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Walthamstow School for Girls

History Snippets

Lampen Family
 

 

The oldest building on our site is the ‘house’, formerly a Vicarage built in 1906. Our school moved to the site in 1912 and shared the grounds with the Vicar until the 1960’s. The Rev. Herbert, Dudley Lampen, Vicar of Walthamstow, moved into the ‘house’ in 1907. During World War I he served with the 7th Battalion, Essex Regiment. He had four children, Graham Dudley, born in 1899, who became the Governor of Darfur in Sudan. David Lampen, born in 1904, Edith Barkley (named after her mother’s family) and twins Miriam and Francis, both born in 1908.  

 

3 - Edith Lampen, born 1904.     4 - Miriam Lampen, born 1908.      5 - Francis Lampen, born 1908. 

He become the vicar of Walthamstow. 

‘Iris’, our school magazine has information about the family's involvement in the life of our school. His daughters Edith and Miriam were both pupils at the school.  Edith (Edie) Lampen gave a talk at Empire Day assembly on the theme of trees and birds. Miriam and Edith were Prefects in 1921 and 1923. Anna Lampen, their mother, as well as their father, presented prizes during Prize Giving Day. Their brother Francis followed in his grandfather’s and father’s footsteps and became a Vicar. 

Edith Lampen, born 1904.      

Edith married Commander Thomas Hilken of H.M.A.S., ship Sydney, which fought battles in Crete in the summer of 1940.  

 

(both of these photographs are in the National Portrait Gallery)  

Ms O Kelly 

LRC

International Women's Month 

As we are celebrating International Women's Month in March 2022, it is worth celebrating the women who have attended our school. You will find some of them on the school website if you follow the link below. This year, we will be celebrating the work of Shirley Kingdon, b. 11.3.22, award winning costume designer for film and theatre. She met her future husband, Ken Russell whilst studying at Walthamstow School of Art and collaborated in many of his films. 

The 1953 Iris magazine mentions that she designed the costumes for Shakespeare's "The Tempest". 

We cannot presume to know what our current students will go on to achieve but our school motto holds true for all of them, ‘Neglect not the gift that is in thee’.

O Kelly, LRC. 

Iris 1953 

Old Girls' Dramatic Society 

We were fortunate once more in having the support of the Old Monovians in our summer production of Shakespeare’s "The Tempest." We feel sure the author would not have been displeased in any way with the excellent direction of Brian Brockman. I am certain, too, that we had much sympathy from Shakespeare on Saturday, 11th July, when the play was performed for the last time, for rain was probably his most dreaded enemy. Despite the Greek Theatre, beset with a steady downpour, taking on the appearance of a swimming pool, the production was a success. There were three performances, the Thursday one being given for children and old age pensioners. 

The music for Ariel's song was specially composed by Edward Smith. Shirley Kingdon designed the costumes for Prospero, Caliban and Ariel, while the remainder of the cast were admirably decorated by Doreen Goodwin and Daphne Slade. 

https://www.wsfg.waltham.sch.uk/page/?title=Notable+Alumnae&pid=2349

1965 Iris - Commuters  

For those people who have been working from home, here is what commuting to work was like, described in a poem from the 1965 Iris magazine.  

Mrs Kelly, LRC 

  

COMMUTERS  

Each wearing a black bowler,  

Spotless and well kept,  

After twenty years of weekday wear  

And carrying a neatly rolled umbrella.  

As their metal monster drew up to the platform  

They swarmed like insects, as though attracted by the smell  

Of a crowded sardine tin, onto their conveyance.  

Each was silent and under their bowlers held a stiff upper lip.  

The doors closed together, rejecting and removing them from their   

Compatriots, still on the platform.  

But wait, a member of the clique is late,  

He slams his foot between the sliding doors, and is viewed with displeasure.   

He coughs and straightens his old school tie,  

Opening the expected paper, hides his flushed face from view.  

The Stock Market page is scanned with varying interest,   

"Woolworth's up sixpence, Harveys Incorporated down ninepence".  

-Oh well, that's to be expected, times as they are.  

Anyone, who is fortunate to be non-member to this social clique,  

Is viewed with inward suspicion, if caught glancing at their paper,  

Clickety-click, Clickety-click, like the needle stuck on a gramophone record,   

The train's incessant movement continues,  

With nothing to say, nothing to do.  

They learn the posters off by heart, and occasionally fidget until relief comes,   

By means of their destination.  

Janice Sida, IVS 

Feelings of a student from the 1971 edition of Iris.   

Our Year 11 students have just completed their mock exams so here is an insight into the feelings of a student from the 1971 edition of Iris.  

For those who don't know, blotting paper was used for mopping up the ink from leaky fountain pens! 

Mrs Kelly, LRC 

After just having suffered a week and a half of 'mock' "O" Level examinations, I am beginning to doubt my own sanity. It seems strange that I never realise what I have not learnt until, alas, it is too late and we are marched, military fashion into the examination room. The most terrifying moments are while the teacher in charge laboriously hands out paper, string (which is designed to hold one's answer sheets together but is inevitably trapped under the leg of one's chair), and blotting paper. I usually find that the literary content of the blotting paper is far more interesting than the question sheet, or indeed, my answer. The temptation to look at the examination paper before the word is given is often too much for me, and after trying to read upside down a question which I am unable to answer right way up, I suffer from an acute guilt complex throughout the examination.   

After the initial shock of reading the examination paper and finding that the questions are all interested in the topics which I have not learnt, I then look round to discover that most of the other candidates are having the same trouble. As more and more people begin to write, I decide I cannot hand in an empty sheet so in beautiful handwriting I write my name, form, and all the other irrelevant information required by the examiner. I then relapse into my semi-conscious state. After being inspired repeatedly to drop my ruler on the floor, to the annoyance and the eventual exhaustion of the member of staff in charge, I attempt to indicate to the examiner the meagre amount of knowledge with which I have been blessed by decorating my paper with any fact that springs to mind.  

J. Whitehead, 5.T.  

1952 Iris - Mulberry Tree 

Those of that distant generation who grew up with Miss Hewett and Miss Goldwin in the Old School often tell tales of the mulberry tree which was the joy of young hearts in that delectable garden. Now Miss Goldwin has given us the present of a young mulberry tree for our well-loved garden; it is reported as "swift to grow and lasting hundreds of years." A hundred years is a long way to look ahead but Coronation Year is upon us and a mulberry seems a fitting commemoration for Walthamstow High School.  

Yours affectionately,  

M. M. Burnett.  

 

In 2022, Her Majesty The Queen will become the first British Monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee with seventy years of service, having acceded to the throne on 6th February 1952 when Her Majesty was 25 years old. 

 

If you would like to be involved in planning a Platinum Jubilee event please contact the Friends of Walthamstow School for Girls group: info@wsfg.waltham.sch.uk 

2 - Mulberry Tree Morus Nigra 

Flu Pandemic 

As we go into winter and having our flu vaccinations here is a poem from the 1957-8 Iris about the flu pandemic affecting staffing and activities, and is entitled 'The Rush Hour' by 12 year old, Christine Holman. 

From 1957–1958 there was a global pandemic of influenza, causing between one and four million deaths worldwide, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in history.  

Mrs Kelly, 

LRC. 

RUSH HOUR  

There they go, puffing, blowing,   

Catching buses, starting cars,    

People out of London flowing,    

Typists, workers, bosses, chars.   

 

Trains are crowded, buses filling,   

London's rush hour at its worst,    

People running, money spilling,    

Newsboys shouting till they burst.   

 

Shops are closing, people leaving   

London's busy crowded streets;   

Trippers homeward bound believing   

They have had the best of treats.   

 

Tomorrow will be just the same,   

People moving up and down,   

But then no one will ever tame    

The rush hour in our London Town.          

Food Shortages 

        

“That Precious Stone”

Kitty Foster wrote in the 1927 Iris magazine about her journey around England, Scotland and Wales. She had lived in Australia for 14 years and in a month she drove 2,673 miles! For many of us who have stayed at home this year, I hope her account will make us appreciate what this island has to offer.

"That Precious Stone." 

I am renewing acquaintance with this "tight little island," and in spite of missing the warmth, sunshine and blue skies which make the Australian men and women such a cheerful, light-hearted race, England still holds her own for sheer loveliness and lovableness; she is so winsome, so soft, so human. 

We started round the South coast visiting various places, among them Arundel. We stayed a night at this quaint old town: the hotel was credited with being three hundred years old, and I vow my chambermaid was born the year it was built.  

On we went through Chichester, Winchester, Hursley (a village of two men and a cow), to Salisbury and Bournemouth. Here we turned inland and ran up to Blandford through a pretty country where the buttercup fields were cloth of gold, and so out of Dorset, into Somerset and then into Devon. There is quite a lot of this little England when one starts round her, and some of the panoramas are like Dame Nature's huge patchwork quilts laid out to air, the various coloured crops and odd shaped fields being feather-stitched together with hawthorn or wild-rose hedges. 

Then there were the wild flowers! Devon and part of Cornwall were most prolific with tremendous fox-gloves, blue-bells, billy-button, and others whose names I do not know, and the leafy tunnels with woods on either side, making daylight nearly dusk, were quite intriguing. 

An amusing incident occurred outside Exminster. A circus had passed through the village, and just as we arrived, the elephant was being gently but firmly persuaded to follow; men left off smoking, and the women making their Sunday puddings came to the doors with floury hands to watch the tuskie beastie's progress-and ours, as there was barely room to pass in the narrow street. 

There were many other places before Clovelly, but that piece of solidified romance kept us two days before we could leave it, its cobbled, step-like streets, the quaint houses on either side, the donkeys hauling up luggage and large ladies, the bread, fruit and meat run down on wooden sledges. The house at which we stayed had a narrow box-like staircase, and the bed in my room must have been planted there young and grown up, for it was of the huge four-post, canopied variety, and I can imagine no other means by which it could have arrived. 

One farm-house kept bees, and the honey was the most fragrant ever made, it positively smelled of the flowers as well as tasting of them. 

Welsh names hurt rather badly; to say them really well, one needs to have a bad cold in the head and try to swear at the same time. (Juniors, do not go to Wales!) Apart from trying to pronounce the names, we found Wales interesting, but we must have been a quarrelsome crowd years ago, to judge from the numerous castles, mainly in ruins; there was one in every other village in Wales, and the mid-west of England is as bad. 

Leaving Chester and wanting to reach the Lakes, we took the manufacturing district as far as Preston at a bolt, one evening. Dusk softened it a little, though the wealth-producing parts of England are necessarily grimy with smoke. 

Edinburgh is a most beautiful city, and provided us with the only fine day we had in Scotland; quite possibly that is why I extol it, for we were heartily tired of having not only rivers running beside us, but all over us as well; the grand old Castle standing sentinel, the wide streets, gardens and fine monuments make it all the Scots boast it to be. 

One needs to be away from England a few years to appreciate her to the full, and one of her daughters is returning to her beautiful adopted land to boast that the little Mother of large nations retains her beauty through war and peace. 

Ms Kelly

LRC

Music Trip to Chislehurst Caves 

Here is a well written and atmospheric piece from the Iris December 1957, about a music trip to  Chislehurst Caves, in south-east London. The caves were used as an air-raid shelter during World War II and in the 1960's on a Friday night bands like The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and local boy David Bowie played there.

Mrs Kelly
LRC Manager

A Visit to Chislehurst Caves 

 From the exterior of the caves the effect was cacophonous but as we entered the maze of chalk-walled tunnels it was resolved into its component parts: the throbbing of double basses, the strumming of innumerable guitars, the wail of a lone saxophone or  clarinet, the blare of trumpets and the harsh sound of the voices of male vocalists. At intervals, in the wall, there were hollows, in which a jazz band or a skiffle group had set itself up; candles placed on the chalk walls cast an eerie, mellow light, and all around the group shadowy figures jived, their lithe bodies beating out the rhythm. 

