland, as well as a Year 11 and 12 History trip to Berlin.

During the Summer break, Year 7 girls will be heading off for an action-packed adventure in Shropshire, Year 8 will be enjoying a watersports break in Rockley, Year 10 will experience a range of outdoor activities in Wales, the Gold Duke of Edinburgh girls will set off to Snowdonia and our intrepid Lower Sixth will explore Peru in a once-in-a-lifetime expedition.

GHS Young Enterprise has enjoyed another exciting, busy and successful year with fifty Lower Sixth girls in four companies - Theia, Kosmos, Allegiant and Helix - creating products such as scented candles, jewellery, a cake in a cup and a mindfulness colouring book. Kosmos, creators of the mindfulness colouring book, represented Surrey at the South England competition in Dorking Halls where they competed against the seven best companies in the South East, winning the award for Creativity.

There have also been a flurry of exciting House events throughout the year, with competitions ranging from some old favourites to new challenges for the girls. Emerald won the annual Pumpkin Carving Competition, with Amethyst creating the best decorated cake for Halloween. Sapphire triumphed in the closely fought Senior Netball Tournament whilst Ruby won the Pudding Making Competition. Ruby also won the House Photography Competition, with Laura Cope taking some stunning images on the theme of ‘Colour’. Opal won the first House Human Hungry Hippos contest - a competition that had to be seen to be believed! The Lent Term saw the Year 7s join the Houses for the first time, and they quickly got into the swing of things, with Ruby winning House Monopoly and Opal House Taboo. Sapphire won the Year 8 House Pointless Competition, which Amethyst once again triumphed in the hard-fought House Quiz Competition. In the sporting sphere, Topaz won both House Badminton and Year 7 House Netball. Sapphire won the Valentine’s Day Pudding Competition whilst it was hard to tell who won the House Pancake Race! The climax to the House competition was Sports Day where the girls threw themselves into every event with huge energy and enthusiasm, with Opal the eventual winners of the House Athletics Cup!

beyond theCLASSROOM

A YEAR OF EXCITING TRIPS & EVENTS

My sister and I were ten and twelve in 1940 when we left our home town of London and moved to the safety of Cranleigh, and we started at Guildford High School.

As we weren’t boarders, we had a daily journey to school that involved a long bus-ride followed by a mad rush from Quarry Street up the High Street to reach school in time. In addition to our school bags, we also had to take our gas masks in a small cardboard box with a shoulder strap.

We had to be properly dressed in regulation coat, hat, gloves, black lace-up flat shoes and dreadful grey lisle stockings. Because clothing was rationed, our stockings were constantly in holes, which meant my sister and I spent one evening a week darning. We used to have a competition to see who had successfully darned the biggest hole! We also had to darn new stockings before they were worn to reinforce them under the foot and heel to make them last longer. Usually, we enjoyed one or two boiled sweets from our precious sweet ration at the same time.

Each day, after morning assembly, we would go off to our classrooms while Jordan, the caretaker, erected the tables for lunch. He was always good-humoured and friendly, as was Mrs Jordan, the school cook. It must have been difficult making the rations go round and giving us all good, nourishing food, though it wasn’t always tasty - I have a gruesome memory of semolina cheese pie! The legs of our long, baggy knickers sometimes secreted small amounts of unwanted wrapped food, later to be disposed of. We were always encouraged to eat every crumb as it we were told that “men were giving their lives to put food on our tables”. And so we duly thanked the Lord for it.

We gave all the staff private nicknames, which showed the affection and esteem we held them in. I remember there was Miss McKitterick (Kitty), Miss Stone (Flint) and Miss Davey (Daisy). The baby class was run by Miss Hughes - or ‘Meeshoos’ as one small boy spelt it!

Because it was wartime, there were no excursions or visits beyond the school walls. We only left the premises once a year when the whole school walked in crocodile to the cathedral, which in those days was in the middle of town. It was a time of austerity, so there were no films, slides, demonstrations or exhibitions. That said, we did have some fun occasionally. It might not sound very exciting but we enjoyed quizzes, and sing-songs - usually end-of-term treats. We also ran raffles to buy comforts for the troops. My family kept goats at home and I was able to give a billy kid as a prize. A girl in my class won the prize and when I asked her a few weeks later about him, she said he was delicious!

We didn’t get many visitors to the school, but I do remember Lord Brabazon of Tara came to one prizegiving. He was a big impressive man with a deep voice. I seem to remember the gist of his speech was about the future for our country being in the aircraft industry. He said as more and more women technicians and designers were coming into the industry, he hoped girls like us might consider this a good career with an exciting future.

Most days were uneventful although sometimes there was an air raid warning and the whole school assembled in the cloakrooms. They had been reinforced with great thick timbers to make them bomb-proof. Classes carried on as normally as possible as we sat on shoe boxes, our heads amongst the gas masks, overcoats and hats, with our exercise books on our knees.

I remember one dreadful night when my family went out into the dark and looking northwards, we could see a big arc of gold and red on the horizon - it was London burning. It was a terrible sight, especially as it had been our home for so many years.

I finished school at the end of the war in 1945, and I knew then that life was going to be very different for everyone. Now I look back at those wonderful ladies who dedicated their lives to teaching us at the High School and what a marvellous job they did, not only educating us, but keeping up our spirits during such dark times.

JUANITA WILDnée MendozaGHS 1945

This has not been a good year health-wise, as I’m still suffering various side effects of the radiotherapy, but the good news is that I’m back to being busy and active.

My son and I belatedly managed to celebrate my 80th birthday in style with a sunny weekend in Copenhagen; a lovely, interesting city with such friendly and welcoming people. My pursuits are many and varied: Latin classes (Miss Stuart would be amazed!), Girlguiding and Trefoil Guild, Parish Council, Ipswich Institute and the College of Canons at St Edmundsbury Cathedral, where we now have two new Bishops - sometimes there are not enough hours in my day!

It’s been good to keep up with my grandsons Laurence aged seven and Joseph, now five, who are both at school in Cambridgeshire. Margaret Kelly (née Latham) and I enjoy seeing each other several times a year. The highlight of 2015 was meeting up with Sally Cumming from New York when she was visiting family in Norfolk. We had a great day together and talked non-stop, of course, about our shared memories of Guildford and GHS. The picture shows Sally and me on the North Norfolk coast; I’m the one with the white hair!

I was saddened to hear of Miss Henwood’s death - I owe her my lasting fondness for history - but was very pleased to hear that Anne

During the last year I have constantly driven past Guildford High School, looking at the girls going up to the field and busy at the school. They all look very alert and active. It gives one intense pleasure.

The local railway line via Claygate to Surbiton and Waterloo runs near my house and garden and I think of the old days when Felicity Levett (Mrs Ingram) lived at Claygate and I often went there before she died. Catherine Ingram, her daughter, my God-daughter, now married to the Revd Graham Smith, with a daughter finishing a degree at Edinburgh and a graduate son in America, works at Charterhouse School, Godalming, as archivist, with much material.

