These magazines reflect the language and social attitudes of their time. In rare instances, readers may find this offensive.
The first ever CCHSG magazine was produced in 1914, when the school was actually known as the “County School for Girls” due to the presence of a private Colchester County High School already in the town. At just 10 pages long, it opens, as became customary, with an editorial giving thanks to departing staff. In this case these leavers included the first Headteacher, Miss Collins and words of welcome for her replacement, Miss Crosswaite. The majority of the text is prose and poems submitted by students. The Debating Society, the Dramatic Society, netball teams and the Old Girls Association all have brief sections. Publication of the magazine was subsequently suspended until 1919 due to WW1.
The 1920s, was a decade of contrasts, while many families struggled to recover from wartime losses, some manufacturers and suppliers had profited considerably. As a result of the Upper Class decadence in evidence, this period became known as the “Roaring Twenties”. The place of women in British society was influenced by wartime experiences such as factory employment, which enabled them to experience financial independence for the first time. Women over 30 had been given the vote in 1918, and this was extended to all women over 21 by 1928.
“We have long felt the need for a School Magazine; but we felt it would be unpatriotic to issue one during the war when economy was so necessary” (1919, p1). Included in this short edition is an article (p9) written by a past student detailing her wartime experiences in an aeroplane factory where “amongst other things I learnt how to rivet, file, solder and draw plans to scale – this was purely geometry, and to my surprise I was told I was very accurate. I have never been told that before. But accuracy is the key note to everything appertaining to aeroplanes…” (1919, p9).
Now called the Colchester County High School Magazine, the 1919 edition sets out the plan for establishing a magazine publishing committee and renewed efforts to engage all students with producing content. “Poetry is always an addition to any magazine – if only anyone can be found to write it” (1919, p2). This edition also included short accounts from every Form Group. Year Groups at this time were identified using a system which will mystify anyone educated after the 1970s. From 1920 the preparatory school, which at this point included boys, and was based at Grey Friars, had Form I, Upper First (UI), Lower Second (UII), Upper second (U11) and Lower Third (LIII). North Hill, housed in the original buildings of what is now the Sixth Form College, was the senior school, with the Upper Third (UIII), followed by the Lower Forth (LIV) and upwards until the Upper Fifth (UV) and finally the Sixth Form (Upper & Lower Sixth). These Form Group notes were soon to be abandoned as too repetitive, although the “Pre Notes” remained across the decades with their nature studies and gardening. As Audrey and David reported from Form I in 1921 “We grew two crops of mustard and cress, and we are keeping a Nature scrap book. And we have seen some tadpoles and some silk-worms that are spinning yellow silk.”
The majority of these 1920’s magazines consist of poetry and prose, created in response to annual competitions. The 1920 edition includes piece of creative writing entitled “A Dream” and opens “I wonder what London will be like in the Year 2001… All the slums were done away with, and neat, bright little houses stood in their stead… Each class helped the other for class distinctions were swept aside” (1920, p9).
During the 1920s that school’s charitable giving focused on Dr Barnardos, through the “Young Helper’s League” and also on sponsoring a girl at the Working Women’s College in Beckenham. In 1925 fundraising to support a sponsored student at Dr Barnardo’s Watt’s Naval Training School resulted in each of the then 17 Form Groups undertaking an “entertainment”. Fundraising events ranged from gym displays and tennis tournaments, to concerts and productions, selling sweets and providing teas at sports events (1924, p5).
Post WW1 the League of Nations was established, and one student wrote a passionate account of this promising “Parliament of the World”. A presentation at CCHSG in 1921 was about “the ideals of the League and the substitution of the world brotherhood and co-operation for social animosity and indifference to the value of human life” (1921, p4). CCHSG students founded their own League of Nations Union the following year.
In 1922, with the school numbering 530 students, and the magazine expanded to 28 pages. Miss Crosswaite appealed to Old Girls to submit content so that the magazine would keep them in close touch with the school. For several years after this, the names and addresses of Old Girls were published at the back of the magazine. It is an interesting piece of social history to see that in these years following the huge loss of male lives during WWI, there were many sisters bracketed as still living, years after leaving school, together at the same address (1923, p34). The 1922 edition includes accounts from alumnae who were studying at Westfield College, The Bergman Osterberg Physical Training College, Dartford Heath, at University College Reading, and at Girton College Cambridge.
The Old Girl’s Association grew in popularity, increasing its membership from 66 in 1919 to 120 in 1922. The Old Girl’s developed their own programme of social events, tennis tournaments and Christmas parties.
The 1924 edition featured a competition to design a school monogram, with some outstanding results – several of which were illustrated in the magazine and are very similar to the current school logo, (1924, p19).
When Miss Crosswaite left in 1927 to become Headmistress of the prestigious Wycombe Abbey School, CCHSG was well established with 600 students and an imposing record of academic success. Miss King, a Mathematics graduate from Cambridge, was her successor and fulfilled the role for the next 25 years at a salary of £500 a year, with an annual increment of £20.
The magazines from this pre WWII period have a similar format, with an index on the first page. Some of this series also record the key events of the year as a “School Calendar”. All open with a foreword from the Head Teacher, Miss King and an editorial from the Magazine Committee. They were printed by Cullingford & Co, of Stockwell, Colchester and the 1932 edition details a visit by the editorial committee to the printing works “so that it might find out just how the magazine is produced (p18).”
Foreword
It is interesting how these magazines reflect both consciously and unconsciously the political and social environment and events of the period. The 1930s are remembered for mass unemployment, the depression meaning that by the start of 1933 unemployment in Britain was 22.8%. Headteacher Miss King summarises the mood of the time advising CCHSG students to stay on at school as long as possible and “when you do finally leave, take whatever work presents itself.” “The difficult times through which our country is passing has made us realise more and more clearly that our school has a double part to play. While it has its own inner life, it becomes increasingly evident that it is part of the larger world outside.” (1931-2).
1935 saw the death of George V. “He will ever stand as an example of greatness achieved by duty simply and honourably performed” said Miss King’s tribute (p4). In May 1937 the country celebrated the coronation of George VI. The 1937-8 magazine includes a student’s account of attending the “Empire Youth Rally” and picnicking in the stands opposite Buckingham Palace while waiting for the Royal party to pass on their way to the Guildhall, (p18). On the Saturday before the Coronation Day 22 students visiting London to see Sir Lawrence Olivier in “Henry V” at the Old Vic, also viewed the Coronation decorations and window displays. “What we noticed most was the transformation of the poorest streets, where the occupants had spent their poor savings on bright Union Jacks which were strung across from one side to the other”, (p22).