The whole atmosphere was one of carefreeness and unity in the enjoyment of the music, an atmosphere which seemed to belong to another world; and as we left the caves we seemed to be going from one world to another; the individual sounds merged together and reverberated like tube-trains passing through a tunnel until all became silent as we passed from the world of teenage enjoyment to the world of strife outside. 

Marilyn Hatch, VI

 

The Blue Stamp Addict 

Do you  remember Green Shield Stamps?

Green Shield Stamps was a British sales promotion scheme that rewarded shoppers with stamps that could be used to buy gifts from a catalogue or from any affiliated retailer. The scheme was introduced in 1958 by Richard Tompkins, who had noticed the success of the long-established Sperry & Hutchinson Green  stamps in America.  The scheme was withdrawn in 2019. 

From the School Iris 1960

THE BLUE STAMP ADDICT  

Mrs. Brown was frantic. The cost of living was up again, she was heartily sick of trying to make ends meet, and no amount of complaining seemed to help. Whilst shopping one day in the High Street, however, she was excited to discover a new grocery store; on closer inspection, she was pleased to note that they had cut their prices, and for every sixpence spent, a blue stamp was given to the purchaser. She immediately went in and bought some articles to the value of three shillings, whereupon the smiling shop-keeper promptly handed over six blue stamps, a collecting book and a coloured brochure illustrating the many and varied objects to be gained on the completion of several books. 

This opened up a new interest for her, as the next time she went shopping, several other shops had followed suit, including a chemist, confectioner and a clothing store. Time passed and greater grew her yearning for a type-writer, for she missed her old occupation as a typist. This required forty books of blue stamps. At first, her husband and children thought it was just a phase, but, to their cost, they found they were wrong. The children were reprimanded if they showed any preference for sweets bought at any shop other than the "blue stamp" confectioner's, and they were encouraged to buy sweets there, if only for one or two stamps. The husband, having seen a rather attractive tie, was told to be sure to buy one at the "blue stamp" shop, which rather upset his nerves - thus giving his wife the opportunity of buying him some nerve-settling pills at the "blue stamp" chemist. 

This process went on for some time (indirectly being responsible for the daughter's failing her examinations, because she lived on settling pills) until at last Mrs, Brown attained her goal, or so she thought. She packed up her last piece of washing for the day, dressed her youngest son for the occasion, put on her newest hat (already two years old) and walked to the bus stop. 

She and Colin were soon at the nearest suitable shop and she began to wonder how she would take her prize home if it were not portable. She was quickly brought back to the present by noticing her son fingering the models on show. Having awarded him an affectionate clip, she next noticed a rather harassed clerk calling to her from over a counter. Steadily and skilfully he had counted every page of every book and then, looking at her over the top of his National Health spectacles, he informed her that she was one book short and that this was the last day of the blue stamp offer. Obviously in her haste at home, she had overcounted, but it was no use now rushing out to buy up what she could at the "blue stamp" shops. It was nearly closing day, and, in any case, she had no money. It was hopeless. Her dream was shattered. Nothing would console her, not any one of the other goods offered, and she turned to go home almost forgetting small Colin who was now climbing into a display window. 

Susan Adlard, Form IV 1960

A selection of  goods available from Green Shield stamps. 

Sports Day 

This is the time of year when our school usually celebrates sports, by holding Sports Day and Interform competitions. With this in mind, I thought we should also celebrate the achievement of a former student who excelled in the world of netball. Rose Harris attended the school from 1915-1921, achieved a Sports Diploma in 1925, and then went on to teach. She wrote a poem in the Iris magazine about painting scenery for a school play, in which she performed as an angel in 1921. Whilst at training college, she also sent in a piece about the school netball dance. 

In 1930, Rose became the first Secretary of Essex County Netball Association and from the 1940’s to the 1970’s, she led the England Netball Association. In 1956 she was umpire to England’s first touring team, whose members had to find their own air fares, and took four days to fly in a two engine Viking aircraft to Southern Rhodesia and South Africa.

Her contribution to netball was acknowledged in 1974, when she was awarded an O.B.E. 

Good luck to all the competitors in the school’s sports activities. You never know where it might lead you!

Mrs Kelly
LRC Manager 

IRIS Dec 1924 

Sixth Form Dances.  The  Origin and Result of the Netball Dance 

THREE fair young sixth-formers, working hard at pumping balls in that most noble of all places, the Games Cupboard, were racking their brains to produce a subject for a dance that would fill the School and staff and judges with admiration.

Suddenly one was seized with an inspiration, "Couldn't we have a netball dance?"

At last the competition day arrived-the dance was ready. Human goal posts, arrayed in green cloths (Sixth Form tablecloths), perched high on chairs, held their rings in a most inviting manner. The umpire posed, ball in hand, waiting for the signal.  

Then to the sound of Grieg's Norwegian Dance the match began. With graceful pirouette and bow the umpire bounced the ball. Daintily it was passed from player to player, who danced the while in perfect style. The goal posts waved their rings and gracefully bowed to receive the ball from the shooter who posed in artistic arabesque. What joy and triumph was shown in turns and springs that followed as they all went back to await the centre bounce!  

The unfortunate defeated team with expressive movements of sorrow slowly moved away to the sound of Chanson Triste. Then with joyous leaping the winning team departed to loud strains of Brahms' First Waltz, leaving the umpire to trip out between the slowly moving goal posts.  

The School clapped, the staff laughed-laughed more than the School had seen them laugh before. Shouts were raised to see it again. Again the players danced their match, and yet again, and still the School cheered and clapped. The players were well rewarded for their efforts they tied for first place and were rewarded with a beautiful green vase.  

Image from 1960: Rose on the left at International Federation of Women’s Basketball and Netball Associations conference in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).

An international code of rules was agreed to fulfil its aims of promoting international  understanding and friendship and led to the first World Tournament in England in 1963. 

Vale! 

For those students who are embarking on the next stage of their education, here is a 1923 poem from the Iris magazine by E. Foster, who was also in her final year of school.

Ms Kelly
LRC Manager

Vale!

The Time has come; we part and go our ways.
Leaving, we raise to thee, Oh School, a paean of praise!
For thy spirit strong and free,
Heritage of liberty,
For the stirring unknown power
That infects each striving hour,
When, in eager competition,
Forms uphold some proud tradition,
When, with fierce exhilaration
Comes a sudden inspiration.
For eager teams and flying ball­
-The umpire's whistle thrilling all-
For secret cause of sudden mirth
And jokes that have untimely birth.
For social nights within the hall
The bright lamps swinging over all-
The audience packed with parents proud,
The song, swift dance, and tunicked crowd
Of girls in expectation tense.
For sorrowful experience
That lessons teach of self-control.

For comradeship, when heart and soul
Are centred on some mutual goal
And one is nought without the whole.
For sun-patched, cheery corridors
And classes hushed within closed doors,
For noises loud-or soft-and strange
And all the healthy interchange
Of thought, opinion, love and hate.
For bells that gladden those who wait
In expectation of release.
For friendships that may never cease.
These have we known, Oh School! in thee.
For these be ever praise to thee!
The time has come, we part, and go our ways,
Therefore, Farewell! ye happy fleeting days

 

Former Student - Kim Baker 

Former student, Kim Baker has recently donated many documents and photos of her time at Walthamstow School for Girls during the 1980’s, to the school archives.

Here she describes her 'unusual' profession:

In my last year at WSFG, I chose violin making as a career, despite being advised that specialising too early was risky. I got around this by attending evening classes in Musical Instrument making while studying for 3 A Levels at Monoux College.

This led me to a place in the world-renowned violin making school in Newark, Nottinghamshire, and it was this 3-year training which was the springboard to a profession that has allowed me to work in Asia and Europe and has brought me to settle, self-employed and bilingual, in Dresden, Germany.

The idea of working with my hands, combining a love of music, art and wood - in a craft that ensures that one never stops learning - means that I am never bored!

Occasionally I make a new instrument, but my ‘bread and butter’ is restoration and repair of violins, violas, cellos, double basses and their bows.

My work enables others to work at their best, thereby satisfying both me and my clients.

There is still a great demand for traditional crafts and hand-working professions. These jobs require passion and integrity and can therefore be extremely fulfilling.

 

Ms Winter/Mr Murphy footnote:

Kim Baker attended WSFG 1986-1991.

When she was 11 years old, Kim won the competition to design the school badge, which was used, unchanged for a full 30 years (1986-2016).

There used to be a rose garden close to the Greek portico. The pictorial essence of Kim’s design can be seen in brass in the Norris Hall.

My Dog 

You only have to take a short walk to realise that since lockdown, there has been a marked increase in the local dog population. Here is a poem from the 1930 Iris Magazine about the problems of owning a dog!  

Mrs Kelly
LRC Manager

My Dog. 

My little dog is black and white; 
I teach him tricks each day, 
But when he hears the cats miaow, 
He runs outside to play. 

My little dog is very bad,
But really I must own, 
That if you had my little dog, 
He would not stay at home. 

My little dog went out one day, 
The river for to see, 
But sad to say he lost his way, 
And I found him in the Lea. 

Maisie Pearl (Form II.)

 

"Happy" Poems 

Here are some 'happy' poems, along with a cute illustration, from our students in the Iris magazine of 1934.

Mrs Kelly
LRC Manager

The Things I Would Love. 

A LITTLE white house in a woody lane 
With a hill at the back, and a quiet plain. 
Without any traffic or noises of such, 
And rabbits that don't have to live in a hutch. 
A little black dog, that would make a good friend; 
A little square garden, with trees at the end. 
And crowds of sweet flowers, the old-fashioned kind. 
Red and white roses and pinks you would find, 
And mignonette spreading its scent everywhere. 
And little birds filling with music, the air. 
That is all that I ask for, 'tis all that I need 
To make my life happy, ah! Happy indeed.

Janet Barton (Form Upper IVs)

Spring.   

I LOVE the Spring, I love the Spring, 
When all the birds begin to sing.  
They set to work to build their nest  
Never once stopping for a rest.  
I love the Spring, I love the Spring,  
When all the bluebells seem to ring  
And all the grass is fresh and green  
And everything- is sweet and clean.  
I love the Spring, I love the Spring,  
When all her messengers do bring  
Sweet messages of love and joy 
To every little girl and boy. 

Joyce Cartwright (Form Lower IIIw.) 

To a Daisy 

HALLO daisy wee and small, 
I think you are the queen of all, 
Standing still you nod your head,  
In my gay, small flower bed. 
All your friends they make me posies,  
Lilies, pansies, violets, roses, 
But they don't look nice at all, 
Unless you're with them, wee and small. 

Joan Lacy (Form Lower IIIh.) 

The Dew. 

On the grass the dew falls, 
Just like little silver balls. 
It looks as if a fairy in the night,  
Lost her jewels in a plight. 

CaptionJanet Garrick (Form Lower IIIh.)  

Illustration by Joyce Plumstead 
 

 

The Necessity of Art 

Here are the thoughts from a student, written in the Iris  in December 1925 about art. Mary has also added something about music, 'crawling, whining, popular songs', as opposed to 'healthy songs and music'. I wonder what she meant?

Mrs Kelly
LRC Manager

The Necessity of Art 

To many people the word 'art' conveys only a thought of symphony concerts and picture galleries to be indulged in by those who have the time, money and inclination; but art is a necessity, not a luxury. Its aim is always that of expression in terms of beauty, for 'the highest cannot be spoken,' and so it uses form, colour, proportion and harmony to express itself. Art is the sole means of handing down to posterity the beauty and meaning of life, for only the really artistic things survive the ages; all else is lost in time. 

There is no question of ugliness in Nature's world; everything is beautiful, and when we surround men with artificial ugliness we take away a precious gift.