The railway line going down to London Road Station, Guildford, past me, reminds me how much this has been a wonderful thing for so many girls going to and from GHS every day, as it was for Catherine and her older sister in their day.

Clandon Park, near my beloved Church at St John’s, Merrow, after its serious fire, is still being worked on, on the inside, with valuable finds and things to be restored. At the beginning of the 1939-45 war, valuable records were evacuated from London to go in the Great Hall in great stacks, under Noel Blakiston. His daughter Catherine came to GHS, and Felicity and others, then I, went to play rounders with her outside the main entrance and also ‘Murder Round the Stacks’ in the Great Hall! We had great fun there. Catherine became a noted Shakespearian actress.

At Merrow Church I have met an Old Girl and her husband over jolly coffee in the Merrow Church Hall. Susan Clare, who originally lived in Echopit Road, went to GHS aged 12, in 1955 to 1961. She greatly appreciated, as I did, Miss Reed as Headmistress, and Miss Henwood, and also had her morning milk in the playground (now where the new building, dedicated to music, stands).

Juanita Mendoza, now Mrs Wild, and at Stubbings, Crown Hill, Halberton, writes of she and her sister going to GHS from 1940 to 1945, before she and her sister went to Guildford Art School, where Guildford College is. Does anyone remember her? Do write in to GHS.

How much we owe to our lovely school.

ANNE BOWEY GHS 1937-1951

ANNE DUNFORD OBE née TunnellGHS 1943-1953

Thank you so much for sending the GHS magazine, I admire the school’s progress and even recognise some old girls’ names. I have been in touch with Anne Dunford and we met up last summer which was a huge pleasure.

As I approach my 80th this month, I have slowed down my work and started to concentrate on leisure. Lovely. I have a house at the end of Long Island and have developed a love of gardening, but NYC still holds me to city life so I go back and forth.

Looking back, I remember joining the Upper First in May 1945. I was almost nine and it was my fifth school. We had moved around England as my father was transferred by the RAF. Of course, I remember quite a lot of the war years and the austerity that followed. I think the girls today would be rather shocked by our school lunches. We lined up every morning for a bottle of milk which was probably more beneficial. I was a poor student but I loved sports and even running up and down the sports field in the cold. I thank Ms Hunt for a lifelong pleasure in classical music and Ms Henwood for being the great teacher she was. Ms Avis managed to drum some french into us and I went on to speak fluently in Paris. Does anyone remember, we were a badly behaved class and one day the staff went on strike and would not teach us so the headmistress, Ms Reid sat with us all day. I think that the required effect. Overall, I am grateful for my days at GHS and good wishes to all.

PS I started using Sarah here but am known by both names in NYC.

SALLY ANN CUMMING GHS 1945-1952

I enjoyed school immensely - all of it - from kindergarten to Lower Sixth. Having lived in Australia since 1961, it was just wonderful to meet up with school friends at reunions in 2005 and 2011.

Then, this year, Maggie Ford (née Edwards) came to stay for a few days while visiting her sister Bridget. The memories all flooded back again. We reminisced and laughed about standing outside on cold winter days drinking our milk ration when it just about froze in the bottles, taking shelter in the staff room corridor during air raids etc. Today’s OH&S rules would never allow us to climb the ropes in the hall during gym classes with no mats underneath us! That hall witnessed so much - morning prayers, prize giving ceremonies, school plays and carol services, gym and dancing classes as well as lunch every day when we would try to dodge the supervising teacher in order to get rid of the more horrid portions of swedes or stodge! We had wonderful teachers - devoted to their subjects although we didn’t always respond with total enthusiasm. However, many of us went on to excel in the academic area and achieved great things in later life so a lot of our teachers’ efforts must have rubbed off on us.

Life in Australia is good and with three sons and eight grandchildren, life is never dull.

I still enjoy singing in choirs, doing tai chi and love gardening. However life is a little quieter these days since my husband, Vern, suffered a major heart attack and debilitating pneumonia. However we walk every day and enjoy the rosellas and parrots that visit our garden. Life is good and, coming up to 55 years of marriage, we have much for which to be thankful.

Hello to everyone from ‘my’ generation at GHS.

CLARE RUSSELL née SimpsonGHS 1942-1955

OLD GIRLS NEWS

Bowey now attends Merrow Church. I was christened and worshipped there and my Father rang the bells and pumped the organ, so St John’s has very special memories for me.

Congratulations to GHS on such excellent results and great achievements. I feel enormously proud to be one of its ‘Old Girls’.

Editor’s Note: Apologies to Sally Orriss (née Raphael) whose photo was incorrectly printed alongside another article in the Summer 2015 issue of the OGA newsletter.

SALLY ORRISS née Raphael GHS 1953-1963

I left GHS in 1957, when I was 15, when my family left for the Kivu province, in the ex-Belgian Congo, in central Africa.

I remember, amongst others in my form, Pamela Sheen, Helen Benjafield (who visited me in Belgium), Jennifer Reid, Alice Terry Watson, Rebecca Barclay, Penelope Dixon, Rachel Sugden, Rosalind Chalmers, Gillian Cooper, and of course Elisabeth Howse, who had been a great friend, and Elisabeth Rothery, with whom I am still in contact.

I remember being thrilled at going to live somewhere so exotic, and far away, even if I knew that I would have to go to boarding school, and what’s more, in French! (Miss Avis would have appreciated).

The first year, my family lived in Goma. A five hour journey away from the school in Bukavu, (capital of the Kivu province) by high-speed ferry on the Lake Kivu, so I spent the whole of the terms in boarding school, without being able to go back home for the weekends, or short holidays.

My form consisted of 40 odd boys and girls together, dressed in normal every day clothes - no uniform was required. So that in itself was quite a change. Homework was done with an English/French dictionary, to be able look up all the words I didn’t understand (obviously, most of them!). Luckily, we were not in a dormitory, but we each had an individual ‘little cell’. I must admit, that helped me enormously in the beginning…

Regrettably, there was a lot of social unrest going on in the country, and the Belgian government, after numerous uprisings, and lots of unpleasantness, finally decided to give the Congo it’s independence in 1961. Unfortunately this had not been properly planned, so it quickly turned nasty, and I was sent to Europe, not back home to the UK, but to Belgium, because my parents were divorcing, and had family there. So sadly, my African adventure turned short.

Most unhappily too, we lost all our belongings in the turmoil, meaning, amongst other things, that I no longer have the

FRANÇOISE BEKAERTLeft GHS 1957

wonderful long school photos of the whole school (in our summer frocks) to look back on.