Remarkably, given the political situation, the 1937-38 edition contains an account from a past student studying modern languages at University College, London, of her six month placement at Jena University in Germany. While she commented on the hospitality and how enjoyable her stay was, “all the tales we had heard of gay German university life no longer applied.. Hitler has done his best to make them feel that every student must do his duty to the Fatherland…”, (p38).
In the summer of 1937 one student took a family holiday to Germany and was present in Nuremburg during the Nazi Party Congress (1938-9, p34).
During this period, prior to the wartime disruption, schooling was compulsory for all UK children, from the age of 5 until the age of 14, when most children left school to enter the world of work. Fee-paying pupils or those at grammar school had the option of staying on at school until the age of 18. The school day began at 9am and finished at 4pm.
School Charities
The school’s proud history of charitable giving can be traced back to the start, with donations carefully recorded in each Year Book. Fundraising frequently focusing on helping less fortunate children. In the 1920s and 30s the school’s “Young Helpers’ League” raised large sums for Doctor Barnardo’s homes. The Young Helpers’ League was founded by Dr Thomas Barnardo in 1891 to encourage children to support those less fortunate by giving donations of money and time. This was one the first schemes for mass charity giving. Student members paid a subscription to the charity and CCHSG had collection boxes which students contributed to throughout the year. In the 1930s the school made annual charitable donations of a substantial £50 to the Watt’s Naval Home, (Dr Barnardo’s) where “orphans and destitute boys” were trained for a life at sea in the Royal Navy or mercantile Marine. Boxes of toys, clothes and books were also donated to the Barnardo’s Homes at Christmas. In 1933 there were 172 members of the YHL at CCHSG.
Reflecting the increasing problem of unemployment in the town, the school also contributed to the Mayor’s Fund, which helped the local unemployed and in 1933 and the staff play was in aid of a fund for the jobless.
“Games Reports”
These reports are a consistent feature of all the CCHSG magazines, with the school’s performance in tennis, hockey and netball reported in some detail. The general summaries of performance are accompanied by a criticism of the performance of each individual player on the team. A student needed to develop a thick skin when the whole school was to be told that in netball she “must be quicker and must try to get into the game before half-time.” (1930-31, p9) or that in hockey she is “a promising half, but will be of greater value when she has more staying power and has learned not to keep the ball to herself for so long” (1930-31, p11).
Annual Sports Days, often affected by the weather, are reported on, with events that we might expect such as High Jump. There were however, a variety of other team events, such as the “Flag Race”, “Hoop and Ball” and the “Girdle Race” whose rules we can only speculate about. The relatives entering the 1930 Father’s Race “performed the feats of trimming hats and getting through hoops with incredible ease” (1930-31, p14).
Gymnastic Competitions
Both North Hill and Grey Friars held annual gym competitions, with an invited judge who was not always universally complimentary. In 1935 Mrs Grazebrook commented that “when girls were running they let their backs and shoulders slope backwards instead of forward, so that the general effect was like circus ponies instead of race horses (p15). “The whole school looked very neat and uniform in blouses and knickers, and it is difficult to realise that we ever did gym in heavy tunics and stockings” (1935-6, p15).
“Pre” Notes
Notes from the “Pre” referred to the Preparatory section, of both girls and boys in the early years, from the age of 5 who were based at Grey Friars. There accounts frequently refer to the gardens that they tended, the silk worms they raised and their bird diaries. The individual gardens remained a feature, with annual competitions for the best maintained. Flowers and vegetables were successfully grown, but there were also frequent requests in the magazines for the owners of the gardens to keep better control of the weeds. Form I reported that “There are 23 of us in our form this term and we all have gardens. Miss Thornberry ordered some new tools for us to use. We have made a bird tray and have a cocoanut (stet) hanging up. A robin, a blue tit and a great tit have all come to it (1930-31, p13).
Home Science
From 1925 there was also a report specifically from the newly established Home Science Group. Their activities, such as Cookery, Needlework, Household Bookkeeping and Hygiene, while apparently enjoyed by all, but would not conform to current health and safety regulations. As one student recalled “the frying pan going up in flames with one of us vainly trying to put it out with the hearth rug on which Miss Collier was standing” (1930-31, p15). A variety of educational trips were made each year to destinations such as the local steam laundry, canning factory and Co-operative Dairy.
The classes took place in a specially converted flat, over the caretaker’s house. A “staff house” was opened at “Lyndhurst” on Colchester’s Maldon Road, and this was also used as a base for some of the Home Science teaching, with students living there for weeks “work experience” keeping house and catering for the inhabitants. When this building ceased to be a staff hostel in the mid 1930s, Miss King found new accommodation for the course in her own flat at 60 High Street.
Expeditions
The magazines record a variety of trips and visits which took place each year. Students made regular visits to London, in 1930 one such “expedition” visited St. Paul’s Cathedral, lunched at the YWCA club, toured Italian paintings at Burlington House (now the Royal Academy) and attended question time at the House of Commons (1930-31, p22).
On various occasions during the 1930s Geography expeditions visited what was then the “Imperial Institute” in South Kensington. In 1932 they explored the industries of Canada, New Zealand and Australia. After lunching at the Victoria and Albert Museum they saw films of Jamaica, Bermuda and “bee-keeping, maize-growing, pike-fishing and the eider-down industry.”
There were also annual residential visits such as the Upper Fifth’s expedition to a farm in Stockbury, Kent, detailed in the 1932 edition. Here the students worked on Botany and Geography and visited places such as a paper mill and potteries as well as seeing “the relief of the district and the vegetation of the different soils” (p19). In 1933 a party of 18 students spent a fortnight in Derbyshire, going down into a coal mine, visiting a cotton mill, the Royal Crown Derby Pottery Works, Haddon Hall and the Derwent Reservoir, (p21). In 1935 a group spent a week in Worcestershire, dropping in “by unanimous vote of the party to see the last hour or so of the county cricket match between Worchester and All-India at Worchester. Here, keen photographers and autograph hunters had some success. In fact, Ramaswarmi became quite perturbed because of the number of books and programmes thrust under his nose”, (p25). Cotah Ramaswami was a Cambridge graduate and double sports international who represented India in both cricket and tennis.