Character depends a great deal on the things seen during life and if people grow up accustomed to ugliness their whole attitude towards mankind will be warped and sordid. As long as unsightly buildings, stupid inane posters and crawling, whining, popular songs remain we are not an artistic race. 

It is extremely important that art should play a greater part in the home than it does at present, but first, more artistic houses must be built. If the exterior were beautiful, it would follow that most people would wish to make the interior equally attractive. Much could be done to improve the indoor decorative schemes, with brighter and more beautiful wall-paper and good pictures glowing with colour to adorn and not cover the walls. Healthy songs and music fill the home with joy and harmony and books will "charm magic casements" in boundless fairy lands.  

Mary Selway (Form U. IVa.)

A War-time day in London 

For many of you travelling into an empty central London during 'lockdown', this piece from the 1940 edition of Iris recalls how London coped during World War II. The subtitle is "LONDON CARRIES ON - CARRY ON LONDON!” and I am sure we can all agree and hope that London returns to normal, sooner rather than later.

Mrs Kelly
LRC Manager

A WAR-TIME DAY IN LONDON. 

"Coo! London ain't 'arf got it awful!" . . . Thus quoth a charwoman, "My sister's young man's uncle told Edie the other day that it was right down to the ground, not a buildin' standin' at all: don't it seem a shaime ?" . . . 

London in ruins? Could it be true? Having heard the preceding conversation, I decided to investigate matters for myself. 

I chose a beautifully clear day for my trip -"nice day for raiders", as I heard one man remark. Sure enough he was right; before I had been in London ten minutes the siren sounded. I had wondered whether people bothered to shelter if caught in the City during an "Alert"; they do not, but just carry on with their normal work - no fuss, no hurry - just calmness and cheerfulness. 

I passed along Fleet Street, and eventually came out to the river which, incidentally, has risen slightly and is considerably dirtier owing to the cleared-up rubbish having been deposited here! 

My ultimate aim being Oxford Circus, I boarded a 'bus (which took twenty-five minutes to reach its goal, owing to some streets being closed). Boom I Boom! Bang! Oh, of course, the warning is still in progress: that's sent the raider away, thank goodness! What's that? Do we want to get out and shelter? No, thanks, we'll chance it! Good, there goes the “All clear". 

Arrived at the Circus, I looked across the road, only to see a skeleton of a shop - no windows, no doors, no front walls, and piles of cement all over the pavement. What a pity, all those goods wasted and the assistants out of work. But wait a minute, here's a notice: "Hitler's broken our glass, but not our spirit!” Here was surely courage, pluck and perseverance! 

I saw hundreds of cheerful soldiers, English, French, Australians and New Zealanders, clearing up the damage, though they seemed to have plenty of time for calling out various remarks to passers-by. Every few minutes can be heard a furious ringing of horrible-sounding gongs. This means all traffic must clear off the roads, because the valiant men of the “Bomb Disposal Squad" have retrieved another Delayed Action Bomb, and are taking it to an open space before blowing it up.  

"Walking back along the side streets, I met a flower-seller, who said to me, "Yus, Miss. I've lorst me 'ome. I've lorst all me money, but I thank Gawd I'm still 'ere, and so's me Missus. I've 'eard one of me sons 'as bin killed at sea, but I still have two left who are quite O.K., so I can't really grumble!" This seems to be the typical attitude of the Londoner today, feeling fortunate to be alive. 

Some rather amusing effects have been created - in one sense amusing, although heart-breaking in another. In Holborn, for example, only one inner wall of a five-storey building is left standing, and on a shelf on the 4th floor are piles of boxes neatly packed up, with a calendar hanging above the fire-place. . . clothes of various descriptions hanging from iron girders above the pavement . . . and ducks swimming unconcernedly in a bomb crater full of water! 

The damage done to the Middle Temple - which can never be repaired - was the saddest thing I saw: its famous library is also badly damaged. 

Seeing St. Paul's as it always has stood, outlined against the sky, was the scene which seemed to me to be the most wonderful, and the one for which to be the most thankful, when we remember how very near we did actually come to losing it. Without St. Paul's London would not have the same atmosphere. Certainly those valiant men in their khaki uniforms with the red badges of the B.D.S. deserve all our praise. 

My day in London under War circumstances was an enjoyable experience; one I would not have wished to miss. There is a saying which aptly expresses my feelings: 

"LONDON CARRIES ON - CARRY ON LONDON!” 

Vera Lee (O.G.)

More information about the attacks on Middle Temple

The restoration of Inner Temple 

The League of Nations Union 

Iris 1937 by Valerie Gardiner, VI

Our school has a long association with campaigning for peace. In the 1931 Iris magazine, it was recorded that the school formed a school branch of the League of Nations Union,

"because we are convinced that the solution of the world's difficulties will only be found through international good-will and that the future of the League of Nations depends on the good-will of the rising generation"

I think we can all agree with this statement.

Mrs Kelly
LRC Manager

My Dog 

You only have to take a short walk to realise that since lockdown there has been a marked increase in the local dog population. Here is a poem from the 1930 Iris magazine about the problems of owning a dog!  

Mrs Kelly
LRC Manager

My Dog

My little dog is black and white; 
I teach him tricks each day, 
But when he hears the cats miaow, 
He runs outside to play. 

My little dog is very bad, 
But really I must own, 
That if you had my little dog, 
He would not stay at home.

My little dog went out one day, 
The river for to see, 
But sad to say he lost his way, 
And I found him in the Lea. 

MAISIE PEARL (Form II)

 

The House 

The oldest building on our site is the ‘House’, formerly a Vicarage built in 1906. Our school moved to the site in 1912 and shared the grounds with the Vicar until the 1960’s. The Rev. Herbert Dudley Lampen, Vicar of Walthamstow, moved into the ‘House’ in 1907. During World War I he served with the 7th Battalion, Essex Regiment. He had 4 children, Graham Dudley, born in 1899, who became the Governor of Darfur in Sudan, David Lampen, born in 1904, Edith Barkley (named after her mother’s family) and twins Miriam and Francis, born in 1908. 

‘Iris’, our school magazine has information about the family's involvement in the life of our school. His daughters Edith and Miriam were both pupils.  Edith (Edie) Lampen gave a talk at the Empire Day assembly on the theme of trees and birds. Miriam and Edith were Prefects in 1921 and 1923. Anna Lampen, their mother, as well as their father, presented awards at Prize Giving Day. Their brother Francis followed in his grandfather’s and father’s footsteps and became a Vicar.  

Mrs Kelly
LRC Manager

Edith Lampen,
born 1904

 

Miriam Lampen,
born 1908

 

Francis Lampen,
born 1908.  
He went on to become the Vicar of Walthamstow.

 

Handbook for Parents 1986 

We would like to thank Kim Baker, a former student who is a violin maker living in Germany, who has kindly donated to our archives several items of her time at the school. Including the ‘Handbook for Parents’ from 1986.  The transition year from Walthamstow Senior High School to Walthamstow School for Girls.

The aims of the school, as published in the handbook, are still as important and relevant today:

  • To ensure that pupils achieve the highest academic standards of which they are capable.
  • To provide a wide range of educational experiences for every pupil in a school environment that is welcoming, exciting and interesting, as well as academically rewarding.
  • To provide opportunities for the spiritual and moral development of pupils.
  • To promote social responsibility and awareness among pupils so that  they are able to become alert and critical citizens with a strong sense of justice and equality.
  • To ensure positive acceptance of ethnic diversity and opposition to all forms of racism.
  • To promote self-esteem among pupils particularly concerning themselves as women with positive aspirations and confident of equal opportunities both in education and society.
  • To develop mutually beneficial relationships with parents and the local   community.
  • To afford maximum opportunity for the professional development of all members of staff.

School Uniform 

A recent letter to parents mentioning adherence to our school uniform, has allowed me to raid the school archive for items about previous school uniforms.

As you can see in the advert for Henry Taylor from 1958, the raincoats were extremely formal. I have also included articles from the 1937 edition of ‘Iris’, our school magazine, one describing the problem with leg wear and the other about trends in fashion.

Mrs Kelly
LRC Manager

To a School Girl a Hundred Years Hence. (Iris School Magazine, 1937).

WSFG School Uniform 1930

As each spring brings new flowers into the world,  flowers like those of the years before, yet always a little altered, so each generation of school girls has its own fashions, ambitions, enthusiasms and slang. In the nineteen thirties one performed handstands, wore one's hat brim turned down all round, built grasshouses beneath the elm trees by the hockey field and described most pleasant things as "ripping."

These are the details of school life that alter, but the nineties, the tens, the teens, the twenties and the forties all had their counterparts. This, then, is the spirit of the school, that each decade, each year, each day, brings its new problems and interests, yet should it be possible for three girls, one of Miss Hewett's first young ladies, a fourth former of to-day and some fourteen year old of the year 2050, to step out of time and meet together in the entrance hall, it would not, after the first excited comparisons of clothes and surroundings, be their great differences that would surprise them, but the tremendous and amazing amount they had in common.

Sylvia M. Gould


Ladders

Inspired by the arrival of the Sub-Editor's letter while mending yet another ladder. 

One often hears the phrase "the good old days" decried and disproved, but our grandmothers had one advantage over us emancipated moderns. They wore skirts which hid their stockings!

And the stockings were black woollen, which could be darned to the last shred! Stockings are a perpetual bane from the moment one leaves off socks until one grows too old to bother and gives up the hopeless struggle. Oh! those long black gym-stockings we wore-they were either too long or too short. If they were too long, we tugged them up and pulled holes (potato size) in the tops, and if they were too short, suspenders did the same for us, However, we must have had a fondness for them, because we wore them even to parties, not caring for black silk, and light ones being more or less unheard of. I wonder how many remember the storm aroused about twelve years ago over the query of whether light stockings should or could be worn with school uniform. 

And now, when we have put away childish things many years ago, the curse is still upon us. We are told to buy more than one pair at a time because if one goes, we can match up the partner. This works excellently in theory but not in practice, because the whole lot goes. 

One of Summer's chiefest blessings is that one's hosiery can be discarded, but even so one must admit that it makes very little difference to one's purse or leisure, which still seems to be filled with mending ladders. 

I am thinking of starting a "Back to Black Stockings and Longer Skirts" movement, but I fear that the manufacturers would have me locked away, so, I suppose, being a moral coward, I shall still go on buying several pairs of the same shade, ad lib, and I expect you will too! 

C. Pettit (Old Girls Association) 

WSFG School Uniform 2020

 

Our Carefree Youth
 

Here is a poem from the December 1927 Iris magazine, which many of our current students taking exams and tests will be able to relate to. The title is ironic, as you will see when you read the poem.

Mrs Kelly
LRC Manager

"Our Carefree Youth."

LAST night we decided to get up at five

And 'swot-up' some words that from Latin derive,

Prepare last week's history, an essay to write,

To translate some French at the very first sight,

To juggle with x's, with y's and with z's,

And generally cudgel our sleepy young heads.

Alas! though at eight the alarm clock went off,

We shiver and growl as our nightdress we doff.

Five minutes for breakfast, no more can we stay,

We put on our hats and then run all the way.

We think of the test we've been promised to do

In Latin, and English and Arithmetic too.

We shudder and groan as we enter the room,

“Rough note-books and pencils” – those words full of doom;

Well-known and expected they fall on our ears,

As hopeless and helpless we burst into tears.    

G. McFarlane (Va)

Fresh Air
 

During the finer weather, our school introduces a 'Fresh Air Day' once a week for each year group. This is so that students can enjoy our fantastic outdoor spaces that we are fortunate to have at this school. In 1946, Miss Norris, the Headteacher also believed in the benefits of fresh air. However, one of the students, Olive Blanche Cole, voiced her protest in a witty poem in the Iris magazine. It should be noted that this poem was set, indoors and during the winter!

Quite appropriate in these present times.

Mrs Kelly
LRC Manager

Wot! No Air?

