I remember the panama hats with the school stripe around them - straw for summer and navy felt for the winter months. I was a prefect, and only prefects wore the boaters. I don't remember having to varnish mine though!
Did you know that, when a girl was about to join the school, the term beforehand a pupil in her new class had to write a letter of introduction - telling her about the class, school etc. I've always loved writing letters, and still do, so I usually got the job in my class. The letter was then given to the joint headmistresses Miss Manchester and Miss Williams before it was deemed appropriate to be posted off. I wonder if that happens these days?
Letter writing is certainly a dying art these days, but it was very much encouraged in the 1960's. I started writing to my first penpal in 1964, the year I joined Babington House School and have never looked back.
My literature teacher at the school, Mrs Cook, got me reading too, and now 50 years later I am never without a book. The first book she started us reading was Jane Eyre, and we read a chapter per lesson, and then made comments on it. I've read the book 8 times since then. She had no idea what she was starting!!
