Joining Marianne Thornton School When First Opened

I went to Elmfield Secondary school from 1955 to 1959. I left in the Easter of 1959 when I was 15, I should have stayed until the end of summer term but as I was old enough & didn't like school much I was allowed to leave. Due to this I & four others girls who left early, were never allowed to attend Old Girl meets!. My name was Barbara May but my married name is Hall. I an still in touch with two of my best friends, Evelyn Clements & Liz McCallan. I live in Hertfordshire, Eve in Shepperton & Liz in Antigua! I remember Mrs Averach the art teacher, Mrs Austin, Miss Boggis the French teacher, when at her lesson you had to make sure you didn't sit too near the front as she had a habit of spitting when talking. Girls I remember are Barbara Panther, Christine Bone, Mary Bone, Jennifer Spivey, Joy Booth, she always wore her long ginger hair in a plait! The Walker twins Brenda & Penny.
I loved the candy stripe school dresses we wore in the summer, a bit different to other schools. I was in 4B in my final year, can't remember the teachers name though, can remember Mrs McKay the history teacher & Miss Duffy the Head. Mrs Austin I think was the math teacher, she never liked me as I couldn't fathom out algebra!!!!! Yvonne Trigg was her favourite as I remember!
Loved going to Morden playing fields, didn't like cross country or hockey. Found out some time later that my husband of 54 years also went to Morden playing fields the same time as Elmfield were there, he was at Tulse Hill School, one of 2,000 boys at the time!
Leaving school I joined the GPO & trained as a telephonist at The Minories, next to The Tower of London. I stayed with the GPO for about two years then worked for private companies, including Henly's, the Jaguar & Rover dealers, I met Steve McQueen at Henly's when he came to buy a Land Rover. After Henly's I worked for the AA for seven years on overseas travel at their head office in Leicester Square, also worked at British United Air Ferries, booking passengers & their cars on aircraft. Here I also met Clint Eastwood, I booked him on the air craft to travel to Switzerland.
Don't mean to name drop, but thought I would!!!
I have two sons, regretfully no grand children, I live in Hertfordshire, when at Elmfield I lived in Streatham. I hope I haven't droned on too long, maybe someone will remember me & get in touch, hopefully.

Hi - I also went to Marianne Thornton when it first opened. Before that I was at Elmfield and Alderbrook. Hated them all. I am in contact with the Claudette mentioned in the first comment. She lives in Florida and I live just outside Chicago. Miss Smart grabbed my fringe one day because she said it was in my eyes. I got so p.o"d I walked out and went home. It did not go down well. I left MT when I was 15 after Mrs Stiles said I would not be good for anything except working at Woolworths. I ended up with a BA in Business and Art and 3 years into Interior Architecture. Mrs Averach was wonderful and I ended up working in the Arts. My name used to be Doreen Morgan and I had Auburn hair and was usually called Moggie or Ginger. Oh well. Hope all are happy and healthy.