Sitting down to Latin once, upon a frosty morn,

Door shut, windows shut, and looking quite forlorn,

Meekly Upper Four H Form were waiting for their Head,

With heavy minds, sleepy brains, and hearts like lumps of lead.

Along there came Miss Norris, gave the comfy girls a scare,

Threw them a reproachful glance and then said, "Wot, no air!

Open up the windows, girls, then throw wide open the door,

A stuffy room breeds lots of germs, I've told you so before."

Sitting with their teeth now dancing in their heads,

With rosy visions of a future spent in sick-room beds.

All the girls of Upper H Form, vow resolvedly

To take their dose of morning air in smaller quantity.

A warning to all mistresses, while I have room to tell,

Be sure when killing nasty germs, you don't kill girls as well.

O. Cole, Upper IV. H.

 

Medical Alumnae
 

Continuing our theme of ‘Honouring our Women of Medicine’, many of our students no longer with us went on to work in the field of medicine. As a tribute to those still working to support us during this period, I thought I would share some of their stories.

Mrs Kelly
LRC Manager

Honouring our Women of Medicine

Margaret Witt, 1930-2005

Margaret was born on 14 June 1930 in Leyton, daughter of Henry, a mechanic and chauffeur, and Bertha, a former lady’s companion. In 1941, she won a state scholarship to study at our school and in 1949 she also won a scholarship to study medicine at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, the only woman applicant out of 80 men.

Margaret was a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the North Middlesex Hospital, London. She won the treasurer’s prize in practical anatomy, the Harvey prize in practical physiology, the university scholarship in science (physiology), and the Mathew Duncan gold medal and prize in obstetric medicine. She became the first female registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology at St. Bartholomew’s hospital.

Margaret Witt never married. She had a zest for life, enjoying cooking, entertaining, fashion and travel, as well as music and the theatre. A colleague once said teasingly that: “Margaret was the only person who would take two fur coats, enough jewels to rival the Queen, and half a dozen pairs of shoes for a weekend conference in Paris.” She was a governor of Connaught School for Girls, where a silver cup was dedicated to her memory for the girl who achieved the highest all round points in the year, and a bench placed in the playground. She died on 30 October 2005. 

In 1957, despite her busy career she still took time to be on the committee of the Old Girl’s Association at our school.

Her name is recorded on the Honours Board in Hewett Hall.


Daisy and Jessie Foxon - Nurses in World War I

Jessie wrote a letter from France in 1915, about her nursing experiences during the war. Both sisters, Jessie and Daisy were awarded medals for their work.

The Foxon family, including the boys, attended our school from when it was founded in 1890 and involved themselves in various capacities until the 1950’s.

Mrs Kelly
LRC Manager

Daisy writes to me from Malta, she seems to be having a very tame time, hardly any wounded, nearly all medical cases, and not at all busy yet. I dare say they will be later on, although it's hardly human to want to be busy under the circumstances. 

I am at E__s with No. 26, composed chiefly of nursing sisters trained at Guy's……. We have over 1,000 beds in our hospital, and during a rush we take in convoys of varying numbers, mostly between one and two hundred, and evacuate them for Hospital Ship and Belati (India), which the men always call "Blighty."  During the last attack by us we seemed to take in and evacuate every day, and all this trying business was accomplished by the night staff. As I was on night duty then I can assure you it was very hard work and I had over 100 quite badly wounded men under my care.

N.B. - Jessie Foxon is now at Salonika. In spite of poisonous mosquitos and shells bursting 200 yards off her she is in good health and says the shells are a most interesting sight to watch in  the afternoon. 

 

Honouring our Women of Medicine
 

Our school was founded in 1890 and stories of the women who attended our school are recorded in our school magazine, ‘Iris’, which was started in 1906. Many of our students went on to work in the field of medicine and as a tribute to those still working to support us during this period, I thought I would share some of their stories. 

Mrs Kelly
LRC Manager


Hilda Kate Whittingham, O.B.E. M.B. Lond. D.P.H., 1876-1965

Hilda qualified as a Doctor in 1903 and went on to work at the London School of Medicine for Women and the ​Royal Free Hospital.  Her father, William Whittingham, was the person responsible for setting up our school and interviewed our first Head, Miss Hewett. Her family home was Comely Bank, which is now the site of a health centre. Hilda and her sister Maggie are one of the first names listed on our Honours Board in Hewett Hall. 

During the 1914-18 war she worked with the bacteriological and hygiene section of the Royal Army Medical College at Millbank. She was awarded an O.B.E. for her work during the war years. In 1917 she became the first pathologist of the South London Hospital for Women, and she worked there for the next 30 years. Sadly, her brother and brother-in-law were both killed during the war. A friend remarked that she was ‘an enthusiast and a perfectionist and her love of life was infectious’.  

 


Margaret Witt, 1930-2005

Margaret was born on 14 June 1930 in Leyton, daughter of Henry, a mechanic and chauffeur, and Bertha, a former lady’s companion. In 1941, she won a state scholarship to study at our school and in 1949 she also won a scholarship to study medicine at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, the only woman applicant out of 80 men. Margaret was a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the North Middlesex Hospital, London. She won the treasurer’s prize in practical anatomy, the Harvey prize in practical physiology, the university scholarship in science (physiology), and the Mathew Duncan gold medal and prize in obstetric medicine. She became the first female registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology at St. Bartholomew’s hospital.  

Margaret Witt never married. She had a zest for life, enjoying cooking, entertaining, fashion and travel, as well as music and the theatre. A colleague once said teasingly that: “Margaret was the only person who would take two fur coats, enough jewels to rival the Queen, and half a dozen pairs of shoes for a weekend conference in Paris.” She was a governor of Connaught School for Girls, where a silver cup was dedicated to her memory for the girl who achieved the highest all round points in the year, and a bench placed in the playground. She died on 30 October 2005.  

In 1957, despite her busy career she still took time to be on the committee of the Old Girl’s Association at our school. Her name is recorded on the Honours Board in Hewett Hall. 

            


Daisy and Jessie Foxon - Nurses in World War I 

Jessie wrote a letter from France in 1915, about her nursing experiences during the war. Both sisters were awarded medals for their work.  

The Foxon family, including the boys, attended our school from its founding in 1890 and involved themselves in various capacities until the 1950’s. 

Daisy writes to me from Malta, she seems to be having a very tame time, hardly any wounded, nearly all medical cases, and not at all busy yet. I dare say they will be later on, although it's hardly human to want to be busy under the circumstances.  

I am at E__s with No. 26, composed chiefly of nursing sisters trained at Guy's……. We have over 1,000 beds in our hospital, and during a rush we take in convoys of varying numbers, mostly between one and two hundred, and evacuate them for Hospital Ship and Belati (India), which the men always call "Blighty."  During the last attack by us we seemed to take in and evacuate every day, and all this trying business was accomplished by the night staff. As I was on night duty then I can assure you it was very hard work and I had over 100 quite badly wounded men under my care.  

N.B. - Jessie Foxon is now at Salonika. In spite of poisonous mosquitos and shells bursting 200 yards off her she is in good health and says the shells are a most interesting sight to watch in the afternoon.  


Dr. Ruth O’Dell (née Licence), MB, M CH, MRCS, LRCP - Student 1934-1942

When Ruth qualified as a doctor, our school was given a half day holiday, to celebrate her appointment as Junior House Surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital. The hospital was recognised at the time as a medical training school for women.

Here are some extracts from an article about her experiences during World War II:

At the end of August 1939, when I was sixteen, my family and I were on holiday in Guernsey, and because my Father was a teacher at Shoreditch Central School, we had to cut our holiday short so that he could report to his school for evacuation.

I was evacuated for 3 years with my school and won a scholarship place at Cambridge to do Medicine, where I completed a 2nd MB. I then went to the Royal Free Hospital for another 3 years to qualify as a doctor.

In early 1945 a bomb fell on the medical school and as I was then doing a surgical course, I was up all night assisting the surgeons operating on the casualties. My parents returned to Walthamstow after about 2 years of war, because so many children didn't want to remain evacuated because fewer bombs were falling. When bombing did start again, my parents used their coal cellar as an air-raid shelter and had beds down there for when the sirens went.

Ruth continued to keep in contact with our school and the picture below is from 2011.

One for the Petrolheads ...
 

Here is a poem from the 1957 Iris magazine which may only be understood by the parents or grandparents of our current students, or vintage car enthusiasts. See how many names of cars are mentioned in this very clever poem by Lorna Rowe, who was aged 14 at the time of writing this poem.

Mrs Kelly
LRC Manager

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

"By Jove!" said Zens, "the time is late,
Our chariots are out of date­
Di immortales, let us go
To the Earls Court Motor Show!"
So now his lordship doth rejoice
In a stately Rolls-Royce;
But Mars, who found the Rolls "too fiddly"
Invested in an Armstrong-Siddely;
Appollo scans the Zodiac
From a speeding Cadillac;
Neptune watches o’er the deep
From a Naval jeep;
Silvanns liked to take things gently,
So bought an antiquated Bentley,
Mithras rattled through the heaven
In an ancient Austin Seven;
Bacchus' Ford was confiscated
For "driving while intoxicated,"
Hermes, cop on his daily rota,
Sports a streamlined Singer Motor.
Vulcan's Vanguard caused some fear
By reversing in top gear.
Poor Cupid could not see quite straight,
And put his brakes on far too late­-
His splendid Jaguar Mark Six
Is bogged down in the river Styx;
Morpheus, the god of slumber,
Went to bed inside his Humber.
Godesses, not to be outdone,
Decided they would join the fun;
Diana her pot shots doth take
From a sturdy shooting brake.
Athene's taste was somewhat finer­-
Her savings bought a Morris Minor;
Psyche, in her Hillman Minx
With Aesculapins had high jinx­-
(the latter, now a "flying doctor"
Does his rounds by helicopter).
The reckless driver's perfect dream-­
No Zebras, police, or "one way stream,"
Till Pluto, full of rage and spite,
Made an Olympian traffic light
And on the great Olympian Way
Put "NO THROUGH ROAD-SOME OTHER DAY!"

Lorna Rowe, VI

Junior League of Nations 

The League of Nations was set up after World War I, to seek an ending of war.

Our school set up a Junior League of Nations Union in 1931 and this is how it was introduced to the school:

We have formed a School Branch of the League of Nations Union; we have done this because we are convinced that the solution of the world's difficulties will only be found through international good-will and that the future of the League of Nations depends on the good-will of the rising generation. 

Here is an illustration by Valerie Gardner from the 1937 edition of the Iris magazine, which I hope will complement the powerful poetry of our current Year 8 students

Mrs Kelly
LRC Manager

 

Our School Bells
 

Our school bells are not being used at the present time and I was just wondering whether we were missing them? 

Here is a piece from the 1920 edition of our school magazine ‘Iris', describing the love/hate relationship that a student felt towards the school bell.

Mrs Kelly
LRC Manager

An Address to the School Bell 

We have heard thee oh Bell! in the mornings when we were panting for breath in the cloakrooms, and when our unmarked footwear was lost behind the dusty boot-lockers. Twice hast thou called in a harsh voice, "Hurry, thou daughters of laziness, 'tis time for work!" Then have we hated thee, and have muttered things about thee. 

When our brains were hard pressed, and we sighed for thee, then didst thou keep unwanted silence. It seemed the minutes were tied down with leaden strings and thou rangst not. How wearily we waited, and how great was our agony until thou hast cleft the silence with thy welcome voice, oh, longed - for Bell! 

We have heard thee when the sun shone brightly, and when the bell was our companion. Ah! how grating was thy call, - "Come in at once, ye maidens, cease your play." A subdued triumph lurked in thy unwelcome note, oh hated Bell! 

