Loughton County High School for Girls
Blog Entries
the earliest, when the website started, was August 2013
the earliest, when the website started, was August 2013
Tuesday 3rd September 2013
The revamped site is published and seems to be working correctly - better zoom, links within pages - but I haven't found a way to reinstate the blog. I'm using a 30 day trial of the web builder software. I believe there's a blog plugin available for the purchased version which I will probably buy once I've checked so watch this space! Meanwhile I will post plain script here when there's something to say!
The revamped site is published and seems to be working correctly - better zoom, links within pages - but I haven't found a way to reinstate the blog. I'm using a 30 day trial of the web builder software. I believe there's a blog plugin available for the purchased version which I will probably buy once I've checked so watch this space! Meanwhile I will post plain script here when there's something to say!
Saturday, 7th September 2013
I gatecrashed the 1963 reunion and what a brilliant afternoon it was! I felt very welcome, we got lots more names for the 1970 photo had lots of reminiscing chats and lovely food and a tour of the school - mostly the old parts that we remembered. It will take me a while to reorganise the website to accommodate all the new photos in some sort of sensible order - watch out for some pictures of the honours boards - unfortunately I couldn't get them all :(
The blog is taking a back burner at the moment as the new web builder doesn't accommodate it well but again, I'm working on it. I don't expect the blog to be a major feature once everything else is up and running anyway
Monday, 2nd September 2013
Progress?
30/08/2013
Well the names for the 1970 list are coming on and we now have a photo of the 1975 6th form being named too. Meanwhile my inbox is receiving photos and information that may or may not work well on the website. I will have to experiment with articles and other pictures to see how best to share them with you. Unfortunately the web builder I've been using is very restrictive. As I put more onto the site I realise that the format is inadequate so I am looking into using an external web creation program. The trouble is, I have very little idea of what I am doing so it won't happen very quickly! Feel free to email me with ideas of the kind of things you'd like to see. The inability to zoom into photos is clearly a major issue as many people have told me they can't read the numbers. Would you like a forum for chat? What other pages would you like to see? If I don't know what you want from the site, you will end up with what I want!!
Over halfway !
24/08/2013
We now have 313 girls names on the list (17 only have first names though), that's just over half the 620 pupils in the photo. Not bad for a week's work - keep going please! I managed to remember a couple more from my year but I'm not doing as well as some of you :)
Bigger photos
23/08/2013
I am learning about this website lark as I go along and have just discovered that the panorama photos will be bigger if they are in the gallery than just posted on the page so that's what I've done. Not a lot bigger, mind, but every little helps. They are not copyrighted (I wouldn't know how to do that anyway) so if you want to download them to your own PC and enlarge them in your photo viewer you can. Just right-click on the large image - save image as, and they're yours to zoom into at your leisure :)
I have today signed up to friendsreunited and messaged as many people as I thought might be interested and are on the photos. Hopefully we'll hear from some of them too - the more people who are involved, the more interesting this website will become :)
Keeping me busy
22/08/2013
I'm being kept well occupied with emailed lists of pupils and odd extras on facebook. The list is coming along nicely but we still have fewer than 200 named, out of 600-ish so don't stop looking! Having said that - it's taken less than a week to get nearly 200 names so well done ladies - great job :) I do think it's sad that there aren't more from the upper years (including my own). Perhaps it's a technology thing, who knows? It would be great if those actively participating could also nudge any other LHS OGs they know of - older sisters and friends.
I'd also like to receive copies of any personal photos from school - groups of friends, sports pics, anything really, to liven up the gallery. I have added a few of my own so keep checking in to the pages. Unlike the group pics, if you click on these they enlarge.
The groups of my classmates were taken by the corridor between the old school and the music/sports wing, alongside the hall. I used to love walking along there looking at the amazing paintings done by the senior art students. One always stuck in my mind - an athlete throwing a discus with blocks of different colours for muscles - beautiful.
Ready for your input!
19/08/2013
I have numbered all the pupils in the 1970 panorama photo and have nearly finished constructing the grid to list people as they are identified. I have published the grid as far as it goes and filled in a few of my classmates and others that I remember but it's a fairly pathetic beginning :) I would very much like to receive lists of the people that you remember - if you could give me their number and name, even just a first name if that's all that you remember. Please email them to me at sue@loughtonchs.co.uk and I will begin to add them to the lists. The numbers are not always easy to see I'm afraid and I haven't found a way for you to zoom in on the website - I'm working on it. Each of the three photos is numbered separately but there is some overlap so the sequence isn't always logical!