In Belgium, after a secretarial course, I worked for the Administration Officer of the British Embassy for four years. By then, I was married, and had a daughter; a few years later, a son followed, and my now ex-husband made me give up my job. I don’t know about the UK, but In Belgium, we ladies had to wait until 1976 for it to be legally allowed to hold down a job, without our husbands’ permission!! So as soon as that came about, I went back to work! We finally divorced, and I worked in several different jobs over the years, but always in an international environment.

Miss Orr, who was my first piano teacher at GHS, would have been very upset, I’m sure, to know that I never made it to the Royal Academy in London, as planned. And so would my organ teacher, John Alldis, who wanted me to study at the Royal College of Organists, but as someone so rightly said: ‘Life is what happens to you whilst you’re busy making other plans’.

Nowadays my daughter lives and works in America, and has become an American national. I have a 19-year old American grandson. Here in Belgium, where I still live, my son has a son and two daughters.

I am obviously pensioned off now, and since a few years back have been sharing my life with a Belgian widower. He has a house on the Atlantic coast in France, so we divide our time between the two countries.

I remember the head teacher in my time was Miss Reid and I also remember the names of some of the teachers: Miss Henwood, Miss Nesbitt, Miss Avis, Miss Godfrey, Miss Hyde.

From the newsletter, I can see the enormous changes to the school and to school life, since my time. Congratulations to all for the incredibly high standards achieved.

If any of the pupils of that time (I know, it’s a long time ago!) should remember me and want to get in touch, I would be only too pleased!

My email address is fransesca-b@hotmail.com

As a result of putting some news into last year’s newsletter, I have re-established contact with Penny Yates-Mercer. It’s so lovely to be back in touch with a school friend. She sent me some photos - she hasn’t changed! Are there any more of us out there?

Another highlight of last year was meeting Princess Anne when she presented me with an award for my work with Riding for the Disabled. She was so friendly and down to earth, very easy to chat to and loved our ponies.

JILL PARSONS née HooperGHS 1953-1960

Peter and I have just returned from a visit to New Zealand and Australia. One of the main reasons for going was to attend some friends’ Golden Wedding celebrations in Auckland. One of the other guests was Karen Willmott (née Harman) who was in the year above me, attached is a photo taken at the party. Her two sisters, Tessa and Jane are also still in New Zealand. Following our 50 years leaving reunion in 2012, contacts between several of us have been maintained. I keep in fairly regular contact with Ruth (née Hudson), Joan (née Revell) and Liz Critchfield. Although spread out in different parts of the country we do occasionally manage to get together. From a personal point of view mobility does not get easier with increasing age, but I am still involved a Governor of Pangbourne School, a Trustee of a local health charity, Integrated Neurological Services, together with commitments to the local parish.

SUE STEVENS née BeerGHS 1953-1962

I meet up with class mates Jean Deane (née Gordon), Marilyn Fanya (née Little) and Rosemary Salter (née Davey) whenever I am visiting the UK, which has been once a year recently, as two of my three children, plus three grandchildren are living in the UK. Both my sisters Tessa Brown (née Harman) and Jane Adams (née Harman) are also living in New Zealand.

John Duder, who went to Auckland University with my husband, is proud of the fact that he also attended Guildford High School in the infant class during and after the war!

KAREN WILMOTTnée HarmanLeft GHS 1960

We’re all now nearing sixty and some of us would like to meet up in summer 2017 to celebrate how wonderfully we have grown up!

If you were in our year or have a sister/cousin/other friend or relative who was, please could you email Jane Dallyn (née Leach) on jdallyn@btinternet.com so that we can update our lists and contact our old friends nearer the time.

Thank you.

CALLING ALL OLD GIRLSfrom 1968-1973/1975

I’m still busy with family, although they are all grown up and have moved away. I enjoy playing golf and tennis and organise events for a charity to keep the brain busy! We have a fairly new dog, which gives me plenty of exercise.

GILLIAN ALLAN née HedgesGHS 1968-1975

I live on the coast of Northumberland, I wake up thinking I hear traffic on the M25, but it’s the waves. I feel homesick for Surrey when a traffic report mentions the Hogs Back or Junction 9 at Leatherhead.

After leaving school I was a veterinary nurse, then went to catering college and then plumped for design. I became a Chartered Designer (now lapsed), was awarded the Design Centre Kite for pop-up cards, have been three times demonstrator on the Generation Game, written craft articles for national magazines, taught adult education (never again!), won Southend in Bloom Best Back Garden, won my category on TVs Britain’s Best Back Garden, and was a finalist in the Sunday Telegraph Magazine Gardening Competition.

I worked in the male dominated world of print for 33 years but didn’t manage to find Mr Right, only an assortment of Mr Wrongs. No longer working since 2011 I can be found every day pulling a cart on the beach, collecting firewood and litter with my dogs. To keep out of mischief I run an anti-litter competition for kids every year and produce graphic design and photos for local charities.

My hobbies are still the same as when I was 12; crafts, photography, walking, gardening and campaigning for animal rights. Yes, it was me that released the stag beetle and it was me that stole the lemming from the Junior School when I saw it being dropped on the floor and anything else that went missing before being dissected or pickled!

LORAINE (LOLLY) BRYANT GHS 1968-1975

Soused Herrings

Ex-GHS girls of a certain vintage who honed their basic cooking skills under the tutelage of the late Mrs Potts will remember that after one had mastered cheese scones, chocolate blancmange and some other memorable staples the afternoon finally arrived to do the dreaded “soused herrings.” This unavoidable experience was indelibly imprinted on the minds of those who mainly left school in 1968 and who found themselves reminiscing about it recently.

I quote verbatim from some of the lively email correspondence that was generated between us on the subject to illustrate what a deep impression the “sousing” business made:

“I remember the soused herrings. Most of the ‘sous’ ended up in a stream along the railway carriage as I attempted to keep them horizontal!” Jean Sheard (née Logan)

“I remember the soused herrings only too well and also my first attempt at scrambled eggs, they would have bounced off the wall if I had had the nerve to throw them. Happily I have mastered them now!”Sue Freeman (née Blunden)

“I had to take my soused herrings on the bus, the juice leaked as well, they were truly awful! What did we carry them in, before the days of Tupperware? I seem to remember a Pyrex dish of some sort. Has anyone ever soused a herring since that fateful day, I am not sure it was an essential life skill!” Christine Bidmead (née Smith)

“As far as domestic science reminiscences go, I remember the soused herrings clearly and have never eaten one to this day. I also remember Rosemary Strachan dropped her carefully crafted lentil soup on Weybridge station platform where fellow travellers gave it a wide berth, evidently supposing that someone had been very unwell! Ah, happy days!” Ros Roebuck (née Toone)

“As to soused herrings…mine went down the drain outside school before I got on the bus!” Robby Tucker (née Birrell)

“Travelling on the train I remember messing about climbing in the luggage racks, made of netting at the time. I think my soused herrings ended up there! Also remember the bright orange lentil soup, which leaked in my bag on the way home, and the rock-solid macaroni cheese - uneatable. Just as well our cooking has evolved since the mid-sixties...!” Rosie Simonneau (née Gumbel)