Oh! thou herald of all school functions! how mingled are our feelings toward thee! "Sometimes we would gild thee in honour, to show our love for thee, oft we would fain smash thy works - yet more in sorrow than in anger, for thou art one of the things that must be, and that ever shall be! Oh Bell! 

E Foster, Form VI

 

Remembrance
 

The First World War deeply affected people long after it had ended. Here is a poem by a student, Olive Baker, written in the 1933 school magazine ‘Iris’, which remembers those people who died.

THANK God for peaceful England, this dear isle;
For England's quiet green beauty and her fame;
For her never-failing honour, and her ever-glorious name,
Which still doth stand though nations fall the while.

Remember! Only nineteen years ago,
The roll of war's dread thunder filled the air,
And ev'ry home was called upon to spare
Her father and her sons, to fight the foe.

Think, that the flower of all this nation,
And the good, were laid 'neath alien sod.
And for them England now gives thanks to God.

So while we in security may dwell
Remember still those sons who fought and died For England's noble glory and her pride.

Olive Baker (Form VI)

Brave New World 

With the modern TV adaptation of the Aldous Huxley book ‘Brave New World’ now showing, I thought I would share with you an illustration from the 1964 edition of ‘Iris’, our school magazine. Ann Giles was aged 14 when she submitted this illustration and she had many more illustrations in other copies of the magazine, all of them equally impressive.  

Our school magazine was produced every year (apart from 1917-1920) from 1906 to 1974 and included articles and illustrations from students, staff and former students. 

Mrs Kelly
LRC Manager 

 

M:\Iris Mags\Iris 1964\Brave New World iris 1964.jpg

Evacuation - A Cinderella Story 

I came across this story in the 1940 edition of the Iris. It takes place when our school was evacuated during World War II,

Ms O Kelly
LRC Manager

CINDERELLA

With an envious sigh Cinderella watched her two ugly sisters as they prepared to embark for the annual A.R.P. dance at the Y.M.C.A. Hastily shouting instructions to Cinderella for the evening's housework, they galloped toward their bicycles and soon disappeared in the direction of the Central Hall.

Wearily fetching pen and ink, Cinderella was about to tackle the onerous task of filling in the ration books, when there was a resounding crash and a terrific rattling of windows. Before she could throw herself flat on the floor, she was confronted by the startling apparition of an aeroplane landing clumsily on the kitchen table, seemingly from the window. Its occupant, an even more startling apparition in flying goggles and voluminous purple robes, seeing the dismay on Cinderella's face, promptly produced her identity card, proclaiming herself to be the fairy godmother.

Thus reassured, the mystified Cinderella upon the request of the eccentric visitor, led the way to the back garden. Assuring Cinderella that she would attend the dance, the fairy godmother proceeded to demonstrate her mystic abilities. With one majestic sweep of the stirrup-pump, the Anderson shelter rapidly assumed the gleaming proportions of a super sports-car. Yet another flourish, and Cinderella's rags translated themselves into a magnificent creation of foaming chiffon and pink rose-buds.

“But", warned the fairy godmother as Cinderella leapt lightly into the car, “Be back by twelve o'clock or disaster will overtake you."

Arriving at the Y.M.C.A., Cinderella was greeted by her Prince Charming, resplendent in battle-dress and glittering array of medals. Completely ignoring the worthy members of the A.T.S. and W.V.S., he partnered Cinderella for the rest of the evening. So happy was Cinderella that she forgot the fairy godmother's warning until she heard the fatal chimes of midnight. Leaving her partner stranded in the middle of Lambeth Walk, she rushed out into the darkness, only to find the car floating sadly away into thin air accompanied by the mournful music of an air-­raid siren.

Sprinting past the Granville Hotel, Cinderella managed to get home before the ugly sisters arrived.

Just as the sisters were retiring, there was a thunderous knock at the door. Blanched with terror, the ugliest sister hurried to answer, with fearful recollections of the enormous fines for black-out offences. Instead, however, of the local warden, there stood the most handsome member of His Majesty's Forces. He told them that he had found the gas mask belonging to his mys­terious partner at the dance, and he was looking for the owner. With hasty fingers, the ugly sisters contrived to wear the gas mask, but with obviously unsuccessful results. Then, amid the loudly voiced scorn of the unsuccessful candidates, Cinderella was re­quested to don the respirator.

One graceful movement and the gas mask was transferred to her flower-like face, and, needless to say, fitted perfectly.

With a loud cry of joy the Prince Charming swept his Cinderella into his arms, and, as you may have guessed, lived happily ever after.

VIOLET RANDALL (VI)

Walthamstow County High Goes to War - Evacuation 

Many Waltham Forest schools were evacuated  during the Second World War.

The school was moved to Kettering and then on to Wellingborough.

Below is a drawing by a student of the time, Daphne Francis in Form VI.

Ms O Kelly
LRC Manager

 

Episodes in School Life
 

Here is a cartoon from the December 1929 edition of the Iris magazine. School life is much the same but life is somewhat easier when ink spots do not have to be sanded off the wooden tables!

Ms Kelly
LRC Manager

 

Our Greek Amphitheatre Origins
 

With the production of the Greek Theatre Players of Richard the Second this week, here as an excerpt  from the School History book 2010 by Ethel Matteson née Britton, describing the origins of the Greek Theatre.

Ms Kelly
LRC Manager

WSFG 1923-1929

I was at Walthamstow High School for one term with Miss Hewett, the first ever Head Mistress, and then with Miss Norris, who was a Classics scholar, and it was she who had the Greek Theatre built.

When excavations began, we thought it was going to be a swimming pool, but after the initial disappointment, I for one was delighted. It was opened by the Ben Greet Company with 'Medea', with Sybil Thorndyke in the title role.

Later, when the school put on 'Androcles and the Lion', Miss Brown, the art  teacher, made wonderful helmets for the Roman soldiers, from buckrum, painted with metallic paint." 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous!
 

A Poem from 1957

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

 "By Jove!" said Zeus, "the time is late,

Our chariots are out of date­

Di immortales, let us go

To the Earls Court Motor Show!"

So now his lordship doth rejoice

In a stately Rolls-Royce;

But Mars, who found the Rolls "too fiddly"

Invested in an Armstrong-Siddely;

Apollo scans the Zodiac

From a speeding Cadillac;

Neptune watches o’er the deep

From a Naval jeep;

Silvans liked to take things gently,

So bought an antiquated Bentley,

Mithras rattled through the heaven

In an ancient Austin Seven;

Bacchus' Ford was confiscated

For "driving while intoxicated,"

Hermes, cop on his daily rota,

Sports a streamlined Singer Motor.

Vulcan's Vanguard caused some fear

By reversing in top gear.

Poor Cupid could not see quite straight,

And put his brakes on far too late­-

His splendid Jaguar Mark Six

Is bogged down in the river Styx;

Morpheus, the god of slumber,

Went to bed inside his Humber.

Goddesses, not to be outdone,

Decided they would join the fun;

Diana her pot shots doth take

From a sturdy shooting brake.

Athene's taste was somewhat finer ­-

Her savings bought a Morris Minor;

Psyche, in her Hillman Minx

With Aesculapins had high jinx ­-

(the latter, now a "flying doctor"

Does his rounds by helicopter).

The reckless driver's perfect dream -­

No Zebras,  police, or "one way stream,"

Till Pluto, full of rage and spite,

Made an Olympian traffic light

And on the great Olympian Way

Put "NO THROUGH ROAD - SOME OTHER DAY!"

LORNA ROWE, VI

Mr and Mrs Hazell
 

Mr Hazell 1939

I came across this snippet in the 1955 Iris. Mr Hazell was our Caretaker and Mrs Hazell used to run the tuck shop etc. Its nice to know that after living in the school, they were re-housed in the almshouses (they left our school in 1946).

As a sequel our prefects were invited to the opening of the soundly  reconstructed section of the Almshouses. They witnessed Col. Sir Stuart Mallinson cutting the ribbon with his own penknife, inspected the four charming new flats that combine the best of old and new, and partook of a splendid tea in the Great Hall in company with boys who represented the Monoux School. W.H.S. had given some tea and  pots of flowers to greet the incoming tenants of the alms-houses to all of whom our greetings go out, especially to our old friends Mr. and Mrs. Hazell, who for so long looked after us all so well.

 

The almshouses Vinegar Alley

 

Joining the French Resistance
 

Here is an article from the Iris of 1939 about Renee Edwards and Grace Davey, ex-students, who visited Germany just before the outbreak of war. 

Renee Edwards went on to work with the French Resistance during World War II.  

GERMANY WITH THE INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOLS
JULY 1939

. . . We were rewarded in our search for evidence of tyranny by finding notices outside parks, certain shops and public institutions, to the effect that Jew's were "verboten," by seeing the Jewish synagogue in Berlin that had been burnt down, the many soldiers in Berlin, the superfluity of swastikas; and we also dis­covered that politics might be discussed only in an intriguingly mysterious way, and with a promise not to betray the author of any outspoken sentiments. This prevented neither us nor our friends in Germany, from discussing Hitler's regime, and we learnt that the majority of them believed their Fuehrer to be a new Christ and a Miracle Man, whose work was to put Germany back on to the footing it deserved, with new confidence inspired by the unity of Teutonic peoples. The restrictions and implicit trust demanded were but temporary, and only the means to greater comfort and security in the future. Some, however, admitted that should Germany be led to encroach on the possessions of other nations and exceed the aims put forward by Hitler to the nation, they would promptly change their opinion.

It was necessary, however to exercise a little tact in order to encourage them to discuss their ruler's policy and the general situation in an unbiased way, for not only were they inclined to treat us rather off-handedly, because of our sex, until we revealed some interest and proved that we could discuss other matters than dress, scandal and so on, but unless questioned in a disinterested way, they would refuse to discuss the subject further and would act as if they assumed we were narrow-minded critics. On the other hand, when the discussion was more in the nature of ques­tions and one was prepared to treat one's own country's policy in a patriotic but unbiased way, the talk was considerably more interesting and revealed their true reactions.

There were, too, pictures of the Storm Troopers in our minds-terrifying men, we had thought; yet among our guides were schoolmasters, who voluntarily accepted the arduous task of con­ducting these tours during their holidays, and some of these were also "'S.S.'s." No one, meeting these men, could reconcile in her mind their kindness, thoughtfulness and gentleness, with the atrocity stories all too common in the newspapers at the present time.

. . . Least of all shall we forget the first part of the journey home from Eltville to Koblenz on a Rhine steamer, the most beautiful stretch of the Rhine, past numerous castles, sloping vineyards and the famous Lorelei. Although we were pleased to be home again, it will be a long time before we forget this holiday or our friends in Germany and before we reconcile ourselves to the tragedy that has followed so quickly after.

RENEE EDWARDS, GRACE DAVEY (O.G.s)

What our Students did in the War
 

As the country is remembering the D-Day Landing, it is also important that we remember the role of women during World War II. The Iris magazine included a list of occupations of former pupils in 1944. Here is the list, along with the meaning of the acronyms. The most intriguing entry was for Renee Edwards, who was going to Paris to work for the F.F.I.

Ms Kelly 
LRC Manager

NEWS OF OLD GIRLS

A.T.S. (Auxiliary Territorial Service –the women’s branch of the British Army)
WINNIE MOORE is an officer Aldershot.
JOYCE NORTH.
JOYCE FABER
JOYCE PRICE is now a Company Sergeant Major.
ROSINA BEARD is a teleprinter in S.H.A.E.F. in France. (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force).
BETTY HOLLAND is a Lance Corporal in the Signal Corps.

W.A.A.F. (Women’s Auxiliary Air force)
VERA BARRETT is now a Meteorologist.
IRENE BARRETT is doing Radio work.
BERYL CHERRY is an L.A.C. Flight Mechanic at Cranfield.
ADA ENDERS is a Meteorologist.

W.R.N.S. (Women’s Royal Naval Service)
JOYCE BRABNER.

