Rws

A Memory of Sawbridgeworth.

Hi,
I went to RWS in 1957 but` was only there for two or three terms because I hated the place. My salvation was the friends I made there and the music teacher who was very kind, with whom I had piano lessons. Miss Edmed was the head teacher while I was there, what a tartar she was. Does anyone else remember her saying, " Procrastination is the thief of time girls" every time she saw us relaxing. I too remember the Tuck Shop which is still there and still named The Tuck Shop. The current owners are lovely people but I remember the owners then as being rather sharp and not at all child friendly. I was in Roden House, our common room was the room with the big window, to the right of the front portico. I live in Sawbridgeworth now, most of the old part hasn't changed very much but the place has grown very considerably since then, particularly on the other side of the London Road. It's no longer a village, it's officially a town now, albeit a small one. Hyde Hall is now luxury apartments and the stable block is now very swish houses. Funnily enough I became a secondary school teacher probably because I loved the school I went to next which was also a boarding school, but not one primarily for children who had lost a parent or both parents - some of whom had died in the War or of TB which was rife at the time. The regime at that school was far more relaxed, it achieved high standards too but with far more warmth and respect for children which I felt RWS really lacked. That was a great pity, as most of its students had already experienced tragedy and loss, but that's how orphans were viewed in those days. Thank God we've become more enlightened. I was one of the lucky ones, I still had both of my parents who realised very early on this was not the school they wanted for their daughter.
Susan (nee) Leonard.