Laleham Abbey In The Late 1940s To Mid 1950s

A Memory of Laleham.

I recognised several of the names mentioned by Clare. I was Tricia Heathcote then. Michele Tooth came to stay with me one holidays. Her parents were actors and she had a boxer dog named Tree. (Strange the things you remember!) There was also an Elizabeth who had some connection with Princess Marie Louise, and the head girl was Hazel Mary Wheatley. My best friend was an American girl, Brenda Payton. We, and a couple of others, tried to run away and she was expelled. Mainly, I suspect, because as an American she did not 'fit in'. As well as the regular doses of senna I remember the daily bottles of milk - frozen in winter and sour in summer, regardless of which we had to drink. I did ballet, music and elocution; also horse riding which I loved. It was also an opportunity to get outside the walls! I remember the freezing winters when we would knit mittens to try and keep our hands warm. Nevertheless my fingers would be covered in dreadful chilblains, which often turned septic. The first day of the holidays usually included a visit to the family doctor. A few years after I left the school I was diagnosed with TB, probably due, in part, to the conditions there. The standard of education was certainly high but on the other hand we were taught nothing about 'life' and the outside world. At least three girls later developed psychological problems. Independence was certainly not in the curriculum, rather blind obedience. There was no such thing as free thinking and no sense of empathy or nurture from the nuns. Years later I went back to Laleham Abbey, to discover that it had become an old people's home. The dispirited-looking residents were crowded into 'Canaan''. All just sitting there, with nothing to occupy them. I was glad when I heard that it had closed its doors!