Memories Of Shute 1939 1941

A Memory of Shute.

It may seem strange for a male to offer these memories but boys were accepted in junior forms and I was at Shute School from the summer of 1939 until the Easter term 1941.
I and my sister, known as Ba Gauld, joined after returning from three years in India. During that first term I remember lunch on the lawn sitting on benches and eating at low tables, discovering the foul taste of beetroot which had looked so appetising to someone who had never seen it before. The lawn between the two massive cedar trees provided a natural stage for a performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream", probably in the summer of 1940. I remember that Miss Tonge, a rather masculine looking teacher played the part of Bottom. My sister played the part of the smallest fairy and as the fairy band swept hand-in-hand across the stage, Elaine Ratcliffe who was the penultimate fairy in the chain lost her grip on the next fairy in line so that the two of them trailed apart from the rest. I saw this from beneath one of the cedars where, dressed as a squirrel I strove to keep my balance – squirrels had to balance themselves on crouched legs whereas the rabbits, all played by girls, were allowed to hop on all fours. The fact that I desperately needed the loo did not add to my comfort. Apart from its its utility as a stage the lawn was ideal for playing "French & English" and “Tom Tiddler's Ground”. All I can remember of the Christmas party was dancing the Sir Roger de Coverley. Miss Taylor taught the kindergarten enthusiastically. Having told us that the paper was made from wood pulp she sent us into the woods to collect rotting wood which was then placed in a large bath of water. So far as I remember the bath and its contents remained in the classroom for the rest of the term but we did not manage a sheet of paper. During rest time she would read to us stories of Babar the Elephant and Milly Molly Mandy. Once, the class performed "The Secret Garden", Elaine Ratcliffe playing the part of Mary. During the winter of 1939/40 when the King and Queen were touring Canada and the USA we were were kept up to date with their progress. I and others became considerably confused because the Canadian Prime Minister was a Mr Mackenzie King and we were never quite certain about whom we were hearing - the King or Mr King. Once out of kindergarten we moved to form 2 under Mrs Peppiatt who had a fierce reputation but was in fact very pleasant. On one occasion however, I had been given one of the newly introduced detentions and she said in a voice of doom, either to Marie Louise Mickleright or to Diane Kitchen, "I think that that is our first detention isn't it?" - oh the shame of it! I was supposed to serve my detention in the "Rec" but since all the "big girls" were there, this shy eight-year-old boy hid in the corridors in the basement! I do remember the magnificent theatre with its seats covered in gold velvet. The music teacher, Mrs Friend?, sought to make us instrumentalists and we were provided with scores marking the drum notes in red, tambourine notes in yellow and triangle notes in blue. As far as I remember, boys always played the drums while girls were offered triangles and tambourines. I too, remember listening to classical music in DB's study and admiring the magnificent plaster ceiling. Occasionally (or perhaps only once) DB would show her 16mm films of her world tour. For those who were not there in her time, DB was Dr M Ferguson Bridie, owner and headmistress who had erected at Seaton Junction station a sign which read "Alight here for Miss Bridie's School for Girls". She wore long dresses and was very proud of her relationship to the playwright, James Bridie. The name "Mahdi" is not familiar either to me or my sister ,who stayed on until 1945. She suggests that it may have referred to Miss Freeman or Miss Jones who perhaps took over as head from DB. Teachers I remember, apart from those whom I have mentioned, were Miss Gardner (the buxom blonde gym teacher) who invariably wore a navy blue gym tunic; Frau Baum who may have taught singing and quite likely, German and Miss Jones who was the school secretary. There were also Miss Field and Miss Chave who, as far as I remember, as part of their duties drove the school cars for the day pupils. The cars were known as FLB (green) and the "new" DOD which was black. I do not remember the cold, apart from the dreadful winter of 1940, but then we did not have to sleep at the school except for a brief three weeks in Ladymere? in 1939 when our parents went to Scotland. I did revisit Ladymere in 1945 after having been rendered temporarily homeless after burning down a house belonging to DB in which we were staying with the tenant, a friend of our parents! Pupils remembered are Bill Short and his sister Betty whom I admired for her ability to turn a series of cartwheels down the lawn; Simon Twist, Malcolm Roberts, Stuart Opperman, Rosie Blandford, Diana Salter, Ladybird Philpott, Mary and Ruth Baker, Dawn Morton, Suzanne Newton?, Mary and Jane Borwick. Jane had long thick golden plaits which, as a horrible little boy, I used to tug enthusiastically. There were also Susan Ratcliffe, sister of Elaine, Olga and Helen Robb and Helen Balkwill - apologies to those whom I have omitted - and for the length of this contribution.

---

---