Names
16/08/2013
I am busily numbering the 1970 photo for identification of all pupils (ambitious, I know!).
A little task for those of you who are on it - please could you start racking your brains to remember the names of as many of your former classmates as you can? :)
Please don't send or write anything yet - it will be easier when you have the pupil's number - but it won't hurt to start thinking - good luck :)
Facebook link
13/08/2013
The active facebook page that led me to making this site is at https://www.facebook.com/groups/7225390830/
There is a facebook link symbol at the top of the pages but it's so tiny and in an odd place that I thought another link might be useful :)
Just set up
12/08/2013
Monday 12th August 2013 -The Glorious Twelfth (if you're a grouse - it's time to duck!)
It all began a few weeks ago with my discovery, on Facebook, of a page started by former pupils of LHS.
I joined the group and posted a few comments and my old school photo in three parts. Before I knew it, I was being persuaded (very nicely I have to say) to think about starting this website. Graham who runs the website for Buckhurst Hill County High had wanted to continue his old school's contacts with LHS via a suitable website for several years. Well, it appears that now's the time. Today the domain was registered and I was able to open the first pages of the LHS Old Girls website. Exciting moment!
I've never done anything quite like this before but I'm willing to learn as I go along and I hope that you enjoy watching the site develop as much as I hope to enjoy doing it.
30/08/2013
Well the names for the 1970 list are coming on and we now have a photo of the 1975 6th form being named too. Meanwhile my inbox is receiving photos and information that may or may not work well on the website. I will have to experiment with articles and other pictures to see how best to share them with you. Unfortunately the web builder I've been using is very restrictive. As I put more onto the site I realise that the format is inadequate so I am looking into using an external web creation program. The trouble is, I have very little idea of what I am doing so it won't happen very quickly! Feel free to email me with ideas of the kind of things you'd like to see. The inability to zoom into photos is clearly a major issue as many people have told me they can't read the numbers. Would you like a forum for chat? What other pages would you like to see? If I don't know what you want from the site, you will end up with what I want!!
Over halfway !
24/08/2013
We now have 313 girls names on the list (17 only have first names though), that's just over half the 620 pupils in the photo. Not bad for a week's work - keep going please! I managed to remember a couple more from my year but I'm not doing as well as some of you :)
Bigger photos
23/08/2013
I am learning about this website lark as I go along and have just discovered that the panorama photos will be bigger if they are in the gallery than just posted on the page so that's what I've done. Not a lot bigger, mind, but every little helps. They are not copyrighted (I wouldn't know how to do that anyway) so if you want to download them to your own PC and enlarge them in your photo viewer you can. Just right-click on the large image - save image as, and they're yours to zoom into at your leisure :)
I have today signed up to friendsreunited and messaged as many people as I thought might be interested and are on the photos. Hopefully we'll hear from some of them too - the more people who are involved, the more interesting this website will become :)
Keeping me busy
22/08/2013
I'm being kept well occupied with emailed lists of pupils and odd extras on facebook. The list is coming along nicely but we still have fewer than 200 named, out of 600-ish so don't stop looking! Having said that - it's taken less than a week to get nearly 200 names so well done ladies - great job :) I do think it's sad that there aren't more from the upper years (including my own). Perhaps it's a technology thing, who knows? It would be great if those actively participating could also nudge any other LHS OGs they know of - older sisters and friends.
I'd also like to receive copies of any personal photos from school - groups of friends, sports pics, anything really, to liven up the gallery. I have added a few of my own so keep checking in to the pages. Unlike the group pics, if you click on these they enlarge.
The groups of my classmates were taken by the corridor between the old school and the music/sports wing, alongside the hall. I used to love walking along there looking at the amazing paintings done by the senior art students. One always stuck in my mind - an athlete throwing a discus with blocks of different colours for muscles - beautiful.
Ready for your input!
19/08/2013
I have numbered all the pupils in the 1970 panorama photo and have nearly finished constructing the grid to list people as they are identified. I have published the grid as far as it goes and filled in a few of my classmates and others that I remember but it's a fairly pathetic beginning :) I would very much like to receive lists of the people that you remember - if you could give me their number and name, even just a first name if that's all that you remember. Please email them to me at sue@loughtonchs.co.uk and I will begin to add them to the lists. The numbers are not always easy to see I'm afraid and I haven't found a way for you to zoom in on the website - I'm working on it. Each of the three photos is numbered separately but there is some overlap so the sequence isn't always logical!
