Loughton County High School for Girls
Copyright © 2014 by Susan Capes · All Rights reserved · E-Mail: sue@loughtonchs.co.uk
Wednesday 15th July 2015
The 1948 panorama is now fully numbered and awaiting identification.
Homework for those of you at school in 1948: Study the photo and identify anyone you recognise!
Very sad to hear of the death of another former pupil, Mary Vanner, nee Phillips, LHS 1969 to 1974.
Our condolences go out to her family, especially her mother who is 100 years old.
To lose a child at any age is the cruelest thing, but to have to deal with it at that age must be dreadful.
Some time ago, Christine sent me the words to the school prayer but it disappeared into the depths of my files. I have just rediscovered it and posted it on a new page about school assembly - a sub-page of the music page.
Homework for those of you at school in 1948: Study the photo and identify anyone you recognise!
Very sad to hear of the death of another former pupil, Mary Vanner, nee Phillips, LHS 1969 to 1974.
Our condolences go out to her family, especially her mother who is 100 years old.
To lose a child at any age is the cruelest thing, but to have to deal with it at that age must be dreadful.
Some time ago, Christine sent me the words to the school prayer but it disappeared into the depths of my files. I have just rediscovered it and posted it on a new page about school assembly - a sub-page of the music page.
Tuesday 25th August 2015
Once again time is whizzing by with not many chages to the website. Other projects are now taking priority and there are not many new items to include.
Barbara Martin (nee Dunlop) who supplied the 1948 panorama photo has also written her memories of her time at school and I have published them in full here, having thought about splitting them into anecdotes on various pages and then changing may mind! They make an interesting read.
Barbara Martin (nee Dunlop) who supplied the 1948 panorama photo has also written her memories of her time at school and I have published them in full here, having thought about splitting them into anecdotes on various pages and then changing may mind! They make an interesting read.
Saturday 9th May 2015
I had an email and phone call from a researcher at BBC Essex this weekend. They are putting together a short item about Ruth Rendell who died last week. It will include a short recorded interview with Roding Valley High School's librarian and archivist, Julia, who has provided them with some info about Ruth's time at school (facilitated by Christine Spencer's untiring efforts at cataloguing the archive) and they want to do a 90 second live interview with me answering a couple of questions about the school so I'm making some notes or I'll dry up!
Even if you don't live in Essex you can listen online:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcessex
Saturday 16th May between 8.45am & 9am
Even if you don't live in Essex you can listen online:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcessex
Saturday 16th May between 8.45am & 9am
Saturday 16th May 2015
Well that was fun - my first ever radio interview! All credit to Julia who gave them loads of info. My interview went OK but I didn't get the chance to tell them any of the things I'd prepared. Never mind. If you missed it and would like to hear the recording (about 6 minutes total) you can find it on the BBC's 'listen again' service:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02qxgml
and scroll through to the last 7 minutes of the programme
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02qxgml
and scroll through to the last 7 minutes of the programme
Friday 3rd July 2015
Haven't had much to report of late and then I received a new panorama photo for 1948 (many thanks Barbara Martin (nee Dunlop). I have only numbered the teachers so far but will do the pupils asap. Meanwhile the photo is here and the ID list is here. New pages like these don't get added to every menu on every page because to do that I would have to re-upload every one of the 50+ pages which would take hours so I have updated the Home page and the 'parent' pages for the panoramas and the ID lists.
Tuesday 7th April 2015
I hope that everyone had an enjoyable Easter weekend. At least the sun came out for the Bank Holiday Monday here.
Unfortunately I came home from a weekend away to the very sad news that Miss Wolff has passed away. Her funeral is tomorrow and I am hoping to be able to attend to pay my respects to this remarkable lady. She was never a regular teacher for me but she covered many lessons for other teachers and I remember her humour and her encouragement.
With regard to the website I have added some information to the Music page about a 1953 recording of Hansel and Gretel which was conducted by Herbert von Karajan and in which the Combined Choirs performed. There is a link to a recording uploaded to YouTube.
