大象传媒

Our family lived in South Somerset during the War and my brothers both attended
The Ilminster Grammar School which was 5 miles away from Windwhistle Inn and
they would cycle there each day through narrow country lanes. I attended St.Gilda`s
Convent in Chard from the age of four (1938). This was four miles away along the
busy A.30 road and my mother or father would take me by car, a Morris 8, because the
only bus did not arrive in Chard until 9.45 a.m. In 1939 I was put there as a full-time
boarder because of the Army Camp being so near to us, my parents thought I would be
safer, especially as Hitler soon was ready to invade these islands!

The school routine was strictly controlled and at 7 a.m. the Roman Catholic
children got up and attended Mass in the R.C. Church next door. I could stay in bed
for another half an hour! We washed in cold water, brushed and plaited our hair,
turned down the bed clothes including white bedspreads to air, the white cubicle
curtains were swept to one side and the pleats had to be placed `just so` or one was
bidden to return to the dormitory to re-do them. We went down an enclosed staircase
with a door at the bottom which opened into our `playroom`. Sometimes this room
was filled with sulfhur dust - a choking yellow haze floated across it and we all
dashed outside into the cold morning air to escape the fumes, after changing from our
slippers to shoes which had been polished the night before. Breakfast then followed
which seemed to always consist of porridge followed by door-steps of bread and
butter (no marmalade or jam).

We had a bath once a week and each night we carried up hot water in large enamel
jugs upstairs for our nightly wash. One night we were carrying these jugs up the stairs
when someone wondered what would happen if we tipped one over the top of the
bannister. So, being me, I tried it out and we watched the body of water travel in the
whole, then hit the parquet floor in the hall far below and a gigantic splash up onto the
panelling on the walls. We rushed, howling and shrieking with laughter into the
dormitory and the white curtains swished rapidly around each bed while we guffawed
all over our beds until we were hauled out by the nuns who did not think it at all
funny. We had to go down and clean up the mess before then retiring to bed, I felt I
had learned an interesting scientific concept though when the body of water travelled
downwards in a block and not splitting up on the way down!

Our school uniform consisted of vest, liberty bodice with rubber butttons, blue
bloomer knickers with a pocket for a hankie, white or cream Vyella blouse, red and
blue striped tie, navy-blue tunic with box pleats, black stockings and black lace-up
shoes. I mostly wore knee high blue socks. We were obliged to also wear
Victorian-style pinafores when doing messy jobs such as cleaning shoes, sweeping or
painting pictures. We also had the school blazer in navy-blue with school badge on
pocket. Divided skirts were recommended for hockey and white Aertex shirts and
skirts for tennis. Red jumpers were allowed for Winter wear. We had white
plimsoles which had to be kept clean and white liquid worked into the fabric. We
wore panama hats with a red and blue band around the crown in Summer and navy
velour hats or berets with school insignia in Winter, and a navy gaberdine raincoat.
Heaven help anyone removing a hat when out in the town! Doubtless someone would
see and report the matter to our Mother Superior and we would be reprimanded.

After breakfast we again mounted the stairs to our dormitories to clean them and
we would whizz across the parquet floors with dusters around our feet to polish them -
great fun! The bathroom duties were done under protest as it was always a cold job
with no hot water to use. Even now I still wash in cold water every morning and turn
down my bed before breakfast - old habits die hard.

Then we attended classes, where the desks sloped and each had an inkwell,
always sitting at the same desk each day and the teachers would come to the
classroom to teach. I always had to sit on the front row - it was easier for the teacher
to tweak a long cane across my desk! Now that I am older I prefer to sit at the back of
a room. We all had the usual lessons including French from the age of five. I feel
they could have made more progress with this because all of the nuns were French
with two Irish teachers. Great emphasis was placed on English, Writing, Spelling,
Grammar, Elocution, Deportment, Arithmetic, Geography and History. Later we had
Geomentry and Algebra and Science. Religious Education was always first on the
agenda. I do remember having Sketching lessons occasionally but with the shortage
of paper I suppose this was not encouraged. When we had Sewing, Darning and
Embroidery we had to save any threads that were not used and put them onto a
cotton-reel for further use.

We would have practice for air-raids, each making sure we had our own gas masks
and to lie flat on the tarmac of the playground if the enemy approached - no thought of
having a "shelter"! We soon got to know the different sounds of aircraft and we could
hear the hum or drone of the engines and mostly we`d shout: "It`s one of ours!" with
great relief. There was a bomb dropped on Yeovil one night when my brother, John
was supposed to be on Warden duties but a pal of his wanted to swop his period and
unfortunately, died as a result.

