 |
2005: The 1960
school photo shows Mary Ball sitting
next to me [at the end of our row in this section]. She was School Secretary, followed by Mrs Ada Smith (previously Law). Mary Ball's elder son Graham was at SGS [see top row, extreme left]. He was in his time Senior Army Cadet (with Red Sash) and went to Canada to train in medicine as he could not get a place at a UK medical school in those days. Mary left to live in the South of France with her husband Robin but I lost contact with them about 1970. The last day of the school was very moving, tears were shed particularly on the walk to the church and in the service. I keep in touch with several members of the staff. June Lawrance was very friendly and on several occasions there were visits to the Lawrance's home outside Cambridge - 'Bert' was very keen on his croquet lawn. The saddest recollections are of the death of Michael Page, a brilliant student, he was on my dinner table for a year and talked only of science. |
Françoise PaulyAnother death was that of Françoise Pauly killed with all on board in the Paris air crash [Turkish Airlines DC-10 crash in 1974 when travelling from Paris to London]. She was a gifted young historian and came to SGS for a short while as a French Assistante and stayed with me in Soham. |
 from the 1970 School Photo |
 from the 1972 School Photo |
In my own field of housekeeping there were many incidents but one was typical of a kitchen mishap. The staff spent time and effort topping and tailing gooseberries for a Gooseberry Fool. We cooked them, added the custard and left them in the large kitchen cooker to cool overnight. However, they were in a very warm environment and by the morning we had Gooseberry Wine Custard Fool. All of it had fermented overnight. We had no substitute so we said nothing and dished it up normally. No comments were made - but all of it was eaten with relish ... and possibly a little light-headedness followed.
What a super school and what memories it conjures up.
Soham Grammarian Spring 1960
We welcome Mrs Jarrett who has taken up the post of Housekeeper, vacant after the retirement of Miss Lowe. We wish her a happy stay with us.
last updated 16 May 11