Unfortunately I came home from a weekend away to the very sad news that Miss Wolff has passed away. Her funeral is tomorrow and I am hoping to be able to attend to pay my respects to this remarkable lady. She was never a regular teacher for me but she covered many lessons for other teachers and I remember her humour and her encouragement.
With regard to the website I have added some information to the Music page about a 1953 recording of Hansel and Gretel which was conducted by Herbert von Karajan and in which the Combined Choirs performed. There is a link to a recording uploaded to YouTube.
Thursday 9th April 2015
Yesterday, attending Miss Wolff's funeral, was a very sad day but also very interesting as I have never been to a Church of the East service before. I have written an account of everything that happened so that everyone who would have liked to attend but couldn't can at least read about the lovely service and things that were said about Miss Wolff. My account is here at the end of the other items about Miss Wolff.
It was also lovely to meet Catherine Furse and Bridget Strevens who were 3 years below me at school. Unfortunately I didn't realise there were other OGs there so missed out on meeting Susan Moodie, Julie Loy and Head Girl Mary Redfern.
It was also lovely to meet Catherine Furse and Bridget Strevens who were 3 years below me at school. Unfortunately I didn't realise there were other OGs there so missed out on meeting Susan Moodie, Julie Loy and Head Girl Mary Redfern.
Friday 27th March 2015
There are lots of new items on the website now as I've been having a blitz on my pending file after returning from holiday.
Do you remember when the school took part in Top of the Form?
There are new photos in the Groups gallery and in Your Memories and Other Photos plus pieces on Charlotte Perrin and Kim Hagger
A while ago on the LHS facebook page there was some chat about the school buns. When you think about them they were exceptionally unhealthy but oh! they were gorgeous - doughnut type bun (but hot-dog shape) with jam and sweet cream. I can taste them even now!
Mary Redfern remembered them like this: "Another thing I am now remembering is the delicious buns from Spray's bakery. 5 tickets for a shilling. Green tickets. We used to run over the bridge to the canteen to get them at break but we probably needed to run 10 miles to burn off the calories. They were split ... with jam and fake cream but tasted divine. Imagine having one EVERY day for years!"
There's been some debate since about which colour the bun tickets were but no-one disputes that they were wonderful.
Do you remember when the school took part in Top of the Form?
There are new photos in the Groups gallery and in Your Memories and Other Photos plus pieces on Charlotte Perrin and Kim Hagger
A while ago on the LHS facebook page there was some chat about the school buns. When you think about them they were exceptionally unhealthy but oh! they were gorgeous - doughnut type bun (but hot-dog shape) with jam and sweet cream. I can taste them even now!
Mary Redfern remembered them like this: "Another thing I am now remembering is the delicious buns from Spray's bakery. 5 tickets for a shilling. Green tickets. We used to run over the bridge to the canteen to get them at break but we probably needed to run 10 miles to burn off the calories. They were split ... with jam and fake cream but tasted divine. Imagine having one EVERY day for years!"
There's been some debate since about which colour the bun tickets were but no-one disputes that they were wonderful.
Monday 2nd February 2015
After a busy (and very enjoyable) Christmas and New Year I have finally found some time to work on the website. Many apologies for the delay.
There is an article about former LHS pupil, Dame Celia Hoyles; articles on Miss Chisholm and Miss Thomas; an obituary for Miss Darch (and a beautiful photo of her); more on Doris the Ghost and some names on the ID lists for the 1975 and 1978 panoramas and a 1980 6th form photo plus ID list. More to come....
There is an article about former LHS pupil, Dame Celia Hoyles; articles on Miss Chisholm and Miss Thomas; an obituary for Miss Darch (and a beautiful photo of her); more on Doris the Ghost and some names on the ID lists for the 1975 and 1978 panoramas and a 1980 6th form photo plus ID list. More to come....
Saturday 28th February 2015
Well, what a week!