There were also frequent picnics, particularly for the Sixth Form, who in summer 1934 had a picnic at Mersea, “swimming, boating and playing rounders; for once people didn’t bring their knitting with them, an unusual event, for the Sixth has grown remarkably fond of this pastime” (p7).
Drama and Theatre
Attendance at theatrical performances, particularly Shakespeare productions, was a regular event. In 1935 20 students visited London’s “New Theatre” to see a performance of “Romeo and Juliet” with a cast including John Gielgud, Lawrence Olivier, Edith Evans and Peggy Ashcroft (later Dame). The staff performed a play annually for the students, usually a comedy and the school play was a great source of revenue for the Scholarship Fund. The 1935 “Taming of the Shrew” raised the huge sum of £41 and “never in the history of the school has a play been performed with the voluntary work of so many people behind it” (p21).
The organisers of the various societies attended by students also provided an annual report for the magazines.
Hark Report (The Historical and Archaeological Society)
Notably popular amongst the societies was “Hark”, founded in 1924, “to encourage an interest in History and Archeology by lectures and expeditions to ancient remains” (1924, p11). The group organised expeditions to sites of interest such as Framlingham Castle and Ely Cathedral. Visits were usually by hired bus, or train. In 1926, when the general strike forced more local trips to Suffolk, these were undertake by bicycle (1926, p27). These visits to ancient churches and sites also inspired brass rubbing competitions. Back at school the group listened to papers read on topics such as Saxon Architecture, The Mediterranean and the History of Colchester, did play readings and organised folk-dancing. In 1933 the group’s “Debating Circle” considered proposals such as “the arts are of more value than the sciences”, “that the study of History if entirely useless” (1925) and, perhaps with some prescience, “an air force would be of more use than an army and navy combined”. There were also “dramatic readings”, social events such as the popular Friday evening “sing-songs” and country dancing. Harks activities became so wide in range that it was later reorganised in to nine separate sections as the “School Society”.
League of Nations Union (LNU)
The outward looking nature of the school was clear from the beginning with the school branch of the League of Nations Union (LNU) having started in 1920. This national organisation was formed 1918, at the end of WWI to promote international justice, collective security and peace, based on the ideals of the League of Nations. By 1930 the school had 169 members, who sought, in the words of Miss King, “to look beyond our school, beyond our town, beyond our country to a wider international ideal” (1932-3, p3). The Union collected funds to adopt a nine-year-old Hungarian boy, Làszlo, thought the Save the Children Fund, sending him parcels of clothes and food. The school hosted annual Model Assemblies of the League of Nations and in 1925 there is an account of representatives of the school attending the General Assembly, held annually in Geneva (1925, p29). In 1933 “the two questions that interested us most were Disarmament and Traffic in Arms” (1933-4, p18). The members were however, not unaware of the apparent futility of their efforts to support peace across the world. In 1937-38 it was confessed that “the past year or two have been in many ways years of disappointment for the supporters of the League. The tragedy of Abyssinia, the horrors of the war in Spain, and now the news from China all remind us only too clearly that the League has not been strong enough to carry out its main purpose of preventing war”(p15).
Music Club
Music was a prominent feature of school life, with regular concerts and recitals. A Miss Gordon, who must have had significant contacts in the music world, founded the club in 1925 and ran it for over a decade. In 1930 celebrated pianist Myra Hess performed to the whole school. She was later to gain even greater fame for the almost 2,000 lunchtime concerts that she delivered throughout the World War II blitz at the National Gallery, in Trafalgar Square. In the 1933-4 academic year there were no less than twelve Wednesday afternoon concerts on offer to students. These ranged from an oboe recital by Leon Goosens, then considered among the premier oboists in the world, a lecture on Beethoven illustrated by performances from students at the Royal Academy of music, Mozart opera and violin recitals to “Cingalese (stet) songs and spirituals.”
Hostel Notes
From 1925, until its closure in 1933, a small group of students boarded at “Westfield” on Victoria Road, privately run, but closely linked to the school. “Twenty girls, two small boys, two maids, and a dog live in the Hostel with Mr & Mrs Haydon and the Matron” (1927, p20). Referring to themselves as “The Hostelites”, these students had their own social calendar of picnics, fancy dress parties and outings, and kept pet canaries. In 1930 the entry concludes with “Fire Drill will have added zest, as we have to descend from the top storey of the house into the garden, by means of a fire-proof ladder. All casualties will be reported next year.” Well attended reunions of those who had staying in the “Hostel” were held every few years in central London (1937-8, p44).
Library Report
Each year there are separate reports from the Reference and Fiction Libraries run entirely by students. In 1933 it was reported that “taking books out is now much simpler, because we have a large Borrower’s Book for the whole Library, one weighty volume which cannot easily be mislaid, instead of several smaller ones.” Students paid a small subscription to access books from the fiction section, supervised by prefects. Many of the books were donated by leavers, Governors or staff. The Fiction Library in 1938 announced that “books can be exchanged on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school and the charge each term is one penny. We have books to suit every taste from “Dr Doolittle”, and “The Princess and Curdie” to Sir Walter Scott’s “Kenilworth” and Dicken’s “Barnaby Rudge” (p26).
“Book mending”, which has its own section in the magazines, seemed to be a well- supported activity, especially once the grey “crash” fabric used to create new coverings was dyed in a range of bright colours. “So many volumes once tattered and torn, now sit upon their shelves with an air of quiet respectability” (1934, p15).
Competitions
Around half the content of the magazines is literary compositions, and poems submitted by students in response to set themes. Annual competitions were also held for artwork and photography. Some of the lino prints and woodcuts printed in black and white were reproduced to illustrate the magazines from 1935 onwards. More unusually some of the magazines also record the winners of the “Sweet Competition” in which “the toffees were on the whole good, as also was some of the cocoanut ice. Some of the peppermint creams were grey in colour instead of white (!) and nearly all the marzipan was too moist.” (1933-4, p32). The “Grey Friars Cake Making” of 1935 proved a very popular competition although “one of two of the cakes had holes in the middle and in a few cases the fruit had sunk to the bottom, but many of them a really high standard and a few looked quite professional” (p35).