Training Colleges.
PAMELA SMITH is taking a Radio Course for *R.E.M.E. at the South-West Essex Technical College. *Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

Teaching.

YVONNE ABBINETT is now teaching in an evacuated school.
MARGARET FAIRBRASS is still teaching at Wood Street School, but has had six weeks' experience under the evacuation scheme, at a Nursery School in Bucks.

Nursing.
WINNIE NICOLL is at the Military Hospital, Chelmsford.
OLIVE PETT is a Sister in the Queen Alexandra Nursing Reserve, on embarkation leave and ready to go to the tropics.

Miscellaneous.
RENEE EDWARDS is going to Paris with the Offices of the F.F.I. (French Forces of the Interior – known as The French Resistance).
JESSIE FELTHAM after being released from Garage Mechanics, has returned to office work.
JUNE GRIFFITHS is at the Walthamstow Food Office.
RUTH HYATT is doing First-Aid duty at Bush House in her spare time from the Ministry of Supply.

Fresh Air Day
 

During the finer weather, our school introduces a 'Fresh Air Day' once a week for each year group. This is so that students can enjoy our fantastic outdoor spaces that we are fortunate to have at this school. In 1946, Miss Norris, the Headteacher also believed in the benefits of fresh air. However, one of the students, Olive Blanche Cole, voiced her protest in a witty poem in the Iris magazine. It should be noted that this poem was set, indoors and during the winter!

Ms Kelly
LRC Manager

Wot! No Air?

Sitting down to Latin once, upon a frosty morn,
Door shut, windows shut, and looking quite forlorn,
Meekly Upper Four H Form were waiting for their Head,
With heavy minds, sleepy brains, and hearts like lumps of lead.
Along there came Miss Norris, gave the comfy girls a scare,
Threw them a reproachful glance and then said, "Wot, no air!
Open up the windows, girls, then throw wide open the door,
A stuffy room breeds lots of germs, I've told you so before."
Sitting with their teeth now dancing in their heads,
With rosy visions of a future spent in sick-room beds.
All the girls of Upper H Form, vow resolvedly
To take their dose of morning air in smaller quantity.
A warning to all mistresses, while I have room to tell,
Be sure when killing nasty germs, you don't kill girls as well.

O. COLE, Upper IV. H.

Food & Shopping in Canada in the 1950s 

Joan M. Crowe (Morgan),  provides us with a glimpse of the future of food and shopping in the 1954 Iris magazine. She writes about her summer spent in Ontario, Canada.

Ms Kelly
LRC Manager

Food habits are rather strange, they have gone to enormous lengths in order to get pure food with rather disastrous results. The bread is so pure that they’ve practically only starch left, so they have to put vitamins back in it! Milk is homogenized, which means it comes out looking like chalky water, tomatoes come in boxes of four or five, spinach already washed (?) in paper bags and so on. The bread is sweet, too, and rather like a sponge and the crust is almost non-existent.

The groceteria near where I work is most magnificent, about as big as Bakers Arms’ Woolworths. I got the shock of my life the first time I patronised it. I put out my hand to open the door and it jumped away from me; they have a photo-electric cell and beam which you cross and the door opens automatically -  just like the one in the South Kensington Children's Science Museum. I've never see one elsewhere. They even have meat ready packaged and priced in that one. On the way out there are barriers; you unload your basket and the girl rings up all the items on an electric adding machine and puts them in an enormous paper bag; they are even selling special metal baskets on wheels called "bundle buggies" to take them home in. Every item is wrapped and I usually have a wastepaper bin full when I unload at home.

On the School Motto ...
 

I came across this delightful little poem in the 1954 copy of the Iris school magazine. For those who do not know, a G.C.E was the exam taken at the time.

Ms Kelly
LRC Manager

On the School Motto

A budding Shakespeare you may not be,

Nor yet a potential B.Sc.,

But do not despair,

For the talent is there,

So Neglect not the gift that is in thee!

 

If a doctor or linguist you would be,

Or even a lawyer - perhaps an M.P.

Neglect not your Chemistry,

Your Maths, or your History,

Neglect not the gift that is in thee!

 

Take heed of the above lines written by me,

If you would obtain your G.C. of E.,

Neglect B.B.C.,

And also T.V.,

But Neglect not the gift that is in thee!


Joy Waugh 4H

 

A Poem About Leaving our School 

For those students who are embarking on the next stage of their education, here is a 1923 poem from the Iris magazine by E. Foster, who was also about to leave our school.

Vale! 

THE Time has come; we part and go our ways.

Leaving, we rai

se to thee, Oh School, a paean of praise!

For thy spirit strong and free,

Heritage of liberty,

For the stirring unknown power

That infects each striving hour,

When, in eager competition,

Forms uphold some proud tradition,

When, with fierce exhilaration

Comes a sudden inspiration.

For eager teams and flying ball­

-The umpire's whistle thrilling all-

For secret cause of sudden mirth

And jokes that have untimely birth.

For social nights within the hall

The bright lamps swinging over all-

The audience packed with parents proud,

The song, swift dance, and tunicked crowd

Of girls in expectation tense.

For sorrowful experience

That lessons teach of self-control.

For comradeship, when heart and soul

Are centred on some mutual goal

And one is nought without the whole.

For sun-patched, cheery corridors

And classes hushed within closed doors,

For noises loud-or soft-and strange

And all the healthy interchange

Of thought, opinion, love and hate.

For bells that gladden those who wait

In expectation of release.

For friendships that may never cease.

These have we known, Oh School! in thee.

For these be ever praise to thee!

The time has come, we part, and go our ways,

Therefore, Farewell! ye happy fleeting days.

E Foster

Ms Kelly
LRC Manager

A Poem from 1907 ...
 

Here is an poem by an unknown student in the IRIS of June 1907. I hope the sentiments still ring true.

Ms Kelly
LRC Manager

A RETROSPECT

Once as thoughtless children we

Troop’d to school so merrily,

There our many tasks to do,

There to meet our friends so true:

Some found learning dull and dry

Some had aspirations high;

Some were quiet, careful, good –

Others in disgrace oft stood,

Always happy, fun of fun,

Till our school-girl course was run.

Though those days have pass'd away,                                       

Lovingly we think to-day

Of the many joys reveal'd,

Of the lasting friendships seal'd :

Of the efforts to inspire

In us all a keen desire

For a Knowledge of the Truth: Happy echoes of our youth!

We shall bear them through the years

'Mid Life's laughter, love, and tears

Alumnae Success Stories!
 

Naomi Ackie, a student from 2003-2006, received the British Independent Film Award (BIFA) in 2017 for most promising newcomer.

She is best known for her role in Lady Macbeth (2016).

She has also been nominated twice for the British Independent Film Awards.

Naomi has appeared in an episode of Doctor Who, Vera and Cleaning Up, and will be in the new Star Wars IX film later this year. Watch out for Naomi!


Another of our students, Anna Hallas Smith, is appearing in Classified, by Jayne Woodhouse, at the Loosely Based Theatre Company on 6th & 7th March. 

These are three short, interlinking plays exploring the impact of social class on individual lives, set in the present day and an imagined near-future.

See the website for further details

The Stage 

For those students and staff preparing for our next school production, we can only imagine the amount of hours that go into rehearsing.  Here is an extract by a former pupil, Eileen Raven, from the July 1926 Iris magazine, detailing the trials and tribulations of a life on the stage.

Ms Kelly
LRC  Manager

Iris July 1926

THE STAGE

This is not a profession I should advise anyone wishing to make money to adopt. It is very interesting and exciting but it is a profession of continual disappointments and constant hard work.

The best place to gain experience is I think universally agreed to be in repertory work; that is, as a member of a resident company playing a different play each week. I will try to give you an idea of what work with such a company means.

On Tuesday morning you arrive at the theatre at ten and straight­way start to rehearse next week's play until about one o'clock. Every morning this rehearsing continues, matinee days as well, with the exception of Thursday, which is set apart for study. Your afternoons are your own. Monday brings you to the last rehearsal, for that play is given in the evening and next morning a new one is started. For those who have a heavy part to study and rehearse and a totally different one to play in the evening the life is decidedly strenuous.

The stage has a fascination of its own, but behind the glare of the footlights is hidden more disappointment and failure than the world outside ever knows about.

Eileen Raven (Old Girls Association)

 

The Medea performed at the opening of the Greek Theatre in 1925.  
Dame Sybil Thorndike took the lead role.

 

Doors ...
 

We have an ‘Open Door Policy’ here but unfortunately the door-stop isn’t always working. So, the peace of the library is sometimes disturbed by the noise of a nearby door slamming open (oddly enough, it never slams closed). This may be caused by the combined force of 30 students trying to get through a small doorway, all at once, usually at the beginning of lunch or the end of the school day! Sometimes, the doors to the LRC close when there is no one around, either we have very small pupils or the school is leaning to one side, it’s anybody’s guess.

Here is an article about school doors by Yvonne Abbinett, who was evacuated to Wellingborough during World War II. She writes about the school in Northampton and our present building, when Miss Norris was our Headteacher and Miss Park was the Drama teacher.

Ms Kelly
LRC Manager

DOORS

I have this minute decided to write an article about doors and the various approaches of various people in various ways thereto.

Take, for instance, the doors at the Wellingborough High School, through which we pass innumerable times a day. The swing-doors-such nice playful things; you can dive right through the middle of them, if you care to take the risk of being knocked flat on your face when the recoil sets in.

Also at the aforementioned school the class-room doors, unlike our own at home, prevent girls from peering unobtrusively through their solid wooden panels; so you either have to open the door, majestically or furtively. Whichever becomes you, and find it is the wrong form-room. Whereupon the powers that be turn the full battery of righteous indignation upon you, and you retire hurriedly, mumbling apologies, or sweep out with a "how tiresome, I was sure I was right" look, which inevitably falls flat as you know the mistress will immediately sarcastically ask a delighted form, how work is to progress. . . or other such suitable questions. Or as an alternative you can revert to the degrading method of "keyhole-looking-through." I, personally, am becoming accomplished in the art of recognising a mistress by her keyhole-shaped silhouette.

Exempli gratia (look up what it means, you should know) a bright purple keyhole is Miss Park, especially if the keyhole is in continuous motion; and a pair of lorgnettes surmounted by a gleaming chain denotes Miss Norris' presence.

It is quite amusing to observe members of the School and Staff; yes, I have witnessed the stooping of certain mistresses to keyholes, creeping about the galleries and even placing an ear to a keyhole to detect the voice of the one they are tracking.

The familiar joy of peering through glass panels and distracting the form's attention, is gone for a while: for how long, I cannot say.

I was bitterly disappointed over this point, as I had just reached the height at Walthamstow when I didn't have to bounce up and down undignifiedly to see what I wanted to see, as I had to when merely a puny Lower Third.

Still, we must resign ourselves to the inevitable; the mistresses must endure frequent interruptions; the pupils must not be distracted by them, and both parties must practise the little-known art of School Espionage without Detection.

YVONNE ABBINETT (V.A.)

Science in 1931 

Here is a poem from the 1931 edition of Iris, our school magazine,

Science Sixth

 Straight line graphs; they come in Maths.

   And curved ones too, alas! they do.

   Conics is the study of the sections of the cone.

   Be thankful if your knowledge is that, and that alone.

   I is Infinity to which everything tends,

   This is the place where all unfinished ends.

   Euclid's theorems are world-renowned;

   Some of his books still haven't been found.

   Newton founded calculus,

   O unlucky day for us!

   Chemistry is with matter concerned;

   To study this science you need to be learned.

   Einstein's wisdom us astounds:

   His propositions know no bounds.

Remembrance
 

Remembrance

The First World War deeply affected people long after it had ended. Here is a poem by a student, Olive Baker, written in the 1933 Iris which remembers those people who died.