There were few facilities for games, though later on we had tennis courts and a
hockey pitch which I thoroughly enjoyed. The gymnasium consisted of a "horse-box"
and some ropes in the rafters which never came down for our use, so we exercised
P.E. with Miss Jordan, who also wore blue bloomers! In the playground which
consisted of tarmac with some trees at the top end we split into two camps and played
"Germans and English". No-one wanted to play a German so we devised a rota. Then
we had skipping games, running, marbles, and cats cradle, etc. It was so cold we used
to wear mittens and jump up and down, slapping our hands to our bodies to drum up
the circulation. We had a bad time with chilblains which never seemed to clear.

The nuns cultivated all their own vegetables and we had apple and pear trees and
even a medlar, which I didn`t like too much as we had to eat them when they were
rotton. Also we had the most fantastic rhubarb jam for tea on our hunks of bread. A
nun would stand at the end of our tables in the refectory, slapping the jam onto the
`door-stops` which were then passed down the table. We had basins of hot water
placed on the tables so that we could put in our cutlery for washing after use.
Everything on our plates had to be eaten, so that if, quite usually, I had a lump of
gristle sitting in a puddle of cold gravy I was ordered to "eat it" and often sat there
long after others had gone back to class. At an opportune moment I would lift up the
sash window and throw the offending mess out onto the grass. I was then
congratulated for "eating" it and allowed back to my lessons.

The main dinners consisted of chunks of meat (quite unpalatable at times - it put
me off meat for years) and lots of rabbit - I seemed to end up with the ribs only on my
plate. On Friday we, of course, always had fish - usually as a pie with potatoe, but
never fried. We had boiled potatoes and greens (the cabbage was always overcooked
so it smelt terrible) and beans and peas in season. The puddings were alright though;
tabioca, rice, sago, bread and butter pudding and fruit and custard (sometimes
burned), lots of stewed apple and plums, etc. The `ancient` nun in charge of the
cooking seemed to be about 90 years old! I now regard her with some sympathy! The
alternative to Convent meals were sandwiches for the day girls, or, if one was older,
say eleven or so and also a day girl then we were allowed to visit Gill`s Cafe at the top
of the town or The British Restaurant near to Furnham Road. The meals were
reasonable: 1s. 9d. for meat and two veg. and pudding, or 9d. for vegetables only and
pudding. Each day all pupils had 1/3 pint of milk in a small bottle, often ice-bound in
Winter, a drink of orange juice and a large spoonful of cold liver oil and malt extract.
Our sweet ration was 1/4 lb. per week and I`d save mine in a tin, then gorge them all
at once after a month had passed. There was licorice, sherbert, milk chocolate,
humbugs and jelly babies.

Although I was excused the Mass I was required to attend other services, all in
Latin, which I knew better than my own religion; I even had a rosary at one stage. We
all said prayers before bedtime and "confess" to Jesus if we had had a wicked thought
or done a bad deed in the day or our souls would have black marks on them. My soul
was peppered with spots, so I thought. There was a girl whose name eludes me now
who was so good and never was in any trouble and I`d stare at her sometimes and
wonder how she did it!

Every June we had Corpus Christie Day where rose petals were plucked from the
flowers and strewn about the playground and the church grounds; I always felt sorry
for the roses! We also had Fete Days combined with a bit of sport, like three-legged
races, spoon races, etc. and parents could come and inspect our work in the
classrooms. Needlework was a big "must" and much emphasis was placed on the
ability to darn and to make handerchiefs with drawn threadwork, needles cases, and
table mats. Also making dusters with blanket -stich edging and knitting dish-cloths in
garter stitch. This was the only piece of knitting we did as this was frowned upon in
favour of embroidery. The main criteria of this school was to turn us into being
"Young Ladies".

At home aunties and grandmas were busy making `new` clothes out of previous
ones and taking the wool from old jumpers and re-making them because there was
nothing to be bought in the shops and with rationing there were only so many coupons
issued. When they could get their hands on some old parachute material of silk, this
was cut up for bridal-wear and for sexy undies such as cami-knickers and petticoats or
slips with fine embroidery worked on them - they were very pretty and attractive.

To give the boarders some exercise on a Sunday the teachers, Miss O`Grady and
Miss Jordan took us on crocodile walks - we were in pairs with a teacher at each end -
through Chard and out into the countryside and back. When passing by Chard School
- full of handsome young boys we were somewhat distracted and there was a call of:
"Eyes front!" - it was like being in the Army!.

Musically, the only instrument we had was a triangle which seemed to make a
bee-line for me, and a practice piano in the sewing-room. There was a better piano in
the hall of Furnham House, mainly for `proper` use, by accomplished players such as
Miss O`Grady. This lady encouraged us to `sing` in the choir but no-one seemed to
realize that I was always a contralto and not a soprano and it made life difficult for
everyone. "Ave Maria" and "Nymphs and Shepherds" were firm favourites. I was
better with the piano, but told off for playing a popular song, though my pals in the
playground really enjoyed it. We had rehearsals for a school play every two years,
mostly of a Japanese theme, which, looking back was astonishing. I once was a
maiden with chrysanthemums and needles in my bouffant hair, and in another play,
the third prince standing with a ukelele banjo in my hands and a box-type hat on my
head and we all drifted around in kimonos. I cannot remember if this was before or
after V.J. Day!