The Old Girl’s Section (Business Report)
The Old Girl’s Association had been founded in 1918 and during the 1930s, with a membership of around 250, three reunions a year were held, at the end of the Christmas, Easter and Summer Terms attended by past students, current staff and prefects from the school. In 1933 the Christmas meeting involved supper and country dancing and the Easter meeting was an “American Supper”, a fundraiser for the Scholarship Fund, where all the guests contributed by bringing food and drink to share. The Summer Term meeting was generally, weather permitting, a tennis tournament against current students, followed by tea and the Annual General Meeting.
News of Past Students
Most magazines contained a detailed list of the destinations of the year’s leavers. Those who left after the Upper V during the 1930s, not taking higher certificates, often progressed on to work such as nursing, nursery nursing including as Norland Nannies or governesses, secretarial and clerical work or work in catering and retail.
Students at CCHSG were among the pioneers of university education for women. The first women’s college at Cambridge and the first residential university establishment for women in the UK was Girton College in 1869, it was not until almost a century later in 1948 that Cambridge began to actually award degrees to women.[1] The 1925 magazine records 3 students progressing to Bedford College, 4 to Royal Holloway, 4 to Reading, 2 to Oxford and 1 to King’s College (1925, p20). The 1930-31 magazine records CCHSG scholarships to Somerville College, Oxford and students gaining degrees at St. Andrew’s in French, at Royal Holloway in Maths and at Reading University in Science, 1930 (p7).
Significant numbers leavign the Sixth Form entered teacher training or training for nursing. The year 1931-32 saw the first award by the school of an annual Leaving Scholarship, intended to provide financial support to a student progressing on to further training. The first recipient went on to university, the second was a student training for social work at the YMCA College in Birmingham.
The magazine also printed letters from “Old Girls”, a section of the magazine that later in the decade, under Miss King’s guidance, took on more of a “careers” focus. Over the years their letters vividly described a remarkable range of experiences, some in distant locations. In 1930 a past student wrote to the school to describe her work as “the hired girl on a stump ranch in the backwoods of British Caledonia: so far West as to be almost East…”( p38). Letters in 1933 came from past students working as an Assistant Warden in a Youth Hostel, studying “Dairying” at the East Anglian Institute of Agriculture, working as an apprentice milliner in a London department store and undertaking Nursing Training at Guy’s Hospital. In 1938 recommended “Outdoor Careers for Girls” (p23), included dairying, horticulture and poultry husbandry.
There is little in the magazines which would predicted what lay ahead. In 1933 the magazine did record, ominously, that “Captain Deane gave us an exciting lecture on poison gases.”
In her foreword to the 1938-39 school magazine Miss King wrote “The clouds have closed around us and we are at war; for a few it is again. Be assured that in carrying on your home duties and meeting all these worries cheerfully you are giving real service to the country.”
“In 1938 when the school magazine last appeared, the war had just begun – now the war has been won. One generation has spent most of its school life under that shadow which is now lifted to our great thankfulness… School citizenship, like ordinary citizenship, means facing up to the difficulties and differences of the present and adjusting ourselves to them with good humour – this was wise advice in 1939 and is so still in 1945, but then it was easier to carry out than it is now.”
The 1944-45 edition of the school magazine, with the above foreword from Headteacher Miss King, resumed in much the same format as pre-war. There was celebration as events such as the annual Sports Day resumed and an effort made to summarise the activities at the school over the war period. However, as Miss King stated “…the picture of those six years given in a few lines is necessarily very incomplete.”
“At the end of August 1939, the Staff were recalled to Colchester in order to help with evacuees who arrived shortly. We helped with their reception and billeting in various ways…“ The Foreword to the 1944 magazine records that the school itself, once reopened, welcomed several individual evacuees and “two large groups from Harwich and Clacton who came to us temporarily”.
“A certain number of our girls left Colchester for other parts of the England and we could not begin School until the trenches were ready. When the first one was finished at Grey Friars we were able to begin work with our older girls and some of the Sixth Form from the Grammar School” (now CRGS). The “trenches” referred to were air raid shelters, which were used periodically, “sometimes several times in one day”. As Miss King recalls, a bomb did fall on Castle Park one Friday evening, blowing out all the windows at the back of Grey Friars, (1944, p2). In 1940 the school was closed as all children in the Colchester Borough were evacuated. Two of the staff moved with a party of students to Kettering High School and another group of students and staff relocated to Burton-on Trent.
The creative writing submissions for this edition, perhaps not surprisingly, have far more topical themes than in previous magazines. V E Day was recalled twice in poem form (1944, p23) alongside an interesting creative piece entitled “Diary of a schoolgirl in the year 2045” but there is no record of how the official ending of the war was celebrated by the school. The poem “A Deserted Place” (1944, p26) describes the ruins of a city. The wartime rationing of food, which continued long after the ending of hostilities, receives a creative take in P. Oxley’s “A wartime Dream of a Post-war Feast” (1944, p25) and also in the 1945 “Thoughts on a Lemon” (with apologies to Robert Browning)” (p32). A forward-looking piece of creative writing explored the potential uses of the new “substances invented by chemists to replace the more traditional materials” – in a piece entitled “Plastics” (1945, p22).
Much of what we know of the early history of the Grey Friars building originates from the published entries for a school competition, instigated by staff, in the magazine of 1946-47 (p26 & 27). Recorded, without much comment, in the Magazine of 1950 is the excavation in the orchard of North Hill during which parts of the Roman Wall were discovered (1950, p4).
Youth Service Group
Formed at the beginning of the war, this school society aimed “to assist the war effort in as many ways as possible.” One prominent activity was run by the “Salvage Department” which collected “rose hips, jam jars, milk bottle tops, old felt hats, used films for Guy’s Hospital, foreign coins, lavender for the Church Army, electric light bulbs, acorns for pigs, horse-chestnuts for glucose, used postage stamps, cotton reels, silver paper, toothpaste tubes and broken gramophone records” (1944 p6). They also grew vegetables and flowers that were sent to the Military Hospital and collected second hand clothing for the French Resistance. The society had a “Correspondence Department”, with girls writing to “Russians, French, South Africans, West Indians, Canadians and New Zealanders.” Pen-friends continued to be very popular long after the closing of the Youth Service Group, and some of the girls were able to bring pen-friends from abroad to visit the school (1947, p8).