On Wednesday, Christine and I finally met 'in the flesh' having worked well together online for 18 months and I'm pleased to say we work just as well together for real - I climbed the ladder, Christine held it steady; I took the photos, Christine moved the furniture, held my bag, held blinds out of the way, shmoozed the site manager for a view of the stored boards..... I'm not sure I needed to be there actually :)
Anyway, we succeeded in our task of photographing every available honours board though it is clear that there are some permanently missing - part of 1974 has already been brought to my attention. Sadly there are no others to find and some that we did are in a sorry state, as you can see. The board galleries are here. Any hopes of restoration and/or reinstatement of the stored boards will, I believe, be vain ones as they understandably mean little to the current school. Even some of the ones still on the walls are hidden behind built-in cupboards and office walls and one even has a TV screen screwed onto it.
Since Wednesday I have spent far too long sat on my bottom building the new pages for the honours boards and compiling the new sport page which is long overdue. I still have some things pending including the school's participation in the Top of the Form TV show and something about Charlotte Perrin, but I am off on a short holiday so they'll have to wait till I return.
On Wednesday, Christine and I finally met 'in the flesh' having worked well together online for 18 months and I'm pleased to say we work just as well together for real - I climbed the ladder, Christine held it steady; I took the photos, Christine moved the furniture, held my bag, held blinds out of the way, shmoozed the site manager for a view of the stored boards..... I'm not sure I needed to be there actually :)
Anyway, we succeeded in our task of photographing every available honours board though it is clear that there are some permanently missing - part of 1974 has already been brought to my attention. Sadly there are no others to find and some that we did are in a sorry state, as you can see. The board galleries are here. Any hopes of restoration and/or reinstatement of the stored boards will, I believe, be vain ones as they understandably mean little to the current school. Even some of the ones still on the walls are hidden behind built-in cupboards and office walls and one even has a TV screen screwed onto it.
Since Wednesday I have spent far too long sat on my bottom building the new pages for the honours boards and compiling the new sport page which is long overdue. I still have some things pending including the school's participation in the Top of the Form TV show and something about Charlotte Perrin, but I am off on a short holiday so they'll have to wait till I return.
Thursday 13th November 2014
I'm afraid there are not many changes to the website these days. Early on it was easy. Both Christine and I were discovering new things about the school all the time but Christine definitely worked too hard and got everything done in no time at all! New info has dried up somewhat, though there are new photos (thank you Vivienne Crisp) -
the Sixth Form photo from 1981/2 - and the 1978 Panorama - they used to be taken every 5 years but a few extras appear to have snuck in :)
I still have to number the panorama - sorry, it takes quite a while and I'm busy elsewhere but am getting there. The other thing that you may notice is that some page menu boxes are incomplete. This will be remedied in due course but it takes several hours to re-upload every page (all 50 of them). The Home page menu is up to date though, as is this one and the ones on any recently updated pages. I've also just noticed (after over a year!) that the school heading on almost every page has dropped "girls" onto a second line. Took me a while to spot that, didn't it? It's fine in the web-builder program. Anyway, that too will be amended bit by bit as pages get re-uploaded.
the Sixth Form photo from 1981/2 - and the 1978 Panorama - they used to be taken every 5 years but a few extras appear to have snuck in :)
I still have to number the panorama - sorry, it takes quite a while and I'm busy elsewhere but am getting there. The other thing that you may notice is that some page menu boxes are incomplete. This will be remedied in due course but it takes several hours to re-upload every page (all 50 of them). The Home page menu is up to date though, as is this one and the ones on any recently updated pages. I've also just noticed (after over a year!) that the school heading on almost every page has dropped "girls" onto a second line. Took me a while to spot that, didn't it? It's fine in the web-builder program. Anyway, that too will be amended bit by bit as pages get re-uploaded.
