I started at Chandos in approximately 1942.  Teachers whose names I remember were Miss Grimley, Mrs Gooch (or Miss whichever the case may be), Miss Hyde (music teacher), Miss Lehrs, Miss Noise (Noyes), Miss King (who, rumor had it, married an American), Miss Grosstevan (was she the geography teacher?  I'm not sure).  And, of course, our dear Miss Pike.  Many are the times I was sent to her office.  I believe that Miss Hyde and, I think it was her brother, put the words and music to the school song.  Seems it was every Friday that we had assembly in the hall where we sat crossed leg on the floor, except for the seniors who got to sit on chairs at the back.  I remember the shield that all the "Houses" tried to win so that they could have their colored ribbon tied to it.  I was in 'Cannons’ and always in trouble because I got more warning marks than anyone, which of course meant lost housemarks.

I remember having to go to the headmistress (along with my two friends), for having done something naughty (I'm not sure what it was now but we were always in 'hot water’).  After we had been to see her and received our "dressing down", we decided it was too late to go to class and decided to just stay out.  There was another girl with us who wanted to go back to class… we wouldn't let her, however,  she eventually got away from us and went back.  Of course we lost at least one house mark for that.

I remember snowball fights on the school playground.  All the girls against the boys (though we were "not allowed" on the boy’s side of the playground), but that day we chased them completely across it.  Of course they "returned fire" and we fled back to our own side.

I remember there was a wall at one end of the playground that went up in "steps".  Many students often sat on the lower wall, but of course I, and a couple of my friends, decided to be really daring and see how far we could go.  It was quite high as I remembered and of course we got in trouble.  The poor teacher who was on playground duty at that time must have had her heart in her mouth when she saw us, for fear we should fall.

One of my best friends was Derek Marks whose father had the Empire Furnishing Store, which I believe is still there.  Other school friends (we may have been known as the "horrible four") were Diane Bell, Audrey Mullard and Margaret Cooper.  I don't think Diane was as naughty as we other three, but we dragged the poor girl into most of our escapades.  None of us were "bad"… mainly mischievous.  We would jump in and catch a ball that girls were throwing to each other and we would throw among ourselves, we would jump in their skipping ropes as someone was turning it for someone else to jump in, and in class we talked or passed notes… that type of thing, but we were pretty constant with it and probably got on the teacher’s nerves.

I am still in touch with Audrey and Margaret although we lost track of Diane.  Another girl who went to Chandos and who I have only recently "found" again, keeps in touch with the 'Old Girls’ I believe.  We didn't know each other very well at school but became very good friends after we left school.

 

Needless to say I didn't like school.  I didn't feel I was particularly "bright" and as I didn't want other girls to know how "dumb" I was, I wouldn't tell the teacher that I didn't understand her explanation of a subject.  There are more like me than one would think.  However, I scraped by and as I was going to Chandos during the war years, they put the school leaving age down to 14 (it was 16, then 15 and eventually they dropped it to 14).  I was quite happy about that.

This also brings memories of the air-raid sirens going off and having to go into the shelters.  Being young it was all rather exciting and we didn't mind a bit as little work could be done in the shelters.

I used to watch the doodlebugs until the sound of the engine cut-out and it started to fall, then waited for the loud explosion.

I remember waking up in the middle of the night and my sister telling me to get up and be careful.  There was glass all over the floor.  One of the shells from an artillery gun had come down and exploded on the balcony two doors from us and had blown all the windows out along the row of houses.  Scary.  I also remember going down to the shelters at night and one night waking up and hitting my head on the bunk above me.  The noise of a bomb going off up the street had woken me from a deep sleep and I had sat up straight and whacked my head.

I remember going out the day after an air raid and finding pieces of shrapnel.  We used to collect them….they were from our guns that were shooting at the German airplanes and were placed on the roof of Woolworth's which was just a few houses from us.  I had a whole box full of shrapnel and often wonder what ever happened to it.  I would love to have a piece of it now to show my children.

 

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I have only one picture from the '40s and it would have been taken in about 1947, though I don't remember where - somewhere not far from where I lived though:

I am with friends, though not those I mentioned.  I am on the left, Margaret Lee (also went to Chandos) is in the middle and Pat Tucker (also a Chandos gal) on the right.  As to the suits: I thought we all dressed that way in those years.  No, they weren't "expensive" clothes.  None of the three of us was from wealthy families.  It's a shame but back in those days we didn't take so many pictures and my old school pictures were all sent to relatives who have long since died and I never got my hands on them again.  One thing about it, I don't think all the girls we pestered would recognize me from this picture…  I always wore my hair short (to the ears) and a fringe ……

I went on to a secretarial college and worked in London at several different jobs and managed to do quite well working as a secretary and eventually as a medical transcriptionist.  I didn't retire until 1998.

I married an American in 1950 and have lived in the United States since 1952.  I have 3 children, 2 boys and a girl who are grown and married with children, who are themselves grown and married with children, so I am a great grandmother now (5 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren).  I met and married my second husband when I was 68 and we have been married 9 years - that makes me 77, WOW!

Finding the Chandos web site really took me back down memory lane and I enjoyed it.

If you knew Kathleen or you would like to get in-touch with her about her 'story’, please 'Contact us’.