During WW2 CCHSG “adopted” HMS Greenfly, a 440 ton civilian trawler with a crew of 30, which had been commissioned by the navy for anti-submarine duty. Throughout the duration of the war the girls supported the crew with gifts such as fruit and vegetables, magazines, clothing, books, cakes and anything else that might make life more bearable. The 1943-44 magazine reports that “the crew were trying to form a sextet and a White Elephant sale was organised in the autumn term to raise money for this. The result was £5 with which one of the crew managed to buy a trumpet.” The 1944 magazine contains the letter of farewell and thanks to the school from Lieutenant Commander Douglas Orr, the Captain of the HMS Greenfly. He exhorts the students to interest themselves in foreign affairs and politics so that they can play a full role as the “citizenesses of tomorrow.”
The Youth Service Group continued some of its activities for several years after the war. In 1945, while the Gardening and Salvage Departments had ended “girls are, however, still knitting for the China Department. Red wool has been received for making men’s jumpers” (1945, p13). In the same year over 3,800 books and magazines were collected by the school for hospitals and the ATS.
Dutch, French and German Links
The Dutch Department of the CCHSG Youth Service Group was particularly active, as there were close links with the Netherlands and groups of Dutch children visited Colchester. A group attended Grey Friars, “taking part in English, Games and Art lessons”. Later some 50 Dutch children were entertained to a party at CCHSG. “Many girls gave up some of their precious orange ration so that each Dutch child might have an orange.” In August 1946, as the school Magazine recalls, a group of “PT Organisers, Youth leaders, Youth Organisers and Teachers” enjoyed a trip to Holland as guest of the Netherlands Government to learn to play the national game of “Korfbal” at Zeist, near Utrecht. In August 1947 a group of young people from Colchester District visited Zwolle, travelling on the SS Arnham and being hosted by Dutch families. “We found some of their habits rather disconcerting. The most alarming of these was their habit of eating several courses off the same plate.” (1947, p16).
In 1945 CCHSG students took part in the first of a number of French Easter Schools held initially at Earls Colne, hosting, alongside other schools, around 90 students from Paris. There were lessons in the morning, tennis and cricket in the afternoon and expeditions to Cambridge, Ely, Newmarket and London. The return exchange to Paris took place annually during the summer holidays. In 1947 as recalled in the magazine for that year, students were staying with “fairly well-to-do families, who could afford to supplement their meagre rations with the help of the black market” (p21).
In 1950 a German exchange visit was arranged with a school at Leverkusen, near Cologne. As usual, it was the meals which elicit most comment. “The fear that was uppermost in our minds was that we should have to live on uncooked bacon and black bread. However we soon became accustomed to eating these things and even enjoyed such dishes as prunes with potatoes!” (p10). In 1952 there was a further expedition to Germany recorded, during which the group visited the Federal German Parliament at Bonn (p12).
School Calendar
Some of the 1945-1951 editions of the magazines have a helpful index and calendar for the school year, which records for each term a range of School Society activities, visits to theatre, ballet and cinema, talks and lectures by visiting speakers and concerts. Families and friends once again visited the school on Sports Day and hockey, netball and tennis dominate the inter school sports in this period. An Inter School Rounders competition was established in 1952. In 1948 a film about tennis was to be shown in school and “many of us were surprised when we realised that it was to be a “talkie”. The 1948 edition features an article by past student Frances Cockburn ARPS on “The production of a Motion Picture”, written at the behest of Miss King (pp34 & 35). Frances Cockburn worked for the Film and Television Division of the Central Office of Information (COI), later becoming its Head.
One particularly notable visitor, on March 29, 1946, was poet Walter de La Mare. Topics for lectures could be wide ranging. In 1946-7 these included “Anglo-French Relationships”, “Wool and Sheep Rearing”, “Nursing”, “Aid to Greece”, “Palestine” and “Coal-Gas”. A member of the “Headmistresses’ Employment Committee”, visited the school annually to lecture on “Careers” dividing these into “professional, commercial, social, scientific and those for people with artistic abilities” (1946, p16).
By 1953, with the school growing larger, a range of new school societies were operating, their activities recorded in the magazine. The Dramatic Society was very active, producing several plays a year, a new Historical Society organised visits to local places of interest and a new Natural History Society, with a membership of 113 organised trips to museums, visiting speakers and film presentations.
The school calendars for these years also record the visits to London, to galleries such as the Royal Academy and National Gallery and to the theatre, which took place several times a year. In 1948 a group visited the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park to see “Much Ado About Nothing”, “one of the plays set for Higher Certificate this year.” In 1952 students saw John Gielgud in “Much Ado about Nothing” at the Phoenix Theatre. Lunch and tea was often taken as in 1946, at the YWCA in Great Russell Street where the group was “very hospitably received” (p20).
Trips to London often also included, for at least part of the group, tours with the local MP of the Houses of Parliament. The school also hosted a Party Political Forum in February 1950, with Colchester’s three main parliamentary candidates explaining to older students the basic principles of their respective Socialist, Conservative and Liberal platforms (p9). In 1952 the two contestants for the Colchester seat visited CCHSG to outline their respective positions, with a Mr Alport “presenting the “party line in clear and plausible terms and delivered with all the skill of a professional politician, it almost sounded convincing” (1952, p15).
The study of Geography was supplemented with field trips such as that to the Cotswolds in Easter 1950. Students undertook Land Utilization and Farm Surveys, visited the Roma Villa at Chedworth and the Stroud Woollen Factory (p13). In 1946 there was a residential visit by the Sixth Form to the Youth Hostel at Thaxted over Easter and the Upper Sixth also spent a week Youth Hostelling in Derbyshire.
During the autumn of 1945 the first formal school orchestra and choirs were formed. These progressed quickly with the orchestra entering the Chelmsford Festival of Music a year later, gaining second places in the elementary and advanced violin classes. The choir entered the Inter-School Festival and worked jointly with CRGS on a production of Bach’s “Peasant Cantata”. In the Spring term of 1947, an interform choral competition was first held. A Music Club was founded in 1953 to “promote a love of music and to interest those who wish to know more about this art.” Alongside this a Recorder Society started to run, giving regular concerts.
