Nearly 50 years! How amazing to see a group of women I haven't seen since we all finished A Levels in Birmingham in 1963 & catch up with what they have done with their lives. I thoroughly enjoyed it. They are all such nice people, and there was something about each one which reminded me of the young girl I knew when I was an adolescent. An expression, a gesture, just a trace of each of us as we were then.
By definition we were all intelligent, we wouldn't have passed the 11+ if we hadn't been. Unsurprisingly many of us had gone into education - we weren't exactly spoiled for choice in 1963. The options & careers guidance for girls were quite limited then. We have all moved around, not only in the UK, one even came over from Australia. We have had quite diverse lives, but we all gelled very quickly & the conversation flowed.
I'm always impressed when people can remember so much about their past & when they have managed to keep tangible reminders of that past. Handwriting books - we all had to use italic pens. Hand written cookery recipe books - obviously we needed to be prepared to be wives & mothers. Prizegiving brochures - I wonder how many girls didn't get prizes? My memory seems to resemble Emmenthal cheese - full of big holes. I do wish I could remember more.
I was reminded of navy blue knickers, gym slips, (iced) bun breaks, sport - I was in the hockey team & spent every Saturday morning in term time freezing to death or soaking wet on some pitch or other. I also recall being a prefect, (enforcing silence on the stairs - oh, the power!), & house captain. We all remembered Miss Bamforth the Head & various of the subject teachers who remain indelibly in our brains. The German teacher who sat at her kneehole desk on a raised dais with her legs apart revealing knee length bloomers - Not a pretty sight. Miss Davis the lovely French teacher who had the patience of a saint with my lack of progress.
Although I was born and brought up in Birmingham & lived the first 18 years of my life there I still managed to get lost - The Brummies were unfailingly helpful & kind. It has changed hugely. There are still the major civic buildings, but the road system & the modern buildings managed to confuse me.
Maybe re-visiting your past is a good thing. Maybe it helps you to know who you really are & what shaped you into the person you are today. I shall be forever grateful that I had the opportunity a Grammar school education gave me.
By definition we were all intelligent, we wouldn't have passed the 11+ if we hadn't been. Unsurprisingly many of us had gone into education - we weren't exactly spoiled for choice in 1963. The options & careers guidance for girls were quite limited then. We have all moved around, not only in the UK, one even came over from Australia. We have had quite diverse lives, but we all gelled very quickly & the conversation flowed.
I'm always impressed when people can remember so much about their past & when they have managed to keep tangible reminders of that past. Handwriting books - we all had to use italic pens. Hand written cookery recipe books - obviously we needed to be prepared to be wives & mothers. Prizegiving brochures - I wonder how many girls didn't get prizes? My memory seems to resemble Emmenthal cheese - full of big holes. I do wish I could remember more.
I was reminded of navy blue knickers, gym slips, (iced) bun breaks, sport - I was in the hockey team & spent every Saturday morning in term time freezing to death or soaking wet on some pitch or other. I also recall being a prefect, (enforcing silence on the stairs - oh, the power!), & house captain. We all remembered Miss Bamforth the Head & various of the subject teachers who remain indelibly in our brains. The German teacher who sat at her kneehole desk on a raised dais with her legs apart revealing knee length bloomers - Not a pretty sight. Miss Davis the lovely French teacher who had the patience of a saint with my lack of progress.
Although I was born and brought up in Birmingham & lived the first 18 years of my life there I still managed to get lost - The Brummies were unfailingly helpful & kind. It has changed hugely. There are still the major civic buildings, but the road system & the modern buildings managed to confuse me.
Maybe re-visiting your past is a good thing. Maybe it helps you to know who you really are & what shaped you into the person you are today. I shall be forever grateful that I had the opportunity a Grammar school education gave me.
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