Names
16/08/2013
I am busily numbering the 1970 photo for identification of all pupils (ambitious, I know!).
A little task for those of you who are on it - please could you start racking your brains to remember the names of as many of your former classmates as you can? :)
Please don't send or write anything yet - it will be easier when you have the pupil's number - but it won't hurt to start thinking - good luck :)
Facebook link
13/08/2013
The active facebook page that led me to making this site is at https://www.facebook.com/groups/7225390830/
There is a facebook link symbol at the top of the pages but it's so tiny and in an odd place that I thought another link might be useful :)
Just set up
12/08/2013
Monday 12th August 2013 -The Glorious Twelfth (if you're a grouse - it's time to duck!)
It all began a few weeks ago with my discovery, on Facebook, of a page started by former pupils of LHS.
I joined the group and posted a few comments and my old school photo in three parts. Before I knew it, I was being persuaded (very nicely I have to say) to think about starting this website. Graham who runs the website for Buckhurst Hill County High had wanted to continue his old school's contacts with LHS via a suitable website for several years. Well, it appears that now's the time. Today the domain was registered and I was able to open the first pages of the LHS Old Girls website. Exciting moment!
I've never done anything quite like this before but I'm willing to learn as I go along and I hope that you enjoy watching the site develop as much as I hope to enjoy doing it.
Tuesday 10th September 2013
I have, for the third time, revamped the website and I have a suspicion that it won't be the last! I still need to set up a form for the database and get this blog working properly instead of the plain text page it is now. The photos from the reunion are all up now and I have added a numbered group photo to the Groups gallery but I am ashamed to say that I could only remember 4 names which is bad as I spoke to many of you and read your name tags but clearly didn't commit them properly to memory. Please email with names that you know.
Monday 16th September 2013
I'd like to get a page of photos of things we made at school. I have 2 (hopefully soon 3) photos of the felt pin-cushion/needle case that we made in the first year. If anyone has one of those, or anything else you made at school, please email me a photo and we'll see what a fun page we can build from it.
Saturday 21st September 2013
The 1965 panorama is now numbered and the identification list is getting its first entries.
Facebook members are increasing and it's lovely to have people from my year joining at last!
I'll be numbering the 1956 photo next, as I haven't received a 1960 one - any offers gratefully accepted. 3 needlecases are on the 'other photos' gallery and hopefully there'll be more, along with other art and craft work that you've treasured. The site gets more interesting every day!
Facebook members are increasing and it's lovely to have people from my year joining at last!
I'll be numbering the 1956 photo next, as I haven't received a 1960 one - any offers gratefully accepted. 3 needlecases are on the 'other photos' gallery and hopefully there'll be more, along with other art and craft work that you've treasured. The site gets more interesting every day!
Copyright © 2013 by Susan Capes · All Rights reserved · E-Mail: sue@loughtonchs.co.uk
Wednesday 9th October 2013
Have just uploaded two more panorama photos - from 1951 and 1953. They took a lot more photos during the 50s than in later years. They still need numbering but the teachers are ready to identify. It's nice to see some who were still teaching when I joined in 1965.
Tuesday 15th October 2013
I don't write this blog very often and things have been happening in my absence! Meet my head researcher, Christine. She has been, and still is, invaluable in doing all the web browsing, emailing and visiting that is necessary to dig out interesting information. Beginning with a couple of pieces of information on former headmistresses, Miss Hall and Miss Verini, Christine has now gone on to produce a chronology of the school , linked to the history items on the Home page. As such, these things are never complete no matter how diligent the researcher, so if you have anything to add please email me sue@loughtonchs.co.uk and we'll get it added in. Please make sure the item has a relevant year at least so that we can fit it in correctly. Christine has also worked on items about Christmas at LHS (with the lovely "Past 3 O'Clock" all written out for you to sing along) and a list of Head Girls and Deputies, which is towards the bottom of the Home page. Please feel free to send comments and memories about Christmas and any additions to the Head Girls list if you can.
On other things, Graham Frankel included a piece about us in the BHCHS newsletter and I have had a brilliant response from husbands, brothers and most wonderfully, sons, of former LHS pupils. This has resulted in some lovely photos from the early 50s together with the panoramas from 1951 and 1953 and one Mum has come up with memories from 1927, which are on the Home page in the section about the School's history.
Keep them coming please!
All in all, a busy time for the website!
On other things, Graham Frankel included a piece about us in the BHCHS newsletter and I have had a brilliant response from husbands, brothers and most wonderfully, sons, of former LHS pupils. This has resulted in some lovely photos from the early 50s together with the panoramas from 1951 and 1953 and one Mum has come up with memories from 1927, which are on the Home page in the section about the School's history.