My own memory of the soused herring experience was of receiving a rude come-uppance. Knowing that we were scheduled to carry out the fishy business the following week (with or without Tupperware to use for the homeward journey) I convinced my mother that I had some griping pain or other on the day in question and managed to bunk off school (the only time I recall doing such a terrible thing). I was extremely worried that I would throw up at the mere smell - let alone at the point of physical contact with the poor herring (I am not a fish eater and never was!) Anyhow, I thought I’d got away with it and duly turned up at the following week’s DS lesson, kitted out as usual in the ubiquitous blue overall (which you will remember covered us for art and science lessons as well as cooking). Of course Mrs P. had meticulously noted in her records that I hadn’t ‘soused’ and she made me do it there and then (holding my breath and with shaking hands) while the rest of the class got on with ginger buns, macaroni cheese or whatever! I remember Sue Goodwin sneakily offering some vital help when Mrs P. wasn’t looking (for which I bless her even more than when she gave me vital mathematical assistance when we ‘did’ Latent Heat with Mrs Barnes…) The fishy smell lingered on faintly in my overall to the end of its life!

PENNY MAWDSLEY née CrockettLeft GHS 1968

JENNY HAY née HigginsGHS 1964

Old Girls Class of 1964 Reunion Plans

I recently received an email from Janet Davidson (now Wright) and Sue Browning (now Homer) suggesting we try and contact as many people in our class as possible with a view to a reunion in September 2018 when we will be 70. What a scary thought.

As a result of the email I looked out some photos I took on one of my last days at GHS in June 1964. The large group photo is:Janet Davidson, Hilary Fogwill, Pat Lee, Angela Charlton, Margaret Gulliver, Christine Grubb, Sue Browning, Erica Holborn, Stella Shackle, Mary Cullen, Andria Charlton, Angela Kelly, Jane Hull, Cherida Scott-Miller Penny James, Rosie Collinswood, Penny Brock, Jane Rogers, Candy Pickering.

The other photograph of three people shows Jane Rogers, Jenny Higgins, Rosie Collinswood. There is also a photo of the front of the school in 1964.

In those days there were two classes per year and they were split into the “A” stream and “B” stream. We are particularly interested in contacting people who were in the “B” stream. If you were in this class please contact one of the people below with your email address so that we can include you in our plans for 2018. It would be really exciting if we can get the class together again.

Jenny Hay: jennyhay3234@yahoo.co.ukJan Wright: jan.wright3@btopenworld.comSue Homer: homersusan@hotmail.com

I live in Elstead, am retired, have one husband, one daughter, one son, four grandchildren and a mother. I play golf, sing with Rock Choir, do stained glass, enjoy walking and playing bridge. Rosie and I meet up quite often for golf and lunch and we are hoping to visit Candy in the summer.

I’m still living in Hereford. My daughter Natasha is at Sussex University and my partner is working in Brussels. This means that I spend most of my time living alone, which I enjoy very much indeed.

To fill my time, I volunteer in the local Oxfam bookshop and also steward at the local arts centre. I spend the summer in our house in Limousin, France and have started buying up French vintage collectibles “shabby chic” etc. and am managing to sell some of them via a small shop in Hereford. I am also investigating other places to sell items including eBay.

The longer term plan is to move to France once my daughter has left uni and is more settled.

SUZANNAH CARVERGHS 1968-1975

Gosh can it really be that long ago? Actually I know it is because a long ago private pension plan which seemed like a stupid waste of money when I was a 22 year old manager on a pathetic salary is about to start paying out....there are some compensations then!

Regarding an update, fortunately nothing earth shattering since last time…still living in Barnes, South West London, with hubby Patrick and daughter Florence, although she makes occasional dashes for freedom since graduating last May.

Still running Eureka! my training and development business, just about although suddenly I seem terribly popular with the voluntary sector!

I resist the ravages of time by doing a particularly strenuous form of Yoga, wearing a lot of lipstick and hair product and lying about my age!

BOBBY CRABTREE née FindlayGHS 1968-1975

I continue to enjoy my job as a Junior School Science Technician providing experiments and resources for 7-11 year olds and helping in lessons as necessary. Over-excited pupils with Bunsen burners particularly need another adult in the lab! I am giving up my own French club for children at the end of this academic year having introduced hundreds to the fun and games of learning a language. It has been great fun but also exhausting and I have other demands on my time.

My partner has a life-limiting illness and since he inconveniently lives in Norfolk there’s a lot of travelling from Reigate...

My other travels are to Japan where my son and family live or to Norway where my daughter is working - it must have been something I said!

Otherwise I meet up with many old school friends on a regular basis and always try to meet Marilyn Holmested at the Surrey County Show.

JANE DALLYN née LeachGHS 1968-1975

Our eldest son Tim got married to Lisa in 2013 and both our sons, Tim and Edward have now bought houses. For our 30th wedding anniversary, Phil and I spent two weeks on holiday in Georgia and the Carolinas. My husband Phil is still working as a Judge and I do lots of voluntary work, tap dancing and walking our two labradors.

Sadly, both my parents are gone now, but my brother Roger lives with his wife just two miles away from us and my niece lives nearby in Cheltenham and has a son, now three years old, which means I’m a great aunt!!

JAYNE MACKENZIE née AtterGHS 1968-1975

I’m still at Leicester High School Foundation Unit working as a Co-ordinator. In my spare moments I adore practising Gentle Touch Reflexology. Open-water swimming also remains a passion.

CHRISTINA POWGHS 1968-1975

I’m living in Lee and enjoying South London life. I’ve done a career in Speech and Language Therapy for 30 years and am now changing to use transferrable skills from this.

My niece and nephews are now living closer to me and it’s lovely to see them starting out on their careers.

SALLY TATTERSALLGHS 1968-1975

A rather stressful couple of years with children doing A Levels and GCSEs! Fairly recently we had a new addition to the family in the form of an adorable black labrador, who takes up a lot of my time but also provides lots of exercise.

SUZY LEWIS née NichollsGHS 1968-1975

Is it just me or would we all quite like to ‘retire’ from paid work at this point? Whilst I still enjoy the work, the call of a different pace of life is very appealing now, particularly as my husband and brother have both stopped the Monday to Friday lark and have embraced a new way of being.

We are still running the holiday rental business for one of the Deal cottages and splitting our time between Surrey and Kent - I love the beach and the three dogs agree that there is nothing better than a run on the sand at low tide.

Poppy has started at a new firm and is loving it - hurrah. David’s three boys all now have their own children, with the oldest grandchild starting at Cambridge last autumn and the youngest celebrating her first birthday. The first two of Simon’s children are settled in happy relationships and the twins have just turned 17 with great plans for further study in Maths and Dance (one subject each, not combined degrees). The medics have put me on a new diet which addresses some of the challenges left from the cancer/surgery/treatment so I am glad and grateful for the work of the peeps who discovered the low FODMAP way of eating!

