Cont

A Memory of Upper Arley.

We played tic off ground all over the school and grounds. The tree named the ship was a fallen beech tree on the right of the left hand path round the arbouretum. It was ideal for chasing and leaping. Not so ideal was the dormitory furniture after lights out! One night I leapt from the bed to the washstand, hit the wash bowl which broke and sliced my knee, which needed six stiches! I don't remember a trip to a doctor or a hospital and my mother never mentioned a hefty bill.
I have wonderful memories of learning a musical version of 'The Pied Piper of Hamlin', does anyone remember whether it was taught by Phylis Jones or a Miss Nichols? We also performed dances through the ages in which I wore a crinoline and was partnered by someone wearing handsome dark red britches. I wonder who it was.
We toasted chestnuts on the common room fire which was surounded by a guard that we sat on when we were cold (which was very often!). I remember the stove in the junior common room having little windows of mica and a round iron stove on the upstairs corridor which was rarely lit but had the inscription "slow but sure combustion". We had these words on one of our treasure hunt clues. We set these puzzles and often piled into broom cupboards and under beds as we played endless games of sardines and hide and seek. Once I hid between the two layers of the curtain that hung at the end of the stone corridor and into the junior common room. Hearing soft footsteps approaching, I flung my arms around Miss Whitehouse! Miss Kell always wore loud clumpy shoes that anounced her arrival, but Miss Whitehouse crept into a room on soft rubber soled sandles which often caught us out! I was devastated when our head teachers retired and were replaced by Miss Elliot from British Hondurus (Ithink). Many long standing staff left too. Teaching in the depths of the country with no regular means of transport must have been difficult.

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