Keep them coming please!
All in all, a busy time for the website!
Sunday 17th November 2013
The website continues to grow, with all the panoramas numbered and names filtering through slowly. We now have a page about music at school with a link to the Crofton Singers, a choral group that originated with the Bancrofts & LHS Combined Choirs. The history of The Singers and some memories of LHS by a founder member are reproduced with the kind permission of the members. There will be more information about the Combined Choirs following shortly and Christine is working on several other items. Most exciting of all is her search for copies of the School Magazine and we are thinking about the daunting task of (hopefully) turning them into pdf files if it can be achieved.
Tuesday 14th January 2014
A bit late but Happy New Year everyone.
We are approaching the school's birthday -
108 years this Friday, 17th January.
Coincidentally it's also my 60th on the same date and there will be
two former pupils at my party so I'm sure we'll raise a glass to the
old school!
This is a very busy year for me and for a few months I probably won't be in a position to update the website or respond to emails.
Submissions to the database will still go through.
I hope you will bear with me. Meanwhile Christine will be able to respond to questions and to collect your stories and memories ready to pass them on to me for uploading once I have more time.
You can contact her on christine@loughtonchs.co.uk
We are approaching the school's birthday -
108 years this Friday, 17th January.
Coincidentally it's also my 60th on the same date and there will be
two former pupils at my party so I'm sure we'll raise a glass to the
old school!
This is a very busy year for me and for a few months I probably won't be in a position to update the website or respond to emails.
Submissions to the database will still go through.
I hope you will bear with me. Meanwhile Christine will be able to respond to questions and to collect your stories and memories ready to pass them on to me for uploading once I have more time.
You can contact her on christine@loughtonchs.co.uk
Thursday 24th April 2014
Hello again, everyone.
I'm really sorry that I haven't been able to respond to emails, nor to update the photo ID lists. I have been out of the country for three months and have come back to all kinds of things that need my attention back here at home.
It will be some time before I am able to do any major updating (it's a slow business - probably due to the amateur way I set the thing up in the first place) but at least I am back with my PC and can now respond to your emails and will do the ID lists a bit at a time.
In the main, I think the site has enough interesting info to keep people entertained (mainly thanks to Christine's research) but anything particularly noteworthy will, of course, get included eventually.
Meanwhile, I hope you all now get the chance to enjoy the better weather (if and when it comes)
I'm really sorry that I haven't been able to respond to emails, nor to update the photo ID lists. I have been out of the country for three months and have come back to all kinds of things that need my attention back here at home.
It will be some time before I am able to do any major updating (it's a slow business - probably due to the amateur way I set the thing up in the first place) but at least I am back with my PC and can now respond to your emails and will do the ID lists a bit at a time.
In the main, I think the site has enough interesting info to keep people entertained (mainly thanks to Christine's research) but anything particularly noteworthy will, of course, get included eventually.
Meanwhile, I hope you all now get the chance to enjoy the better weather (if and when it comes)
Sunday 13th July 2014
Once again, apologies for neglecting the site but since our long holiday there have been lots of things that needed my attention. However, I now seem to have a bit of breathing space to do other things and have finally begun to add the wonderful things that Christine has unearthed in my absence, most notably, additional articles on early LHS teachers. There is a lovely letter written to the school by Miss Darch after her retirement - chatty and warm and full of interest. I wish we had a photo of her - she sounds wonderful and I just may have to indulge myself and buy some of her books to read. Schoolgirl stories to take me back to childhood! I have noticed brief flurries of activity on facebook but not much is happening otherwise. Anyone organising a reunion that you would like to publicise? Really, my year of 1965 starters should be getting together next year for our 50th but as I only have five contemporaries on the database it would be a tiny party, sadly.
Thursday 31st July 2014
I have been having a blitz on outstanding photos and information and there are lots of new snippets around on the site - from a copy of a 1952 Wembley womens' hockey international programme to information on the fate of LHS's own Elgin Marbles. Look at the galleries for new photos and the teachers page for Miss Blomfield and the new pages on Drama, Loughton during the wars and a music sub-page about Robert Spencer amongst other updates.
I have also updated every menu bar throughout the site so that they now all show all pages, so it should be easier to navigate around the site. Hope you enjoy the new items.
I have also updated every menu bar throughout the site so that they now all show all pages, so it should be easier to navigate around the site. Hope you enjoy the new items.