The 1944 contribution from the Grey Friars Library notes that one of the most popular books “A Swish of the Curtain” was written by past student Pamela Brown, who first had the opportunity to see her work in print in the school magazine. Old Girl Pauline Clarke also donated a copies of her books “The Pekinese Princess”, “The White Elephant” and “The Great Can”, to the school library. Until 1943 she studied English at Somerville College, Oxford, then worked as a journalist and wrote for children’s magazines. The importance of the school Library, finally in 1949 given a dedicated room at North Hill, is emphasised by Miss King in the Foreword to the 1949-50 edition. “The intelligent use of books should develop self-reliance and initiative which are in danger of being undermined and destroyed be the present passion for uniformity and mass-production… Rightly used our two Libraries should be a means whereby girls can become thinking individuals, and also a powerful influence in helping us to achieve our School Motto – “Wisdom giveth Life”. By 1950 the North Hill Library had some 1,600 books, a new catalogue and reclassification under the “Cheltenham Ladies’ College Scheme.” Miss King’s speech at the distribution of certificates later in the year concluded: “the aim of education should be to stimulate the mind, to show judgement and to appreciate goodness, truth and beauty, (1949, p6).”
An Inter-schools Discussion Group, organised between 5 local grammar schools held meetings three times a term during the early 1950s. “Subjects discussed have ranged from the American Presidential elections and germ warfare to feminine hair styles and Valentine cards, and though few speakers possess the gift of keeping to the point for more than half a minute, everything has been discussed with the utmost enthusiasm and good humour.” Refreshments consisted of “tea, bread and margarine and aniseed balls…” (1953, p28).
Barnardo Helpers’ League
Throughout the war the school continued its support of Dr Barnardo’s Homes and the 1944 edition of the magazine records that over £184 had been collected that year alone; a substantial amount at the time. A home for babies at Farm Hill, Kelvedon became a particular focus for support, with girls visiting to donate toys, and a double pram being purchased. In 1946 student volunteers stayed at the Kelvedon and Chichester Homes to provide holiday cover for the permanent staff.
Old Girls’ Association
With the outbreak of war, meetings of the OGA were held just twice a year, in July and December. There was great revival of interest in the association post war and in keeping in contact with past students. Membership had increased from 120 in 1922 to 500 by 1952, with “members scattered all over the world, from Tasmania to Canada”. It was decided that as each year departed a “reporter” would be elected to take responsibility for gathering and collating their news. 1952 news from Old Girls did indeed come from all corners of the world. Links with the former countries of the British Empire were still strong and news was recorded from past students who had relocated to Australia, New Zealand and India, with nursing and teaching as popular occupations.
The 1944 edition contains a detailed account from an Old Girl of her role in setting up and running a large RAF canteen for WAAF personnel at a station “somewhere in East Anglia”. The Women’s Auxiliary Air Force was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000 at its peak strength in 1943, with over 2,000 women enlisting per week. The 1944 news from past staff and Old Girls lists many who were temporarily part of this huge workforce. Past staff were working as Meteorological Officers, doing Radio location work and one serving as a “Messing Officer” in India. There are thirteen Old Girls listed as serving in the ATS, the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women’s branch of the British Army, and similar numbers with the WAAF and The Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS, often referred to as the “Wrens”.) Large numbers of US servicemen were stationed in East Anglia during the war and in the marriages recorded in the 1944 magazine, several were to US personnel.
In the June of 1950 a special addition to the usual three OGA reunions a year was organised by Miss King, who invited all the married Old Girl’s with their children to a party in Grey Friars garden. Previous Headteacher Miss Crosthwaite attended as a guest of honour.
1950 saw the replacement of School and Higher Certificates with the General Certificate of Education (GCE) at Ordinary or Advanced (“O” and “A” levels). This year also saw the closing of the Preparatory School at Grey Friars due to falling numbers. Mrs P. R. Green retired after serving as school Governor for 40 years, since the opening of the school on North Hill. The magazine pays tribute to her as “one of the few people who had vision enough to foresee the growth of secondary education for girls and to realise that the two hundred odd places then thought to be excessive would soon not be enough” (p27). In 1952 King George VI died and was succeeded by Elizabeth II. The school also saw major changes in leadership, with the retirement of Miss King, who, with 25 years in post, had been Headmistress for more than half the life of the school. The 1951-2 edition of the magazine includes tributes to her from the students and governors and her own leaving speech. The OGA presented her with a silver cigarette lighter and a Persian rug (1952, p25). Her replacement was to be Miss Katherine Vashon Baker, who sadly found herself in the position of launching the collection for a memorial to her predecessor in the 1954 magazine, as Miss King died within a year of her retirement.
With a change in school leadership, a House system was introduced. The 1953 magazine contains reports from each of the eight houses, each with a Latin motto, named after Royal Houses: Hanover, Windsor, York, Lancaster, Anjou, Plantagenet, Tudor and Stuart. The 1953-54 edition is the last of the magazines in this format that the school possesses. The next incarnation of the magazine was very different in style, indicative of the changing social attitudes of the 1960s and 70s.
The decade of the 1960s was a period of significant social change and liberalisation across Britain, it was known as ‘the Swinging Sixties’. There was growth in British fashion, cinema and music, with bands such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Contemporary teen sub-cultures were reflected in some of the “Original Contributions” to the magazines, with a student in 1963 basing her poem “The Teddy-Boy” on Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” (p27). There was a rise in the purchase of cars and other consumer goods. The school calendar for the Summer Term of 1968 records a “police Talk on Driving” and a “Police Drivinng Simulator” for the Lower and Upper Fifths. The 1964-5 magazine features an “original contribution” discussing the new phenomena of “motorways” (p32).
The position of women in the workplace in this decade also improved. It had been quite common for employers to ask women to leave their jobs when they got married. New anti-discrimination laws also gave women the right to equal pay. Each year the school calendar records a number of Careers talks by visiting speakers. The greater commercialisation of business was evidenced by sponsorship of the CCHSG magazines in the form of advertising by local companies. Barclays Bank also ran job advertisements, recruiting students with O and A level qualifications. At a time when many expected to stay in one job for life, it is not uncommon to read thanks given in the magazines to staff retiring after 20 or more years service to the school. The 1963-64 edition includes a page-long tribute to Miss Overy, who had worked as Mistress first in the Preparatory and then in the Junior School, for 44 years.