PIPPA MACKIE formerly Hare, née McDonaldGHS 1968-1974

Life has been really busy over the past couple of years. Sadly, both my mother and father-in-law died in 2014. However, on a happier note, our daughter, Zoë married her Mexican husband Roberto (Nateras) in his home town near Mexico City, a fabulous wedding with Mariachi bands etc., followed by a week’s holiday in Cancun.

So, in my spare time I’m learning Spanish, which I much enjoy. Zoë has now passed her final ACA chartered accountancy exams and is working with a French accountancy firm in the UK and France. Our eldest daughter Melissa is working as HR Compliance Officer with Schlumberger (oil engineering services co.). Our son, Ross graduated from Warwick and is now working as a graduate trainee with RBS Investment Banking Division in the City. My husband Keith is still busy working in The City. I’m enjoying working part-time as Receptionist for a chiropractic clinic in Woking as well as teaching French after school/private tutoring and looking after our new puppy, Darcey, a black/tan Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

ANNELIES HISCOCK née DoellyGHS 1968-1975

I have recently completed an MA at the Royal College of Art and had a splendid time but it was hard work too. For a brief period everyone at home was employed but my husband, Alan has recently retired, so we are moving into a different pattern of existence. The world beckons…

POLLY HORWICH née BarnesGHS 1968-1975

I’m still living in West London and running Ealing Carers’ Centre, which is very rewarding.

CECILIA COLESHAWLeft GHS 1971

I have recently painted a portrait of Bishop Libby Lane, the first woman bishop, and also a group portrait of the Queen’s Chaplains, painted to mark her 90th birthday.

JANE ALLISONLeft GHS 1975

I thought I’d send in a photo of my daughter Georgie who left GHS in 2006. She married David Gunning last summer on 25th July and now shares our anniversary date! It was a wonderful day and in keeping with my mum on my wedding day, we secretly organised an archway of lacrosse sticks and cricket bats for the couple to come into the wedding breakfast under! Helping me with this were old GHS friends of Georgie’s - Jen Ayers, Faye Thomas and Lizzie Bourne. Lin May Tai was a witness and Kirst Spilg flew from New Zealand to be one of Georgie’s bridesmaids. Lara Moffat was also able to attend the ceremony. It was so lovely to see them all and brought back very happy memories of them all together at GHS. A bigger group of them arrange monthly meet ups for meals and catch ups in London.

Next year I shall be sending in a baby photo as we now have a grandchild, our first, arriving in October! We joked that we’d only just got the wedding photos in the frames when we heard that a baby was on the way!!

Georgie and Dave are both primary school teachers in North London but are moving back down to the Woking area in August. All parents are conveniently living in the area to lend a hand!

I’m afraid I haven’t got any news of my year (leavers 1974/1976) but I will try and get something together for next year!

VICKY HENRY née ReadingLeft GHS 1974

We are hoping to hold a special reunion next year 2017 to celebrate our 60th Birthdays!!

More details to follow nearer the date and we would love to hear from anyone in our year group, so please get in touch:

Annelies Hiscock (née Doelly) a.hiscock@ntlworld.com

REUNION NEWS

After GHS I read Human Biology at Birmingham before studying for a PGCE in Biology with Science at the University of Wales, Swansea. I now work as a Science teacher at Oxted School.

I met my husband Adrian on match.com two and a half years ago and within three months we had bought a flat together. We married on Saturday 2nd April 2016 in the Henry VII Lady Chapel, Westminster Abbey. Our reception was at the Burford Bridge Hotel at the foot of Box Hill.

HELEN KITAJEWSKI née DaviesLeft GHS 2007

We are on a really big adventure having bought an old farmhouse (the farmstead dates back to the Domesday Book) in the Blackdown Hills in Devon. Not only that, it has come with a ready-made holiday business in the form of four thatched cottages converted from old barns surrounding a pretty courtyard plus four Mongolian yurts set in beautiful fields for a full eco-glamping experience. It is a steep learning curve at the moment, I’m very busy learning the ropes of managing the business. Our children Mia and Felix are enjoying fishing in the pond, studying frog spawn, and making dens.

To see where we are visit www.halsbeerfarm.co.uk or www.blackdownyurts.co.uk. Better still, why not book a break and come and see for yourself!

KATIE PARSONSLeft GHS 1995

When I was a pupil at GHS and thinking about next steps, I felt lucky that I always knew I wanted to be an optometrist. This was in no small part due to my wonderful mother, Gill Haig-Brown, an GHS old girl herself, who for 27 years has run her private practice, Haig-Brown Optometrists, in Esher. I was always really proud of how motivated and professional Gill was in establishing and building a successful practice, and since joining the business myself in 2004, I know first-hand what hard work and dedication it takes to achieve such excellence and longevity. With Gill stepping down as Director this Summer, I am thrilled to be taking over the reins of the business. It feels like a very natural step - Gill is very much looking forward to having more time to herself after a long and successful career and I feel ready to take on the new challenge, having worked towards this point for many years. I have a very supportive husband Alex, who is my sounding board for late night musings as I think about the exciting journey ahead. Gill will continue to do the work she loves – seeing patients – for a little while longer which is great for patients, many of whom have been at the practice since the beginning, and for both of us as we love working together. My vision for the practice is that it will continue to go from strength to strength to build on everything that Gill and I have been working so hard to achieve. Our philosophy has always been to invest in our team and the very best equipment, to provide cutting edge optometry to look after patients’ eyes for a lifetime. We are dedicated to providing the very best eyecare and eyewear for our patients and as a child-

NICOLA HAIG-BROWN & GILL HAIG-BROWN (née Powell-Cullingford)GHS 1985 - 1998 (NICOLA) 1954 - 1972 (GILL)

friendly practice our commitment to patient care starts in the early years. We are passionate about continued professional development and take pride in offering excellent training and development for the next generation of optometrists and dispensing opticians. As we are both old-GHS girls we can safely say our time there contributed to our strong work ethic and positive outlook, and a sense that anything is possible. This is a philosophy shared by Gill’s sister, Mary, also attended the school and trained as a Dentist. And of course we all made life-long friendships whilst at school which endure today.

During the refurbishment of the clock tower, we were astonished to discover graffiti on the timbers dating back to late 1920s!