This being during the War we had an influx of refugees from London and we slept
two to a single bed - top and tail - and Jean Mary was my companion and we would
kick each other all night. This was about the time we `raided` the make-up box in an
ante-room just off our dormitory. We all helped ourselves to rouge, eye-liner,
mascara, lipsticks and daubed on beautiful "cupid bow" lips which were the fashion
then - what a fright for the nuns - we were throughly reprimanded and cleaned up; we
must have looke like a lot of clowns!

When I was about eight years old I contracted measles and my mother only realized
I was ill when she had not received my weekly Sunday letter, so she telephoned the
school and found I had a temperature of 102 degrees. She quickly took me home.
wrapped up in a blue eiderdown and a hotwater bottle in our Morris 8 and a Doctor
Daniels administered strawberry medicine to make me better, and I slept in my
parent`s feather bed. When I improved in health I became a "day girl" at the school
and sometimes rode in a smelly bus with a gas turbine attached to it to Chard. Later
on I cycled with a tennis racquet in Summer and a hockey stick in Winter. It was less
smelly but looking back we had a fair amount of traffic on that road, with Army trucks
and all sorts of other vehicles including farm tractors, etc.

If I did something wrong I got detention and was kept at school for another 2 hrs.
and had to catch the 6 o`clock bus home. During this time a nun would bring me
some nourishment by way of a cup of hot Bovril and two squares of milk chocolate - a
strange combination, especially as I never saw chocolate at any other time. Then to
the task in hand i.e. the piece of literature to learn off by heart or some lines to write.
Once they gave me "The Characteristics of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth" to learn and I
achieved this because I was interested. When end of term exams came along I was
able to write, word for word, the entire text. Immediately they accused me of cheating
but when I explained I had learnt it whilst on detention they believed me.

All in all I think my exam marks were quite good - we had tests at the end of each
term, with a Report and a big exam, yearly. 40% was Failure, 50% a Pass, 60% was a
Credit and 75% was Distinction. I usually achieved 99% for Spelling and Writing,
75% for Composition and Arithmetic, but for History is was 40% and Algebra a
miserable 14%. Religious Studies was poor, my bus did not get to school in time for
this lesson. Conduct was "Good - could do better!" Attendance was very good always
except when I took the 19th April off to pick flowers on the way home instead of
catching the bus. I always picked primroses for my mother, whose birthday it was on
that day.

The War ended at last on 9th May, 1945 and everyone was delirious with
happiness - bonfires were lit with effiges of Hitler on them and lights came on
everywhere - such a weight had been lifted from our shoulders, though we still had to
endure rationing of food, clothes and petrol for many years - till the 50`s. Victory
over Japan was on 14th August, 1945.

There was a Victory Party for all the children of Chard put on by the Town Council
in the Corn Exchange rooms and Joy Halse and I went together equipped with our
own knife, fork and spoon and enamel mug - which I thought was terrible, being
expected to bring our own things!

A Celebration of Victory Certificate was given to us in June 1946 from George R.I.
and on the back is a list of all the notable dates of the War.

My family moved to Cornwall in 1949 and I continued with this school, becoming
a weekly boarder and living with a friend`s family at weekends for my final year.
With my family moving away I was eager to also get going and as soon as I was just
on sixteen I left, not even waiting to take my School Certificate. Then I attended The
Plymouth Technical College for a General Business Studies Course which has stood
me in good stead ever since.

Looking back I think my parents did their best for me in placing me into a boarding
school, with the dreadful times in which we were living - it did protect me from the
ravages of War, somewhat, nevertheless I soon picked up on events as they happened
whilst on school holiday in a public house. Many images I can still recall, such as the
Battle of Britain,Aug.8 to Oct 31 1940 and the sinking of The Bismark, May 27, 1941,
and whatever current news talked about in the bar or heard over the wireless, and the
troops forever journeying to and fro on our roads. The Americans were always
offering me candy and chocolates which I refused (being told I should`nt take
anything from "strangers"). Though I was privy to the odd dice games such as
"Crown and Anchor" and card games which included rummy and poker. The
American music made a lasting impression, especially trad. jazz, swing, and crooners
such as Bing Crosby, and later Frank Sinatra, and others, and the B.B.C. proved
invaluable for lifting our spirits with their comedy shows and music of great quality.

Ah! C`est la Vie!

J.L. Bigley.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.