A Resplendent Response
It is always a pleasure to receive such lovely feedback from former pupils when they read their copy of Resplendens, our alumnae magazine.
The article on Miss Frances Wilton – former Junior School teacher and pianist – in the latest issue of the magazine prompted this memory from Alice Faintich (neé Waydenfeld), all the way from Virginia:
‘I remember Miss Wilton well (I can’t ever think of her as “Frances”!) I was in the Lower Third in the Junior School, she was my form teacher, and it must have been around 1960/61 (I’m class of 1968). Actually I was quite terrified of her, not because of anything she did, just her persona I guess. Plus of course I thought she was terribly old, even though she must have been 30 years younger than I am now!
Back in those days I was quite shy. At home we spoke Polish, so my vocabulary and pronunciation of new words was probably not as good as that of the other girls. One day – I can’t remember if it was while we were doing needlework or it was an English lesson – Miss Wilton had me read aloud, which I hated. After reading a sentence with the word ‘lieutenant’ in it, I was completely mystified when she said, “Alice, we aren’t in America now!” I had absolutely no clue what she was talking about, but immediately hoped that the earth would open and swallow me up because I’d clearly done something wrong. It wasn’t until I got home that evening that my parents explained how to pronounce lieutenant in British English. Even funnier now that I’ve lived in the States for more than 40 years!’
The Hymn of Light prompted several memories including this from Wendy Davies (née Adams) Class of 1954
‘Michele Martin’s article and the accompanying photograph evoked many happy memories. I was almost singing aloud. I remembered singing with everyone else and feeling our little bit of loving was going to do so much good. I was born in Hampstead (Upper Heath) in 1936. I went to SHHS prep department in 1944. Miss Heald was Headmistress. We were still ducking into air raid shelters when the siren sounded, and sneaking into the bombed house next door the school to play. When I went on to the high school our Headmistress was Muriel Potter – a really inspiring old lady. In 1952 Miss Boddington took over as Headmistress. She was great. Everyone from my time at school will remember the sixth form mistress, Miss Barber. I was fortunate that her friend, Dorothy Sayers, handed out the prizes the year I earned one.
In the film ‘Scott of the Antarctic’ there is a scene to represent the giving of money by many schools to buy his dogs and ponies. SHHS gave more than any other school, so an SHHS girl is depicted bringing a donation. We were asked to provide or describe the uniform she would have worn. When the film was on at the local cinema the whole school went to watch it. In the film our dogs were called ‘South’ and ‘Hampstead’. There was a very large photo of Scott of the Antarctic covering one wall at the end of the passage past the music rooms.’
Other readers have written to offer their help with the Futures Programme and give careers advice. If you are a former pupil of South Hampstead and would like to support our current pupils, please sign up to the GDST mentoring programme: mentoring@wes.gdst.net You can view the latest edition of Resplendens here.