CLOCK TOWER GRAFFITI

A stalwart group of 22 of us enjoyed a wonderful weekend in Oxford between 8th and 10th April this year which was brilliantly organised by Alison Williams (née Speedie) who lives in the city. With amazing serendipity Alison was able to arrange for us to stay in Christ Church College where we received V.I.P. treatment, thanks to Jo Malton (ex GHS, 1979 leaver) who happens to be in charge of sorting guest accommodation there. Not only were we able to relish a magnificent breakfast (rounded off with Frank Cooper’s Oxford marmalade - what else?!) sitting at High Table in the awe-inspiring Great Hall under the gaze of past college Masters but there were many other delights to enjoy during our stay. We were given the use of a room off the Junior Common Room as a handy private day base where we could have tea and coffee and we were able to slip easily into Christ Church Cathedral for a look round and to enjoy a memorable Evensong.

The highlight for those of us who are “Brideshead Revisited” fans, however, was our sleeping quarters located in the Meadows Rooms in one of which the fictional Sebastian Flyte was supposed to be domiciled. Memorably, one of our number had the experience of a split-level room at the top of the four flights of stairs. The room clearly belonged to a music student as the lower level contained a large harmonium as well as the bed. A spiral staircase led up from the middle of it to the upper floor which housed the “en-suite” facilities (a challenge to reach for a night-time visit!), a desk, wardrobe and chest of drawers.

After going out for a jolly meal together on the Friday evening and enjoying breakfast together, on the Saturday morning we broke into two main groups. One group visited the Ashmolean Museum and the rest of the party had a delightful riverside walk, stopping off for coffee at a riverside pub. We came together to spend the afternoon on a guided tour of Wadham, Balliol and New College and their grounds.

1968 LEAVERS’ REUNION

On 14th May this year, the 1970 (and 68/69) leavers had another of our now annual gatherings. Although we originally began as a West Country group, we now have people coming from far and wide - Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Yorkshire being the farthest points this year. It was especially nice that Jackie Knight could join us from Yorkshire for the first time. Viv Barnes (née Brock) kindly hosted us once again at her lovely house and garden in Farringdon, near Exeter, and yet again the sun shone for us. It was lovely to sit in the garden, catching up with everyone’s news. Some of us have retired, some are still working hard and even taking on new challenges, and some have new roles looking after grandchildren. Lots to talk about! Next year (13th May 2017) we will give Viv the chance to be a guest rather than the host for a change, at a venue yet to be decided. There has been talk of a gathering nearer Guildford, in addition to the West Country one, which could be good news for some of the long distance travellers!

There’s a photo on the alumnae section of the school website showing some of us on the day we left the Upper Sixth, looking extraordinarily young. I think it is a testament to friendships formed at school that after all this time we are now a bunch of women in our sixties who still enjoy each other’s company - long may it last. If anyone is reading this who has not heard from me and would like to join in, just email me at gillstrange@gmail.com.

Photo L-R (maiden names):Standing: Margaret Jordan, Joanna Percival, Judy Ackery, Vivienne de Pemberton, Vivien Brock, Gill Thomas, Amanda Wilkie, Mary Aumonier, Liz Wesson, Jackie Knight, Simone Le Fevre, Christine Cullingford, and the ‘girl racers’ in front, Pam Motum, Sally Furse and Sylvia Wright.

Gill Strange (née Thomas)GHS 1960-1970

On Saturday 1st August 2015, 27 girls from our class of 1973 and six members of staff came to my house in Bromley for our 10 yearly class reunion. We had nearly all reached our milestone birthdays and many are now enjoying retirement. Not only had people travelled from 10 different counties in England, but also Wales, Canada and Australia. We were so honoured to have the staff - Mary Rivers (Music), Pat Finch (Music), Monica Hubner (French), Pricilla Dobbs (Classics), Sue Jenkins (Art, Calligraphy) and Marilyn Holmested (PE) who had gathered them all together.

The weather was very kind to us and although I was prepared with our large party tent we were able to have everything outside without any worry of getting wet.

I had six display boards with school photos (sections of which were enlarged for ease of viewing) to which people added with their own photos, Prizegiving programmes and Carol Service sheets from the 70s.

Mandy Brown was unable to come from New Zealand but with the wonders of new technology she was able to be with us for a small part of the afternoon via Facetime and was faced with a barrage of noisy happy faces pleased to be able to see her and to have a brief chat after so many years.

Throughout the afternoon there were many “do you remember when” moments, followed by guffaws of laughter! Certain incidents were brought to light such as the use of lacrosse sticks to obtain apples from the trees on the way to the playing field! Also the day of the mysterious disappearance of the school bell - which managed to be rung at the correct time throughout the day, as if by a ghost, but was later discovered by Miss Nisbet in one of our school bags! We recalled dropping chalk through a hole in the ceiling into the classroom below and it landed with a plop into a member of staff’s cup of tea!

There were many more similar tales which kept everyone reminiscing and laughing until late afternoon. Although our reunions are usually every 10 years we feel the next should be sooner and will probably be in 2020. If you were in our year and did not know about this last reunion, please do contact me - jill.wimble@baston.demon.co.uk

Jill Wimble (née Palmer)GHS 1959-1973

Photo L-R: girls’ maiden names, staff names as in 1973

Back: Jill Palmer, Diana Pile, Katrina Wilkie, Anne Spooner, Corinna O’Brien, Sue Abbott, Lisa Noble, Caroline Rodd, Sue Mostyn, Niki Cruickshank, Sue Butcher, Charmain Ongley, Viv Putt, Kate Claxton, Rosemary Brooking, Niki Davies, Sally Aitken, Paula Eatough, Mary Burt, Carolyn Lee, Caroline Whittet, Sue WilsonFront: Mrs Monica Hubner, Miss Marilyn Holmested, Miss Mary Rivers, Miss Sue Jenkins, Miss Priscilla Dobbs, Miss Pat Finch, Caroline Day, Alison Thomas, Fiona Thompson, Caryl Getty

1973 LEAVERS’ REUNION

1970 LEAVERS’ REUNION

Taking care to lead us to colleges which weren’t heaving with visitors to the Oxford Literary Festival, on over the weekend of our visit, our guide was very informative. However, we had very much hoped to have been led by our school year’s very own (London) Blue Badge Guide, Sarah Fordham (née Burt) who unfortunately could not make it due to illness on this occasion.

We had another jolly meal in town together on the Saturday night, during which we drank a toast in memory of Julia Wilson-Dickson, our dear friend and distinguished GHS contemporary who died last October, and where we continued to reminisce about our school days. After another magnificent breakfast at High Table on the Sunday morning and the obligatory group photo, the party sadly broke up with some of our number needing to return home straight away, others having the chance to linger awhile longer under the “dreaming spires.” A couple of us spent a fascinating hour studying old manuscripts in the new annexe of the Bodleian Library.

The group would cherish another ‘mini reunion’ visit to Oxford one day but in the mean time we have our “50-Years-since-leaving-GHS” weekend in Guildford to look forward to in 2018 when Mrs Boulton has kindly given us permission to visit our alma mater once again to witness how it has changed and developed since 1968.