Friday 5th December 2014
Well, Christmas will be here before we know it and as usual, I am not as organised as I would like. I am sorry that the website has been put on the back burner for the moment because it means that I am getting behind with things, most particularly the numbering of the 1978 panorama. It's a job I keep postponing, to my shame, as it's not my favourite thing to do. In the meantime, following some discussion on facebook, I have posted some photos relating to the 67/68 concert when we sang the Haydn 'Nelson' Mass and The Lady of Shalott. If anyone has any memories they'd like to contribute to the page relating to these or to any other concerts, I'd love to receive them.
Monday 8th December 2014
The 1978 panorama is finally numbered and ready for identification. I've named a few teachers but there's plenty still to do. Miss Slingerland is holding what appears to be a very reluctant Beagle that is either barking, howling or yawning! Anyone know its name?
Thursday 14th August 2014
Did you join LHS in 1964?
Click here to find out more about your 50 year reunion
Click here to find out more about your 50 year reunion
Tuesday 23rd September 2014
I've finally found time to number the 1977 and 1985 sixth form photos so if you were in them, please have a go at naming some of your friends. The panorama photo for 1984/5 just isn't clear enough so I'm not going to number it until I get a better copy. Do you have a copy you could scan and email please? A scan in 3 or 4 parts, each part at least 1Mb but no more than 2Mb would be perfect. It doesn't matter if the ends of each section overlap - better than missing people out and I can crop them to suit myself once I receive them.
Other than that, there aren't many things to add at the moment.
Other than that, there aren't many things to add at the moment.
Wednesday 27th July 2016
There are some new names on the 1956 panorama ID list so my thanks go to Linda Thorp for these. Linda's favourite teacher, as she was for many, was Miss Wolff who taught at the school for a dedicated 33 years and to whom more website space is devoted than to any other teacher.
Hope everyone is enjoying the summer which has finally arrived (she says as it begins to drizzle outside!)
Hope everyone is enjoying the summer which has finally arrived (she says as it begins to drizzle outside!)
Sunday 11th September 2016
Recent sad news - Miss Betty Coles, who taught history at LHS, died on 15th August. Her funeral on 7th September was attended by former head girl and history graduate Mary Redfern who has kindly written a tribute. You can read it here.
Monday October 4th 2016
This year seems to be rushing by and the leaves are beginning to fall. I hope you can all make the most of the remaining fine weather.
Christine recently sent me some howlers from the early school magazines. Between us we've constructed quite a list and you can have a browse through them here.
Christine recently sent me some howlers from the early school magazines. Between us we've constructed quite a list and you can have a browse through them here.
Thursday 7th April 2016
My apologies for the lack of updates recently. I just haven't had time. There is, however, a numbered copy of the 1980-81 sixth form photo, thanks to Alex Marin and she has provided me with a substantial list of IDs which will be updated shortly. More will be welcome...
We have a new page - The School Day - to which I have transferred all the school reports plus a few pages from class books, courtesy of Francesca Brown and a timetable from Christine Robinson. All the photos pop-up and will enlarge further with a click in the top right-hand corner. If anyone else has their old timetables, a few more would prove very interesting.
We have a new page - The School Day - to which I have transferred all the school reports plus a few pages from class books, courtesy of Francesca Brown and a timetable from Christine Robinson. All the photos pop-up and will enlarge further with a click in the top right-hand corner. If anyone else has their old timetables, a few more would prove very interesting.
Sunday 12th June 2016
I think we are reaching the point where additions to the site will be considerably less frequent than in the early days though I would like some more info about teachers (Christine is on the case!) meanwhile there is a small addition to Miss James' section. Christine discovered that as well as having her name in the book of remembrance at St Sepulchre's church, Miss Gibson embroidered a kneeler with 30,000 stitches showing Miss James' name, and this was blessed and is held at the musicians' chapel within St Sepulchre's church.
I have also added an early limerick by Ruth Rendell (Graseman), her new blue plaque in Loughton and Christmas greetings to the hockey team from Mrs Daniel and on the Pupils page there is some interesting info about J. Nicola Nicholls (née Kemp), LHS 1969 - 1976.