Most homes had televisions by the end of the decade. BBC 2 went on air in 1964 and was the first channel to have colour in 1967. In 1960 the Debating Society debated, jointly with the boys of CRGS, the motion “Television, this house views it with suspicion”, alongside “This house advocates equal pay and identical treatment for men and women” and topically in 1962 “The house would flog the teddies” (teddy boys). The 1960-61 edition also contains, among the “original contributions” a poem “The Aerial” bemoaning the newly abundant television aerials (p28). In 1966 the school competed in the BBC television competition “Top of the Form”, hosting, with great excitement, BBC staff and camera crews for a day.
Recognising the increasing importance and impact of world affairs on their lives, students in 1960 set up a discussion group of the United Nations Association, inviting guest speakers and watching films about the work of the UN. In 1964 two student representatives attended a week-long conference organised by Oxfam and the International Student Movement for the United Nations, held to discuss the problems confronting developing nations.
Headteacher Miss Vashon Baker (known to the students as “VB”) provides the foreword to the magazines from this decade, until 1966, when she retired after 15 years, to be replaced by Miss Hasler. Each magazine contains a school calendar for the year detailing the annual schedule of talks by visiting speakers, OGA meetings and events, concerts and school plays, parents meetings and student “expeditions”. There were also visits organised by school societies, such as the Historical Society, the Geographical Society, formed in 1965 and the Natural History Society to destinations such as Colchester Zoo, Kew Gardens and the London Planetarium. A Folk Dance Club was formed in 1962, performing at the school fete. The “Old People’s Welfare Society” was formed in 1963, aiming to help equip and run a new Centre being created for use by the elderly residents of Colchester. Fundraising in the first few months raised enough to purchase a coffee table, and students were volunteering once a month to serve meals at the centre. Students also volunteered for projects arranged by the Colchester branch of the International Voluntary Service (1965-66, p14).
Each magazine also includes individual reports from each of the eight school houses, named after Royal Houses: Hanover, Windsor, York, Lancaster, Anjou, Plantagenet, Tudor and Stuart. These record how well the house has performed academically and in sporting events, and also whether the members of the house received many “order marks” for misdemeanours during the year.
Music
The Senior and Junior School Choirs, and CCHS Orchestra have sections in each magazine where they record performing at school events and entering competitions such as the Chelmsford Festival and the Colchester and East Essex Co-operative Society Music Festival. In 1963 there was great excitement generated when the choir was invited to perform in the BBC Competition “Let the People Sing”, making a recording for broadcast in January 1963 (p13).
The orchestra continued to grow and combined in 1963 with the CRGS orchestra for a production of Benjamin Britten’s opera “Noye’s Fludde” (p15) and in 1968 the “Beggar’s Opera”. In addition to the orchestra the school also had a String Quartet, Flute Quartet and Wood-wind ensemble groups. In 1963 to enable the “formidable programme” for the May concert “the Orchestra was augmented by two Old Girls, four fathers, two mothers and even one grandmother – thus combining all generations connected with the school.” In 1966 the Senior Choir combined with students from CRGS and friends of the school to perform Purcell’s opera “Dido and Aeneas”, accompanied by a String Quartet from the Royal Academy of Music (p16).
Drama
The school calendar always includes at least one production annually as well as visits to see both local and West End productions, be it opera or theatre. In 1964 the School combined with CRGS to perform “The Play of Daniel – a Medieval religious drama – sung in Latin! 1968 saw the performance of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” as a Christmas entertainment.
Games Section
Games continued to play a significant part in the life of the school, with reports of all the interschool matches and tournaments in hockey, netball and tennis summarized in the magazines. Interform cross country running also makes its first appearance in the 1960 magazine, alongside the school’s excellent results in the North-East Essex Schools’ Swimming and Life-Saving Association Gala.
The Swimming Pool Fundraising
During 1959-60, there was a focus on fundraising efforts by staff, students and parents for the building of a school swimming pool. Events included a fete, a production of Shaw’s “Arms and the Man”, a mannequin parade (fashion show), a concert, and many fundraising initiatives by individual girls and forms. “Middle VX enjoyed themselves with a barbeque and made £10 11s” (1959-60, p7). In ten months the total raised was well over a thousand pounds, an astonishing amount at a time when the average house price was £2,530 and a loaf of bread cost 5 pence. The Old Girls’ Section at the back of the magazine, contains a business report detailing the events of the year and records how they too had supported the fundraising for the pool with a Rummage Sale and Cake Stall at the fete.
Jubilee Year – 1960
In 1960 the school celebrated fifty years of learning. A history of the school; “The First Fifty Years” as a booklet (digitised for reference on this site) was produced by a member of staff and a Service of Dedication was held in St. Peter’s Church on 11 May. During the 12 May Prizegiving, congratulatory telegrams from friends of the school and former staff and pupils were read, and the speaker was Mr J T Christie, Principal of Jesus College Oxford. The school also hosted a very successful fete, and the long-awaited swimming pool was opened. “On Speech Day the water first began to flow into the pool and soon the first girls were taking the plunge” (editorial, p7). Fortunately Speech Day was held in July, as the pool was open air. The 1961-62 magazine recorded that “this year the Swimming Pool has been used since mid-May, although the low temperatures discouraged some girls”. The pool was eulogised later in the edition with an original contribution by Joan Smith of Upper V X (p23).
The 1960-61 magazine, as the Jubilee edition, contained additional space for news of Old Girls, including a contribution from the school’s first Head Girl. Several past staff contributed to the “Remembrance of Things Past” with recollections of the beginnings of the school, the move to Grey Friars, and the school during both the First and Second World Wars (pp34-41).
Old Girls Serving the Community
News of Old Girls in the Jubilee Magazine celebrated the way in which “The School can feel proud that its Old Girls are serving the community in a great variety of ways, in this country and in many other parts of the world”. The article goes on to outline how “in medical work they could almost form a complete team”. Details follow of past students in charge of hospitals in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), running pathology laboratories, working in Orthopaedics and Rheumatology, researching tropical diseases in Uganda and working as radiologists, occupational therapists, midwives, nurses, social workers and health officers. In “Education” it is recorded that there were no less than seven Old Girls on the 1961 CCHSG staff, with over 30 other current teachers, Headmistresses and Librarians listed. Gosbeck’s School in Colchester also had five past CCHSG students on its staff. Past students working in research, in the Civil Service, in the Services, the police force and as an Air Hostess are also recorded with pride, alongside a list of “Wives and Mothers” it is noted that “there are 46 daughters of Old Girls in the School this year” (p43).