Names of attendees: Alison Williams (née Speedie), Anne Marie Rebelein (née Deacon), Anne Noble (née Chadwick), Cath Paterson, Catherine Turner (née Cherry), Clare Wallther (née Vevers), Diana Brown (née Long), Fiona Moore (née Loombe, left GHS in Lower IV to go to Benenden), Gill Haig-Brown (née Powell-Cullingford), Jane Fisher (née Hooper), Jean Sheard (née Logan), Jo Davies (née Hall), Judy Pollack (née Lane), Kate Taylor (née Bath), Lesley Hutton (née Hoar), Penny Mawdsley (née Crockett), Rosemary Wilson (née Strachan), Ros Roebuck (née Toone), Sue Kober (née Wooldridge), Sue Stratford (née Wilde) and Wendy O’Ferral.

GHSREUNIONS

We Dorset flower arrangers have now raised the £20,000 needed to fund our Chelsea Flower Show exhibit in 2017!

Holidays have included Denya, south of Valencia (to practice my Spanish) and Cyprus at Easter (to brush up my Greek).

JANE HILL-Prosser GHS 1977-1984

I have continued to enjoy my visits to the School each term, acting as the steward for the music exams. I am always so impressed by the calm approach of the candidates and the friendly support that they give each other.

I love working with them, never forgetting my drama pupils of course!

LYNNE GOODFELLOW GHS 1978-1997

A few ex-staff meet for lunch each month and I also try to meet up with other ex-colleagues during my travels around the UK. The 60 year olds reunion was superbly organised by Jill Palmer and a few staff also joined in. May Bank Holiday at the County Show I met Jane Leach, which also resulted in another ex-staff being ‘found’. Other activities included a few City of London Festival concerts, Hampton Court Flower Show, New Forest Show, IOW, and then Brittany and Loire with Monica and Jim Hubner and dog Ruffie. In September I stayed with Mary Lauder near Portmadog after a Ramblers holiday in Snowdonia. I’ve just (April ‘16) camped (in GRIFF) in the New Forest on the same site as Caroline Whittet and her three labs, while meeting up with Naomi Zumpe, Jane Nussey and old school and work friends. I’ve also just had a few days with Mary Rivers in Bath. I only very occasionally get out on environmental/ footpath work and dormouse monitoring now. Still on my RV hunt.

MARILYN HOLMESTED GHS 1969-1990

About 15 months ago I moved into a flat in Burpham, very near Burpham Church where I worship. It is a third floor flat with a lovely balcony and an incredible view.

Last year I went to Quebec for a grandson’s wedding and this year I went on a tour to Israel after a gap of 10 years. I was thrilled to find people who remembered us.

JEAN DAVY GHS 1957-1967

Little has changed in my life since last year, but I consider myself fortunate that, at present, I keep relatively well and am able to join my art group each week for drawing and painting.

My grandson James is growing quickly and we all had a joyous time in Derby, celebrating his second birthday. Early days, but we see signs of my son’s engineering genes in him already!

PAMELA LEATHERLAND GHS 1963-1968

Very little to report this year. I have not had much contact with my GHS friends other than a lovely day at Sissinghurst with Anne Fuller (formerly Peake) and her husband Nigel. I am just about to go to St Ives for a holiday with Ruth O’Connell. I will try to make it to an ex-staff get-together within the next twelve months.

JUDY GORRIE GHS 1974-1979

EX-STAFF NEWS

Kitty leaves Tormead in July, when her husband retires, and plans to move westward nearer us and aiming to live the ‘Good Life’. We already have Rowan and Tim nearby so are very lucky. Exmouth continues to suit us, with plenty of flat walking with lovely sea views, as we slow down.

VICKI EDBROOKE GHS 1982-1991

While I was at GHS, I harbored an idea that after retirement I would spend much more time producing work as an artist printmaker, and to a large extent I am glad to report that I have achieved what I tentatively viewed then as a long distance goal.

From 2006 I spent three exciting, stimulating years in the Art Department at Godolphin and Latymer School, with a strong team of highly creative teachers. I also began exam moderating GCSE Art, became a Team Leader, and now also doing AS Moderation. For a few months each year it’s such a privilege to visit so many different kinds of schools in and around London from Orthodox Jewish Schools in one area, to a wonderful Islamic girls’ school in Whitechapel. It’s also great to reward the creative talents of many students across so many different cultures and backgrounds.

Apart from that I now spend much of my time planning and producing work for various UK wide exhibitions. I have become a member of the Printmakers Council, exhibiting work at the Bankside Gallery, I have a website: eleanordurbin.co.uk (that’s my maiden name!) and my next venture will be an exhibition in the Barbican Library in October 2016.

For those who were my colleagues as my children were growing up, you might like to know that they are now both married. My son is at present Acting Head of Communications/Media at the Commonwealth Secretariat, and one of his jobs is to go election monitoring across the world. My daughter, (as an actor/musician) has toured most continents (including China twice!) with the theatre company 1927, doing runs at the National Theatre and the Young Vic too. My husband is still teaching and doing his own creative work too.

My most delightful and newest venture is to babysit for my six month old grand-daughter for my son and his wife. There is no day when I am not busy.

Retirement brings opportunity!

ELEANOR HENLEY GHS 1994-2006

2016 did not have a very good start for me. After 50 years of marriage my husband died in January from Alzheimer’s, so in some ways it was a release. Soon after that I went into hospital for a hip replacement, which seems to have been successful. I look forward to being more active soon and to visiting my son’s family in Switzerland. The achievements of my grandchildren give me great pleasure.

JENNY FRIEND After a shocking fall in June 2015, I spent months in hospitals and homes, especially the lovely Holmer where I was made so welcome, especially by the young people who now have a Petal bench in their garden!

I still get news from some of my old girls I taught at the High School and I am grateful for their loving messages. Now they’re Grannies, like I am. I turned 96 on 11.4.2016 and still remember with deep love the staff and pupils at Guildford High School.

God bless you all.

PETAL O’HEA

It is now more than 20 years since I left Guildford High School, working first in Adult education and finally as an honorary research fellow for three years, until I moved to Hertfordshire to be near my daughter and her family after my husband died. It is amazing how there seems to be less time available after retirement, but it concentrates the mind to think that time is running out. I’ve taken up sailing again in the last three years. Initially in the Ionian sea and then round the coast of Sicily and so far this year I’ve re-explored the coasts of Malta and Gozo where I first learned to sail more than 60 years ago.

When not on holiday, or returning to Guildford to see friends, I’m a member of the U3A and a Trustee of the Boxmoor Trust - a charity which manages 500 acres of land - and recently renewed an earlier interest in opera. So I cheer myself up thinking if one can have fun when over eighty, who knows what one’s nineties will bring.