THANK God for peaceful England, this dear isle;
For England's quiet green beauty and her fame;
For her never-failing honour, and her ever-glorious name,
Which still doth stand though nations fall the while.

Remember! Only nineteen years ago,
The roll of war's dread thunder filled the air,
And ev'ry home was called upon to spare
Her father and her sons, to fight the foe.

Think, that the flower of all this nation,
And the good, were laid 'neath alien sod.
And for them England now gives thanks to God.

So while we in security may dwell
Remember still those sons who fought and died
For England's noble glory and her pride.

Olive Baker  (Form VI.)

 

Walthamstow and WW1
 

The LRC has had an exhibition about our students
involvement in the First World War.   All staff and students were welcome to come along to see it when free and staff were able to book in classes to work alongside our archive resources.   

The display covered many aspects, including War Weddings, Fundraising in Australia, Poetry, Nursing and Suffragettes. We have diaries from two former students stranded in Switzerland and France, detailing their journey back to England. ‘Our Boys’, has information about former male pupils which demonstrates the resilience of those involved.

Walthamstow  hosted Belgian Refugees at a centre in Wood Street and I would like to share with you a part of their story.

Ms Kelly
LRC Manager

High School Girls and the Belgians.

We can do very little for our friends from Belgium, but every Monday a box is placed in each room for contributions from the girls. We give what we like but it must be our own. The collection, not counting what is given by the Staff, amounts to an average of a guinea a week, and is devoted to the Belgians of the Wood Street Centre. Feminine activity finds expression in knitting. Wherever you go, you see nothing but wool, hear nothing but the clicking of needles. It is knit, knit, knit from morning till night……..

The Belgians are just like a happy family. The majority speak Flemish only but a few know French. The eldest is a dear old lady of 84, who sat by the fire and smiled. The youngest is about 17 months - just as dear, and makes an even more pathetic case, for the child seems to have lost its parents, and we can trace none of her relations. It is a puzzle how she came here, she was the centre of interest and we all crowded round, trying to coax her to play, but with little success. She has taken a fancy to one of the women and will go to no one else. To be sure, as "mother" held her, the little one did condescend to shake hands all round.

Pianoforte solos by Doris Atkins, Hilda Farmer, Winnie Berry, and Kathleen Attenborough were greatly appreciated, as well as the duet by Peggy Robbins and Ethel Holmes. Lou Reeve recited in French and was heartily clapped by those who did not understand, and even more heartily by those who could appreciate. Cora Bayne gave us one of her delightful dances. The dignified sixth, robed in drill tunics, enjoyed the healthy exercise of a country dance. Some of the girls in Va. made fine shepherds, and danced with their lady-loves as gracefully as if they had been born and bred in the country. The Belgians really enjoyed this; they are peasants and it appealed to them. Two or three in our corner took arms and were just going to join in, when they were restrained with difficulty by another who grew quite alarmed …

Two or three in our corner, who were rather excitable, stood up and flaunted their little English with "Hip, hip, hurrah"! "It's all right," and "It's very good," which appears to have been all they could say apart from "Good Night." When they had quieted down a little, Winnie Gowen sang "Tipperary" and of course, we all joined in the chorus. We also sang the Belgian, French, Russian, and English National Anthems. We had to go then, as it was 8.30 p.m. and they like to go to bed early. However, it seemed as if they did not want to leave us, for they came to see us off at the gate, amid many a noisy "Good Night" and “Bon soir." We certainly had as good a time as they did and were sorry it was all over. On the serious side, no one could respond with more out-and-out heartiness than we to the call of­ hats off and three cheers for Belgium!

G. JENNINGS

Exam Stress is Nothing New!
 

Here is a poem from the December 1927 Iris magazine, which many of our current students taking exams and tests will be able to relate to.  The title is ironic, as you will see when you read the poem.

Ms Kelly
LRC Manager

"Our Carefree Youth"

LAST night we decided to get up at five
And 'swot-up' some words that from Latin derive,
Prepare last week's history, an essay to write,
To translate some French at the very first sight,
To juggle with x's, with y's and with z's,
And generally cudgel our sleepy young heads.
Alas! though at eight the alarm clock went off,
We shiver and growl as our nightdress we doff.
Five minutes for breakfast, no more can we stay,
We put on our hats and then run all the way.
We think of the test we've been promised to do
In Latin, and English and Arithmetic too.
We shudder and groan as we enter the room,
“Rough note-books and pencils” – those words full of doom;
Well-known and expected they fall on our ears,
As hopeless and helpless we burst into tears.

G. McFarlane (Va)

Local History Book
 

 


The First Student and Teacher
 

Over the years, many of our staff members have also been former students of the school. The first teacher who was also a former student was Millicent Margaret Jackson, who was appointed in 1911 and stayed until 1925. She was also one of the first students in the school, attending in 1890, the year the school was founded.

 

As a Music Teacher her wages were calculated on the number of pupils she taught. She was employed for two days a week, earning £3 for every Pianoforte and Singing Pupil and £9 for Class Singing. By the time she left in 1925 she was earning £158 4s 0d. A Supply Teacher at that time earned just £2 per week.

WW1 Open Day at Vestry House
 

WW1 Open Day Vestry House & St Mary’s Church 

Our school participated in this event, with a display from our archives. The display mainly focused on women, with information about War Weddings, Poetry, Fundraising in Australia, Nursing and Suffragettes.  It also included diaries from women stranded in Europe, detailing their journey back home.

During this period, our school also enrolled boys up to the age of 11 and so ‘Our Boys’ stories were shown. The church has memorials to brothers of our students and there was a detailed display about Vincent Bayne, who died at the age of 19. His sister Cora Bayne attended our school and in the 1914 edition of Iris, our old school magazine, it noted that Cora gave a delightful dance to the Belgian Refugees. 

Walthamstow hosted Belgian refugees at a centre in Wood Street and our school held parties and raised funds to support them. A person who came to the event, told me that the Belgian refugees lived with his family in Prospect Hill.

I would like to thank Ms Winter and our Alumnae Committee for supporting this event.

Ms Kelly
LRC Manager

Obituary
 

It is with great sadness that we  announce the death of Ethel Matteson,
née Britten, our oldest alumnae at the grand age of 106.

She attended the school in the days of the first Headteacher, Blanche Hewett, along with her older sisters, her twin having sadly died at the age of 5.

The Britten family lived in Cazenove Road, Walthamstow. During her time at the school the Greek theatre was built and Ethel opened the 80th Anniversary fete in July 2005.

She was also a guest speaker at the 2012 Alumnae AGM, at the sprightly age of 100, speaking for half an hour without notes!

It has been a great privilege to have known her and to be part of her family. She leaves a son, daughter, grandchildren and great children, including twins in whom she took great interest.

The Alumnae will be making a donation to the Age Concern charity in her memory.

Ms Winter
The Alumnae Committee

Sports Day 1906
 

We now have twice yearly Interform competitions and an annual Sports Day. I would like to share with you the article from the November 1906 edition of the ‘Iris’ magazine. It is describing Sports Day and the various races. I still can’t figure out what a ‘flat’ race is and the ‘spearing a potato race’ sounds scary!

Ms Kelly
LRC Manager

The Sports

Our Sports were held on June 20th. The day was beautiful, although perhaps a  trifle hot.

The visitors were seated on chairs, round the field, striving to be as much in the shade as possible.

The first item on the programme was the Fancy Skipping. This was very pretty and everyone joined in.

Following this was the Spearing Potato Race, for which were offered a first and a second prize. These were won by Ethel Dann and Girlie Foxon respectively.

The children from Form 1 and Preparatory then had a competition all to themselves, namely, Bouncing the Football. The opposite sides were adorned with green and yellow bows. 

The yellows, headed by Violet Norwood, came off victoriously.

The next proceeding was the Egg and Spoon Race, which Olive Cooper won, Dora Cross being second.

The Three-Legged Race then took place. Elsie Cotching and Gertrude Allen came in first, with Beatrice Norwood and Ruth Holdstock second.

The Flat Race for girls over thirteen was won by Elsie Cotching, and Olive Cooper took the second prize.

The Junior and Senior Drill was a very interesting and instructive item.

The Backward Flat Race was won by Ethel Dann, and Elsie Bennett came in second.

The last item was a Tug-of-War between the old and present girls. The latter being victorious.

During all these proceedings, many of the visitors were glad to be supplied with tea, which was served on small tables scattered about the part of the grounds not used for the Sports.

The profits from the tea were £1 16s. 3d., which went to the School Games Club.

All then gathered round to see the distribution of the prizes, but owing to some delay they had not arrived. The girls, however, received them at school two or three days afterwards.

Many votes of thanks were given, including one to Mr. Hallows, who, for the second time, had so kindly lent his field.

Helen Mercer

Keeping the School Clean
 

The snow earlier this Spring wreaked havoc in the building, salt was carried in on everyone’s shoes, leaving a trail of white across all the floors. The premises team were busy all day ensuring that the floors were safe, but until this sort of thing happens, you don’t realise how many people are constantly moving round the building.

I came across a letter by Phyllis Helps, who left the school in 1918, which shows the cleaning routine in the school at that time. I have also left in the part about the teacher’s clothes. As we celebrated our freedoms and opportunities on International Women’s Day, it is worth noting that our female staff were not only restricted politically but physically too.

Any ink marks on the floor had to be rubbed out with glass paper, and supervised by a teacher in the cloakrooms seeing that we changed into plimsolls on arriving and never leaving without our gloves on.

Our headteacher was Miss Hewett, supported by Miss Richardson and Miss Goldwyn, both wearing lace fronts to their blouses with bone supports. And of course gold chains with watches tucked into their waists. Miss Hewett was a little more modern.

Ms Kelly
LRC Manager 

MBE for ex-Student
 

Janice Pettit née Warner, student from 1965-1972

Janice a local Girl Guide leader has been recognised in the New Year’s Honour's list with an MBE (Member of the British Empire) for spending  for over forty five years volunteering with young people and the local community in the borough.

She also serves as regional chair of the Guides’ awards committee for London which oversees groups in Waltham Forest. Her work with the Girl Guides led her to  being offered a  role in the 2012 London Olympic Games, as a “Games Maker”. She was one of 70,000 picked from 240,000 applicants and volunteered for the ’Games’ media team.

Congratulations to Janice from all at WSFG.

Ethel Mattison
 

Earlier this year our oldest alumni Ethel Mattison celebrated her 106th birthday!

Here are her memories  of being at Walthamstow High School as it was  known in 1923.

WSFG 1923-1929

I was at Walthamstow High School for one term with Miss Hewett, the first ever Head  Mistress, and then with Miss Norris, who was a Classics scholar, and it was she who had the Greek Theatre built. When excavations began, we thought it was going to be a swimming pool, but after the initial disappointment, I for one was delighted.

It was opened by the Ben Greet Company with 'Medea', with Sybil Thorndyke in the title role. Later, when the school put on 'Androcles and the Lion', Miss Brown, the art teacher, made wonderful helmets for the Roman soldiers, from buckrum, painted with metallic paint. Although there were still only 300 pupils since WHS was built in 1912, more facilities were needed in the  advancement of education for girls, so during my stay the library and another laboratory were built and construction on the gymnasium had begun.

A group of us were once taken by three staff members to Germany, for a week to Goslar and Hilderheim in the Hartz Mountains,  followed by a week on the Rhine visiting Cologne, KCoblenz and  getting a wonderful view of the castles. Otherwise, our school trips were confined to England or the Isle of Wight. We were taken on fungus forays in Epping Forest every Autumn and on other field trips by Miss Dennithorne, mostly on Saturdays or for occasional weekends. We also went on visits to factories, notably Ambrosia, Yardley, Bryant and May and The Royal Mint.  We even went by overnight  train to Richmond in Yorkshire to see a total eclipse of the sun, but it clouded over so we didn't see the corona, but it was an exciting and eerie experience  nonetheless.       Ethel  aged 16                   

 

I was very proud of being at WHS. The school instilled a sense of social responsibility in its pupils and, even after all these years, I still find it  obnoxious when I see people eating or drinking in the street, or dropping litter.   