Miss Vashon Baker wrote “Taken as a whole the Jubilee Year can be termed a year of progress. We hope that the School will see another fifty years as packed with incident and success as the last.”
Open Day 1968
The school hosted its first ever Open Day on July 19, 1968, opening the school buildings to the families and friends of students and showcasing students’ achievements. Among the offerings were a performance of Mozart’s “Lo Sposo Deludo”, an exhibition of needlework, a display by the Gymnastics Club and a Games and Athletics Display. The A level French class performed Molière’s “La Malade Imaginaire” and audience participation was invited at the displays in the Physics lab and Maths Department “Statistics” Room, “where visitors were asked to remove their shoes that measurements might be taken!” (p6).
The Rise of Comprehensive Education
In the mid 1960s the nature of the school was to come under threat, from unexpected sources. At the debating Society of 1963 events were foreshadowed when the motion that “The education system of this country should be reformed” was narrowly defeated, “mainly because the idea of the introduction of Comprehensive Schools was not well received” (p10). Only a year later Miss Vashon Baker was to record a past year of stress and anxiety due to the “plans for reorganising education in the borough and the county.” She goes on to thank “all those Old Girls who sprang to our assistance and signed their names on the petition they presented to the Mayor, expressing their desire that the school should continue as a Girls’ School here on this site.” The Old Girls Business report in the same edition reveals how the Borough Education Committee had published plans for Secondary Education “one of the most alarming features was that the school would cease to exist as an entity. The Old Girls were asked to help avert this, and a petition was sent through the Mayor to the Borough Education officer, deploring this decision. Fortunately the Education Committee revised their plans, and for the present it seems that the school’s future as an entity on its existing site is secure.” On her retirement in 1966 students claimed that they had Miss Vashon Baker’s “determination and influence to thank that the school has met as an entity this term” (p6).
School Trips and Visits
In 1960 a group visited Leverkusa, travelling from Harwich on the Dutch vessel “Konigen Wilhelmina”, via the Hook of Holland then by train to Cologne, from where they travelled to stay with host families. “One girl had the thrill of going through the Iron Curtain on a visit to Berlin” (p13). In 1961 girls visited Paris, in what was a first for CCHSG trips, they flew, departing from “Lympne Airport”. In 1962 a group ventured to Switzerland, staying in a chalet in Leysin, although they did not ski. Local rules meant that girls under 18 “were not allowed out unchaperoned in the evenings, but the arrival of twenty-five English schoolboys enabled the older girls to enjoy a few evenings out of the chalet.” In 1968 a group enjoyed a cruise of the Baltic, via Travamunde, Leningrad, Stockholm and Copenhagen, aboard the steamship “Uganda”.
Visits to London continued with several excursions a year, allowing students to visit places of interest such as the Stock Exchange and Houses of Parliament, museums, Galleries and to attend theatrical performances.
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme First mentioned in the 1962-3 edition, the Duke of Edinburgh Award was initially available to students through the Red Cross, having been first trialled for girls in 1958. Early categories were Design for Living, Service, Adventure and Interest. “The Design for Living section helps a girl to become a good homemaker and the choice of subjects may be made from three categories – Grooming and Poise, Setting Up Your Home and Running Your Home” (p14).
The school magazine was restyled in 1969, moving to an A4 landscape format and including student’s hand drawn illustrations. Editions open with an editorial written by student members of the Magazine Committee, which lists key events of the year and records new and departing staff. At the back of the magazines is a school calendar, outlining the key events of the three terms. It is noted in the 1970 edition that the school “House” system had been abandoned, in favour of inter-form activities.
Societies
By this period, perhaps due to the number of opportunities now available for students outside school, the coverage of school societies is briefer than in earlier periods. The 1970-1 edition records a Chess Club, which had played a number of inter-school matches across the year and the Christian Union with activities such as discussion groups, films, poetry readings and outside speakers. The Athletics Club, with 50 students attending, had some who were working towards gaining awards under the AAA Five Star Award Scheme. An “Old People’s Welfare Society” organised volunteers to assist at the Brambell House Day Centre. The school’s involvement with the English Speaking Union dates from this period, with students in 1970 entering the ESU competition speaking on the topics of “Is England a Nation of Shopkeepers?” and “Are British Policemen Wonderful?” In 1971 a Bridge Club was founded for staff and Sixth Form students.
The magazines record a variety of theatrical and musical productions. The school choirs continued to thrive, performing annually at the school Dedication Service and winning prizes in the Chelmsford Festival. In 1970 two Christmas carols written by students were performed on BBC Norwich television. In March 1971 “The Pirates of Penzance” was performed jointly with CRGS.
Brecht’s “Caucasian Chalk Circle”, with creative monochrome costumes provided by the Sixth Form Art Group, was performed in late 1970.
The school orchestra during this decade, it is recorded, “attained a surprisingly high standard”, with several members playing for the Essex Youth Orchestra and the St. Botolph Music Society.
Exchange visits to France and Germany continued and in 1971 there was also an exchange to the American city of Glen Falls.
Original Contributions
Much of the magazine content for this period consists of “Original Contributions” – poems, creative writing and factual accounts submitted by students, sometimes following themes set by the Magazine Committee.
The 1970 magazine contains an account by students who volunteered to help throughout the summer with archaeological excavation work during the reconstruction of the town centre to create Lion Walk. “For the first two days we did not even wash or mark pottery, but spent our time visiting local shoe shops collecting shoe-boxes to be used for storing finds – all in support of the director’s economy drive!” (p10)
Games Section
By this period the publishing of individual criticism for team members seen in earlier magazines had gone, to be replaced by a general summary of the season. The fixture lists for netball, hockey, tennis, swimming and rounders are extensive.
The Old Girls Association News of births and marriages dominates the OGA section, with a brief business report and a few updates on the careers and achievements of past students.