MARGARET FRICKER

I have had a very eventful year - I was remarried on 26 September 2015 to Tony Hardy in our village church in Great Ouseburn, after which we entertained over 90 family and friends to a party in our back garden. Tony has two daughters, Tanya and Laura, and all five of our children and five grandchildren came to help with the celebrations. There have been two new arrivals in the past year: My elder son Jon and his wife had their second child last July, a little boy called Monty, and my younger son Ben and his wife have just had their second child, a little girl called Martha, so there are now six grandchildren in total. After spending the past eighteen years in North Yorkshire, just outside York, Tony and I decided before our wedding that we would attempt to relocate to the South East to be closer to the majority of the children, and having sold two houses in the past year (no mean feat outside the South East!) we are moving in early June to Grayshott. It will be lovely for most family gatherings to be possible as day trips rather than weekend excursions. Jon and his family live near Chelmsford, Ben and his are near Hemel Hempstead, and Claire (GHS 1991- 1996), Andrew and their two children live in Elstead.

JUDY STANLEY GHS 1991-1998

I am still enjoying lots of time spent abroad in the warmer climates! I play lots of golf and some tennis whenever possible both at home and abroad. At the end of June 2015 I was very honoured and surprised to receive the Surrey Lawn Tennis Association Meritorious Award for my contribution to Merrow Lawn Tennis Club over many years. This award is given to one person in Surrey each year. I was presented with a lovely engraved bowl.Occasionally I manage to meet up with former members of GHS staff, even by chance at Barbados airport earlier this year!

MARGARET CLIFFORD GHS 1991-2008

If you would like to get in touch with someone featured in this newsletter, you can send your contact details to Louise Miles at louise.miles@guildfordhigh.co.uk (or by post to Guildford High School, London Road, Guildford, GU1 1SJ) and I will forward your messages to put you in direct contact.

If you wish to amend your own contact details, please use the ‘Keeping in Touch’ form on the Alumnae page of the GHS website. www.guildfordhigh.surrey.sch.uk

KEEPING IN TOUCH

Some of the people Julia has coached...

My sister, Julia Wilson-Dickson, who has died aged 66 after a brain haemorrhage, was an eminent voice and dialect teacher who worked with many of the brightest talents of stage and film.

She coached Robert de Niro on Frankenstein (1994), Helena Bonham Carter on Mighty Aphrodite (1995), Julianne Moore for The End of the Affair (1999), Glenn Close on Albert Nobbs (2011), and Eddie Redmayne for the performance as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything (2014) that won him an Oscar. On stage she worked on several Peter Hall productions: with Dustin Hoffman as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (Phoenix theatre, London, 1989), Vanessa Redgrave as Lady Torrance in Orpheus Descending (Haymarket, 1988), and Judi Dench and Anthony Hopkins in the title roles of Antony and Cleopatra (at the National Theatre, 1987).

Julia was born in Brighton, daughter of Olivia (nee Rudder), a former actor, and Philip Wilson-Dickson, who worked at the Home Office. Julia went to Guildford High School for girls, and then on to the Central School of Speech and Drama, London, where her mother had studied under its founder Elsie Fogerty before the second world war. Julia returned to their alma mater as a teacher between 1974 and 1987.Voice and dialect teachers help actors achieve an authentic accent, researching and breaking it down into component parts that can be taught one at a time. When once discussing someone to whom she had been trying to teach a Cornish accent, Julia said with forlorn ennui: “I got him as far as Devon.” She is remembered as a supportive, encouraging and inspiring teacher. Redmayne has spoken of her “warmth and self-assured brilliance” and the voice and dialect teacher Penny Dyer has described Julia as her mentor: “She taught me the importance of clarity and humility. She was a unique person and a brilliant teacher.”

JULIA WILSON-DICKSON

Head Girl Niluka Perera

Deputy Head Girls Hazel Ferguson

Fenella Atkinson

Senior Prefects Harriet Abbott

Alex Atkins

Ella Beven

Carrie Bonnar

Ellie Day

Lara Erritt

Hannah Harms

Beth Lewis

Milly London

Tilly Lonie

Nicole Lopez

Esme Poole

Megan Richards

Alice Saunders

Rebecca Torrance

Catherine Welsh

Samodani Wijetunge

SENIOR PREFECT TEAM 2016-17

Julia’s profound technical knowledge combined with an intellectual and emotional understanding of both text and dialogue, and musicality (she was an accomplished oboe player and singer) to give her mastery over her field; and she helped gain greater recognition for the work of dialect coaches within the British film industry.

Further stage credits included working with the casts of Sam Mendes’s 1995 productions of Company and The Glass Menagerie, Max Stafford-Clark’s Royal Court productions of The Queen and I (1994) and Our Country’s Good (1988), Peter Wood’s 1994 The Beaux’ Stratagem, and Peter Gill’s 1989 Juno and the Paycock. On TV her skill was used in productions including Oranges are Not the Only Fruit (1989), The Camomile Lawn (1992), The Lost Prince (2003), Wolf Hall (2015), and series including Spooks, Doctor Who, The Good Wife and EastEnders. When she was working on Franco Zeffirelli’s Hamlet (1990), he christened her “Mrs Shakespeare” and asked her to write an extra scene, an offer she declined.

Julia’s characteristic courage had led her to reveal she was gay in the late 60s. Happily her openness led to loving relationships, most enduringly with Pippa Dale.

Andrew Wilson-DicksonThe Guardian, October 2015www.theguardian.com/film/2015/oct/18/julia-wilson-dickson-obituary

OBITUARIES

Some of the films and TV shows she coached actors/actresses for...

The Kaiser’s Last Kiss (2016)Sunset Song (2015)The Monuments Men (2014)A Most Wanted Man (2014)Passion (2012)Hyde Park on Hudson (2012) A Dangerous Method (2011) Albert Nobbs (2011) The Nutcracker in 3D (2010) The Pillars of the Earth (2010) 6 Souls (2010) Knife Edge (2009) I Creation (2009) Inkheart (2008) Tess of the D’Urbervilles (2008) Brideshead Revisited (2008) In Bruges (2008) Silk (2007) The Ten Commandments (2006)Land of the Blind (2006) Nova (2005)The Proposition (2005) Things to Do Before You’re 30 (2005) Beyond the Sea (2004) Thunderbirds (2004) De-Lovely (2004) I Capture the Castle (2003)

Ripley’s Game (2002) Gosford Park (2001) The Emperor’s New Clothes (2001) Intimacy (2001) Chocolat (2000) Pandaemonium (2000) The House of Mirth (2000) The Golden Bowl (2000) The End of the Affair (1999) Fanny and Elvis (1999) Miss Julie (1999) After the Rain (1999) The Avengers (1998) The Revengers’ Comedies (1998) The Man in the Iron Mask (1998) The Full Monty (1997) The Serpent’s Kiss (1997) The Secret Agent (1996) The Affair (1995) Mighty Aphrodite (1995) Braveheart (1995) Fatherland (1994) Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994) Meeting Venus (1991) Nice Work (1989)The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988)

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