I have also added an early limerick by Ruth Rendell (Graseman), her new blue plaque in Loughton and Christmas greetings to the hockey team from Mrs Daniel and on the Pupils page there is some interesting info about J. Nicola Nicholls (née Kemp), LHS 1969 - 1976.
Sunday 17th January 2016
LHS began 110 years ago today. Happy 110th birthday to our school!
Monday 22nd February 2016
I've been re-vamping the first few pages of the website as I felt that the history, pupils and teachers items were a bit jumbly so I have changed the home page to just some introductory info and added a new heads and head girls page with sub-pages for teachers and pupils. It has enabled me to include far more info about the headmistresses (especially Miss Heald) as well as including secretaries Miss Neville and Mrs Wright (if anyone knows anything about other secretaries, please let me know)
Saturday 5th March 2016
We now have a very early panorama - 1935. Some familiar names in the teachers list already - Miss Cowmeadow, Miss Darch, Miss Ayres, Miss Silvester and of course, headmistress Miss Hall - her last panorama before she retired. The page won't appear on every page menu until I next re-publish the entire site but you can find it here. My thanks for sending the photo go to Jo Mullin whose mother and aunt are in the photo and I hope they will be identified soon.
Wednesday 9th December 2015
I have made a start on Miss Wolff's scrapbook. Click here to see what I've put on so far
Monday 14th December 2015
Miss Wolff's scrapbook is now fully uploaded (with the exception of a few pages as you'll see explained. I have made the pages display as big as I can. They will mostly be taller than your screen but you can scroll up and down to view them. hopefully they are big enough to read most of the text (on a PC anyway). If you click anywhere on the right side of a photo the next one will display, click outside the image frame and the gallery will close. Hope you enjoy it. There are pictures of some of the 1984 6th formers. Can you identify yourself or your friends?
Monday 21st December 2015
As I'm very unlikely to add to the website until January, may I take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and Good Health and Happiness in the coming year
Tuesday12th January 2016
Apart from a few additions to the ID lists, especially the 1978 panorama, I haven't had much chance to add anything but I have a number of old magazines (see post for 4th Dec below) to study and I'm sure I'll find something of interest to post soon.
Friday 4th December 2015
Well, what an amazing week. As far as school resources go it's been like Christmas already!
On Monday I received 2 parcels from Catherine Furse. Catherine has kept in touch with Miss Wolff ever since leaving school and I met her at Miss Wolff's funeral. Miss Wolff's family passed a number of items on to Catherine and she has very kindly passed some of them on to me to hold in our "archive" and to share on the website.
There are several school magazines (including the first three I had (and threw away :-( ) so I am enjoying reading them again). The most precious item, though, is the scrapbook that was made for Miss Wolff on the occasion of her retirement. Catherine said Miss Wolff was immensely proud of it and would bring it out for inspection every time Catherine visited! It's a fragile thing now and has required some TLC to restore it but I will be scanning or photographing some of it for a special extra page on Miss Wolff. It is mainly the product of Mrs Henderson's hard work and imaginative writing and is quite humorous in places. Watch this space as I'll let you know when it begins to become available here.
Yesterday I received an email from a gentleman involved in house clearance who had acquired some papers relating to a former pupil of LHS. I arranged to meet him today and he has very generously donated this bundle of items to our archive too. I have just finished looking through. It relates to Doreen Tautz (born 8th September 1920) who was at LHS from 1932 to 1937 and includes some school magazines, her Girl Guide Diary from 1937 (the year she left school in December), and 17 school reports - I'll scan some of these in (eventually) - the early ones are countersigned by Miss Hall as headmistress and the later ones by Miss Verini. Doreen's form mistresses included Winifred Darch and Miss Mather.
The bundle also contains many letters written to her by her husband who was serving overseas a lot of the time, and many drawings and cards made by her children. How sad that they didn't want any of this. Doreen didn't make it on to the honours boards (in fact she had to re-take the whole of her Class III year) but she was a contemporary of Pauline Burborough whose story is on the home page and who does appear on the 1937 board.
