THE 1946 class picture of Weymouth’s Convent of the Sacred Heart High School (Looking Back, May 3) prompted former pupil Rod Harris to contact us with another picture taken from that year.
He is pictured on the extreme right of the top row. Other pupils he can remember are Richard Sams (third row up fourth from right), Denise Cullen, the first girl from the right in the front row and the second girl who is Rod’s cousin Rosemary Lane.
Lorna Weeks also contacted us again with further memories of her time at the school.
She writes: “At the time the photo was taken I lived at St George’s Avenue and Josephine Hobbs and her sister Clare lived at Green Gables at the end of Lynmoor Road. Soon after this picture, they emigrated to South Africa.
“Wynn Buckley lived at the Lupins Hotel at Greenhill, which her parents ran and Mary Symonds lived in Ulswater Crescent. Her mother was a leading figure in the Catholic Women’s League at St Augustine’s Church.
“Mary later married and moved up north. I have a feeling, though I could be wrong, that Janice Munday’s mother ran the Brownie pack to which many of us belonged.”
So, thanks to Lorna, we have a lot of details about some of the pupils – can anyone step forward with more information? It might be nice to see what the class members are doing now.
Ann Gill has also been in touch with some memories of her time at the convent.
She said: “Convent days are a long time ago but I remember the hustle and bustle of doing a nativity play when the ‘angels’ had to stand up high on chairs at the back of the tableau and looked very scared.
“Also the entrance to the stage in those days was a plank from the corridor window to the Hall window, all behind curtains, across a corner. Health and safety – what health and safety? Sports day on the field was also quite fun and I remember enjoying the running races.”
She added: “Our very first teacher in reception class was a Miss Nankivell who always seemed to wear the same dress every day, a dark red woollen one buttoned up to the neck and with long sleeves. Why do we remember these details of long ago?
“Also the art room was right at the very top of the building and our teacher always gave us marks out of 100 for our lesson but she would not ever give anyone over 70 per cent.
“If we took in flowers from home gardens for the classroom, sometimes we could take them to the Rev Mother which was a privilege but felt a bit scary walking up lots of stairs and knocking on her door. She was a very nice lady.”
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