Ethel Mattison (née Britton)                                                   

For Dog Lovers
 

Here is a poem for some of you dog-lovers out there - I found it in the 1949 edition of the ‘Iris’ magazine. Miss Hooper, as well as teaching, used to run ‘Ranscombe Kennels’ and specialised in breeding Spaniels.

Ms Kelly
LRC Manager

The Dog's Pow Pow

Within the bounds of County High School,

Walthamstow’s great County High School.

All the "Powers that be" decided

They would have a show for canines.

Have a lovely show for canines.

First and foremost 'mongst the urgers

Was our well beloved Miss Hooper,

Respected and revered Miss Hooper:

Three and sixpence was the wampum.

Was the fee to enter "Rover."

Many came, and many brought

Canine friends, all barking madly.

And the air was filled with barking,

Filled with noises made by spaniels,

Made by labradors and bulldogs;

Some dogs were all brown and furry.

Others black and sleek and shiny;

There was one like strings of licqu'rice

Very like a long black sausage:

There were dogs of every species,

Known to us or known to others.

Suddenly a hush fell on us,

All was quiet but for barking.

Then a voice in tones insistent,

Tones that carried o'er the ether.

Gave a message, clearly, and asking,

All the dogs who in the first class

Were competing, that were present,

"Come into the grassy clearing,

Stand around our luscious green-sward,

First parading all together,

And then, singly, come toward me,

And go through your simple paces."

Every winner proudly marching,

Marching proudly came with owners,

First the best dog of those present,

Then the one in best condition,

After him the most appealing.

Then 'twas time to hurry homeward,

Hurry home through dreary showers,

We’ll remember, we'l1 remember,

And we'll show our cards and murmur,

"These I got at County Dog Show,

Got when barking dogs abounded."
 

HIAWATHA HIRCHINSON and MINNEHAHA RAND, V.H. Wigwam

The Shape of our School
 

Here is a poem from the 1948 Iris magazine. If you were to look at an aerial photograph, you would see that the oldest part of our building is shaped like the letter E. The author of the poem, poses the question about why this is? My guess is that the letter E, stands for Essex, as when this building was opened in 1912, it was part of Essex County Council, hence the coat of arms above the entrance to the school.

Of course, that is only my guess, there may be a more straightforward answer, so what’s yours?

My School

My school is shaped just like an E,

On this my friend and I agree,

Does anyone know why this should be,

                I don't.

The architect should surely know,

But I think he lived long ago,

Can anyone tell me where to go

                To find him?

I'm puzzled still, but then you see,

I'm only in the Lower Three,

Why is our school shaped like an E?

                Please tell me.

MARGARET TYSOE, L.III

Ms Kelly
LRC Manager

Suffragettes at WSFG
 

On 8th February 1918, women who were householders over the age of 30 (6 million women) got the vote. Here is an article about the campaign that was led by our students who participated in the local campaign, as well as school.

Ms O Kelly
LRC Manager

SUFFRAGETTES AT WALTHAMSTOW HIGH SCHOOL, 1912

How sensibly she dealt with what amounted almost to a revolution in Form II. It was the Osborne Bye-election of 1912, Sir John Simon was the Government candidate and the suffragettes came down in force. Simon must be turned out. All except two unhappy Liberals’ in Form II became ardent suffragettes. Christabel Pankhurst was our hero. All over the weekend I sold "Votes for Women" on the Hoe Street corner, and Miss Hewett bought one.

Then on Monday we turned our form room into a suffragette committee room, we hung the colours from the gas-brackets. The pictures were covered over with suffragette slogans.

We barricaded our doors to all of different views. Form VI could not get through to their room. Even staff were barred out, and our two unhappy Liberals slunk miserably about the passages. 

We couldn’t break windows in Oxford Street perhaps but we could defend women’s rights against the whole school if necessary. And while the excitement was at its height, Miss Hewett sailed along and we didn't quite like to bar her out. How I longed for her to order us to take down our notices, so that I could bravely refuse to do it. She was much too wise.

Very pleasantly she looked round the room, and complimented us on our zeal.

Then she said, "I like to see my girls taking this keen interest in politics. I hope it is an intelligent interest, and not just rowdy partisanship. Let me give you a few simple questions to see if you know something about parliamentary procedure and how we are governed. Does parliament sit every day?” A petrified silence. What had that to do with votes for women? Then Irene Hitchman saved the situation. “No,” she said firmly. Afterwards we rushed at her. “Shrimp, how did you know?” “Oh, well, I thought it wouldn’t sit on Sundays!”

But our revolution was over. We quietly removed our posters and life returned to normal.

Article from the ‘Iris’ magazine of December 1937 by Leslie M Greene (nee Campbell)

Inspiring Art
 

Over the years people have kindly donated works of art, books, furniture and even plants to the school. The Iris magazine of 1928, resolves part of the mystery surrounding two objects which have been used to inspire students during their art lessons.

Many of you who have worked and studied in the school may have pondered why there is a plaque on the wall of F18. Room F18, was formerly an Art Room, and even though the room is now full of computers, the plaque is still on the wall. The bust of Hermes was also in this room but was relocated to our new Art rooms in 2010.  Unfortunately, it has recently suffered a fall and is need of repair. Not to worry, because Tana West, our artist-in-residence, is a ceramacist, and is                                                 intending to repair it.

" Summer and Winter Echoes crowd upon us: the new paint and the crack dating from the Summer holidays, the crannied recess with picture, carpet and curtain that is now a Sixth Form study, the new arrangement of the Reference Library in sections, murmurs about the loss of books in the past, as well as joyous recognition of the purchase of many delightful new books this term. The Art Room has acquired "Ornament," a wonderful book and a cast of the Hermes of Praxiteles and a tondo of the Virgin and Child by Michelangelo.  "

The Iris 1928

Ms Kelly
LRC Manager

The School Bell
 

For the new Year 7’s the transition to secondary school can sometimes produce quite  terrifying results. In the case of the school bell, a widespread panic breaks out at the sound of the school bell and wide-eyed students can be seen hurrying towards various  destinations.

In  primary school the school bell would be heard in the playground to herald the end of play, or the beginning of the school day.

However, in our school, we have bells for lesson changeovers  (beginning and end of), bells for the beginning of the school day and bells for lunchtime. We also have a bell for fire drills, which is a continuous bell. To add to this cacophony of noise, a  warning bell is set off before the main bell at registration  periods. (Apologies if  I have missed any bells).  It all adds to the dynamic of the school day which is split up into ‘chunks’ or I should say ‘chimes’ of time!

Here is a piece from the July 1929 Iris describing the introduction of the new  electric bell. The new building referred to would have been additions to the ‘house’.  I thought you might like to see our original school bell, which is now kept in our new archive.

The Bell

School life this term has been very hectic - I mean more hectic than usual, if that is possible. The chief feature has been the noise. Apart from the usual musical strains issuing from the Hall (and else­where!) there has been the incessant hammering of the workmen in the new building, and worst of all - the new electric bell. It may be thought, and rightly too, that the sound of the bell, foretelling the end of a lesson, is a welcome sound. It is. Quite an audible sigh of relief passes through the School, when the bell is rung. It is such a simple action, too - just pressing a button.

This bell, which is the means of the saving of many lives, has, this term, taken on a peculiarly dynamic ring. If one happens to be in the vicinity of the front hall or on the stairs, when the bell goes, one stops as though under an electric shock - it is a great strain on people with weak hearts. Of course, it has the effect of pricking into action even the most sleepy of consciences. For instance, if a girl is late for a lesson (I am not saying that this ever happens) but if she were hurrying down­stairs, trying to look as though she had every right to be there, the sound of the bell would make her start guiltily, and she would break into a run and hurl herself in the nearest class-room, in the hope that it is the right one. This may be one of the reasons for its institution.

Marjorie I. Johnson (Form VI) 

Ms Kelly
LRC Manager 

Transatlantic Relations 

Our visitors with Ms Davies and Mr Gunzi

Having welcomed visitors from Michigan State University today, I thought it would be appropriate to share Miss Hewett’s writings about her time spent in America.

This article is from the December 1921 edition of the Iris.

Ms Kelly
LRC Manager

AMERICA is a country of superlatives. When one is trying to describe the vast expanse of prairie and wheat district, the variety and brilliance of the autumn tints in the woods, or the noise and rush of a great city, ordinary adjectives are quite useless: one finds oneself using the ubiquitous American adjective "wonderful," in spite of one's resolution, to find a more descriptive word.

In every city or district one visits there is one thing at least which exceeds in some way (frequently in size or cost) all other things of the same kind in the whole world: the guides say this and the guide-books corroborate. For instance, one city has more miles of Boulevard and Park drives than any other city in the world; another city possesses “the only building planned and constructed by women"; and another "one of the longest, widest and finest streets in the world": yet another boasts a monument which "is supposed to be the most wonderful piece of masonry in the world" (the Great Pyramid taking second place, perhaps). The list might be extended indefinitely from guide-books, but I will refrain and add two wonderful records personally endured-one is dirtier after twenty-four hours in a train going across the States than at any other time in one's life, and Chicago is certainly the noisiest city one could ever visit, with its overhead and surface street cars, its ear-piercing police-whistles regulating traffic (which the English visitor at first mistakes for a summons to assistance in a life and death struggle), the hooting of a thousand automobiles and the raucous yells of the newspaper boys. In Chicago life certainly shrieks.

Indeed, life and vitality (not always quite so unpleasantly manifested) are splendidly characteristic of America, for she is a young country and has consequently many of youth's best qualities. She has energy and vigour, a determination to set the world right, together with a firm conviction that there is a panacea, and a generous disposition for enthusiastic admiration, even for hero-worship. Her frankness in expressing this admiration and everything else is very different from the Old World's more critical attitude to people and their performances.

Education is of vital importance to America, Everyone is realising it. The papers daily contain articles on the necessity for more High School places: the schools themselves are full to overflowing, and still there is more demand. We share that problem in England. The other problem, that of welding together the mixed nationalities in the great cities, is felt only in a small degree with us. I have been in one school in America where there were thirty-one nationalities, several children entering without knowledge of one single English word.

Building, as in England, is very difficult. To provide more school places, in some towns the double session is used: in others, they have a system called the Work-Study-Play plan, an arrangement by which every class-room, the auditorium (assembly hall) and the playground are all in use the whole time-thus, a school which has school places for six hundred pupils has over a thousand in attendance. This means that no one has a definite place in school or class-room. Here is an uncomfortable example of Individualism yielding to Communism.

The arrangement of the curriculum is different from the English plan. Each

State makes its own regulations and there are consequently minor differences. The High School age is fourteen to eighteen years, though there are some Junior High Schools beginning two years earlier; the schools are free; a pupil may enter and leave at any time (in some States not before sixteen); there are no maintenance grants. But the fundamental difference is that no pupil "carries" more than four major subjects at once. For instance, a First Year's Course may be: English (compulsory during every year), Algebra, French, Domestic Science, and listening to members of the Senate and the House of Representatives carrying on the government of the United States. Now I am in Philadelphia, and in another week I shall be in New York, which with Boston will be the end of my wanderings on this side of the Atlantic.

I expect to be home almost as soon as this article is in print, and then if you have any desire to hear more, your curiosity can be gratified more easily than by the painful process of writing.

America is, as I said, a country of superlatives: I add one more­ Americans are superlatively kind to a stranger, even kinder than one would have expected. The knowledge that one is English only adds to their readiness to help one and make things easy. I am hoping that several from my host of kind friends in America win be able to visit us in Walthamstow. We would like to give them an English welcome.

B. HEWETT

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