On Monday I received 2 parcels from Catherine Furse. Catherine has kept in touch with Miss Wolff ever since leaving school and I met her at Miss Wolff's funeral. Miss Wolff's family passed a number of items on to Catherine and she has very kindly passed some of them on to me to hold in our "archive" and to share on the website.
There are several school magazines (including the first three I had (and threw away :-( ) so I am enjoying reading them again). The most precious item, though, is the scrapbook that was made for Miss Wolff on the occasion of her retirement. Catherine said Miss Wolff was immensely proud of it and would bring it out for inspection every time Catherine visited! It's a fragile thing now and has required some TLC to restore it but I will be scanning or photographing some of it for a special extra page on Miss Wolff. It is mainly the product of Mrs Henderson's hard work and imaginative writing and is quite humorous in places. Watch this space as I'll let you know when it begins to become available here.
Yesterday I received an email from a gentleman involved in house clearance who had acquired some papers relating to a former pupil of LHS. I arranged to meet him today and he has very generously donated this bundle of items to our archive too. I have just finished looking through. It relates to Doreen Tautz (born 8th September 1920) who was at LHS from 1932 to 1937 and includes some school magazines, her Girl Guide Diary from 1937 (the year she left school in December), and 17 school reports - I'll scan some of these in (eventually) - the early ones are countersigned by Miss Hall as headmistress and the later ones by Miss Verini. Doreen's form mistresses included Winifred Darch and Miss Mather.
The bundle also contains many letters written to her by her husband who was serving overseas a lot of the time, and many drawings and cards made by her children. How sad that they didn't want any of this. Doreen didn't make it on to the honours boards (in fact she had to re-take the whole of her Class III year) but she was a contemporary of Pauline Burborough whose story is on the home page and who does appear on the 1937 board.
Sunday 6th December 2015
I have so far scanned and uploaded some of Doreen Tautz' school reports (see 4th Dec below) plus one of mine for comparison (of layout and subjects, not grades!) and her 4 speech day programmes. Other items from my mega treasure trove may take a little longer to prepare for upload.
Wednesday 14th October 2015
A few months ago while driving past the school I saw advertising panels for McCarthy & Stone around the old tennis courts. I looked them up online and found that they had applied for planning permission to build a block of "luxury" retirement flats on the site. Planning permission has now been granted so yet another patch of our old sports grounds has been turned over to development. I wonder if it's all to do with idiotic health and safety rules? Can't risk children playing outdoors, they might actually get fit and healthy and then where would all our new computer developers come from??
Fancy buying one of these flats for nostalgia's sake?
Fancy buying one of these flats for nostalgia's sake?
Sunday 1st November 2015
It appears from the McCarthy and Stone website that it is all systems go on the retirement flats. I wonder if enough of us want them we could take over the whole block at discounted rates!
Winter is on its way and this morning's fog made for a very gloomy start so I was pleased to receive a lovely email from India bringing some warmth into the day. Diane Creevy (LHS 1955 - 62 spends a lot of time there and recently found the website. She sent some of her memories about the 6th form plays and about doing a gym display in regulation navy blue knickers! The Sports Day memory is just below the old 1911 photo near the top of the page.
Winter is on its way and this morning's fog made for a very gloomy start so I was pleased to receive a lovely email from India bringing some warmth into the day. Diane Creevy (LHS 1955 - 62 spends a lot of time there and recently found the website. She sent some of her memories about the 6th form plays and about doing a gym display in regulation navy blue knickers! The Sports Day memory is just below the old 1911 photo near the top of the page.
Monday 9th November 2015
I have heard from Susan Minot (LHS 1966 to 1973) who is organising a reunion for her year group. If you'd like more info, email me on sue@loughtonchs.co.uk and I'll forward your email so that Susan can contact you herself.
Blog Entries
the earliest, when the website started, was August 2013
the earliest, when the website started, was August 2013