Chairperson’s Report 2006/7

I find it difficult to believe that this is the seventh edition of the Newsletter that I have edited. Each year I worry that there will not be enough material for the next edition but somehow you always seem to come up trumps with your letters, e-mails and comments from membership forms. As it is the newsletter that keeps us all in touch it is vital that your contributions keep coming – so keep up the good work!

This year was a Reunion Year and it was great to see such an excellent turnout yet again, with, in excess of, 150 members attending. Once again we must thank Mrs Nasir, Plashet’s present Head, for her active support for our association and for giving us the run of both the Grammar School and Plashet buildings for the day. (We must also congratulate her for being awarded an Honorary Doctorate by The University of East London). The Reunion was due to be based in the Grammar School Hall but had to be re-sited into the Plashet building due to the exhibition of GCSE Art work which has to be displayed for the examiners at this time of year. This may mean that the date of our next Reunion, which will be in 2008, may have to be moved from it’s traditional last Saturday in June, in order to ensure that we are able to use the Grammar School Hall as our base. We will not know if a change of date will be necessary until the autumn term of 2007 when the school will receive its examination schedules – but hopefully this will give us plenty of time to inform members in the next Newsletter.

Our Archives cabinet is now in situ – and a group of committee members spent some time at Plashet in early October sorting through all the memorabilia, photographs, etc. and displaying them, along with the old trophies from East Ham Secondary School days, to the best possible effect. If any of you have any further items that you would like to donate please get in touch. A key to the cabinet is being kept in the nearby school office and is available to members if they wish to visit to view the archives. However you are requested to sign the visitors book and not to remove any items from the premises.

We have had quite a few problems with keeping track of ex-students through the Friends Reunited website recently and would like to ensure that, in future, we are able as an association, to contact members directly by e-mail. So please make sure that, in any contact that you have with any members of the committee, and especially on your membership form each year, you quote your up-to-date e-mail address, if you have one. We are delighted that Margaret Bell has offered to join the committee to take over the task of dealing with contacting members through Friends Reunited / e-mail and hope that keeping this information updated will assist her with this task.

We are very grateful to Plashet School for giving us some pages on their new school website to promote our association. I have e-mailed them all of the items included in our newsletters during the last few years and they have included excerpts from these in our section and also under school ‘history’. The POSA pages will also give you news and the date of the next Reunion, once it has been decided. You can access this website at: www.plashet.newham.sch.uk . Our long-term aim is to set up our own website which would give us a place to display some of our archives, news, etc. This  could also then be linked to the Plashet School website and, if they are agreeable, to the excellent Boys Grammar School website, which has been running for some years. It may also be possible to display all the past copies of our newsletters.

So, even though 2007 will be ‘Reunionless’, as you can see it will be quite a busy one for all the committee members if we are to catch up with all the latest developments in communications.

At the last reunion, I chatted to an old student of Monega Secondary School who had come along with her sister, and we feel that, as the forerunner of Plashet County Sec. School, it should become part of our ‘family’ of related schools. We look forward to hearing from ex-students and perhaps publishing articles about the ‘move’ from Monega to Plashet.

Finally I would like to thank all committee members for their continued hard work and commitment to POSA. Our special thanks must go to Jill Dyer who has played an active part in POSA affairs since the very early days of our existence and who now feels it is time for her to step down, in her words, “in favour of younger members”. So where are you ‘younger members’? We would be delighted to welcome any new volunteers. We also send our best wishes to Jenny Fink who is temporarily standing down as Membership Secretary, due to ill health. We wish her a speedy recovery.

 In the meantime, Margaret Edwards, our Press officer, will stand in as Membership Secretary, until Jenny is ready to return. Margaret can be contacted at:

9 Doubleday Drive, Bapchild, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME9 9PJ.

e-mail: Margaret@masedwards.fsnet.co.uk

Sue Foulsham (nee Wingrove) EHGS 1956-63

EHGS Staff 1968-71 and Plashet Staff 1973-2000

 Items for the next Newsletter should be posted to:

Mrs Sue Foulsham

‘Cranbrook’

Rattlesden Road

Drinkstone

Bury St. Edmunds

Suffolk

IP30 9TL

e-mail: suefoulshamster@googlemail.com

Letters/News/E-mails

E-Mail From Pearl Hannah Weisbaum (nee Tuszynski) EHGS 1944-49

I was delighted to connect with the EHGS Website and then in turn to receive the POSA newsletter for 2005. In her e-mail to me Sue said that my name had been mentioned in it several times. I was truly amazed that after so many years anyone would remember me!

As I look back over the years I realize that my days at EHGS had a profound effect on my life. At that time Miss Mitchell was Headmistress. I remember the first assembly after the holidays. It always began with a record of ‘Jesu Joy of Mans Desiring’ followed by the hymn ‘I vow to thee my country’ and the lesson was always on consideration towards others. We all knew what was coming and bowed our heads so that we could not see one another’s faces. Little did I realize that her messages would find a permanent place in my thinking.

Miss Galloway is one of the teachers that I fondly remember. She organised class visits to the Robert Mayer Children’s Concerts, conducted by Sir Boyd Neal. The Queen, then Princess Elizabeth, and her sister Princess Margaret, attended one of the concerts. The EHGS school choir, of which I was a member, performed on the BBC Children’s Hour as well at the East Ham Central Hall. I sang in the ‘Stabat Mater’. Miss Galloway was an enthusiastic teacher and gave freely of her time. She nurtured my love for music.

Miss Robinson came onto staff around 1946. She also taught music and raised our level of awareness as she dared to wear makeup and nail polish! Her fine hair was bleached and she wore low cut red dresses. Her appearance was not in keeping with the school’s dress code, but it certainly made all of us sit up and take notice in her singing classes.

Miss Catherwood taught art and encouraged me to her utmost but my attempts to please her were pathetic. However, I must confess that she finally succeeded but sadly, only to her satisfaction. In the Form 4 final examination I chose to paint a scarecrow in an empty field! I didn’t believe my classmates when they said I had passed the exam and my name was at the top of the class list with a B+! From then on I was constantly teased about my artistic ability! Sad to say I never progressed beyond that exercise!

Miss Broan was my Form 5 home room teacher. She was a kindly soul, deeply concerned about ‘her girls’ and passionate about History especially the ‘Unification of Germany and Italy’. At the beginning of every lesson she would call on me to read from our history text. I was always amused at the way she would pronounce my name. “PERLE”! I wish that my history marks had been more to her liking. Today I enjoy everything of a historical nature.

Miss Nathan comes to mind. She taught French. She was an excellent teacher and organised a student exchange programme to Paris as well as well as inviting Monsieur Transpar to visit the school as a French assistant, hoping he would encourage conversation. His presence created a lot of chatter and giggles!

I left EHGS in May 1949 and taught as a student teacher for two months in east ham before attending Bingley Training College in Yorkshire. Miss Duncan was the Principal and had been headmistress of EHGS prior to her appointment at Bingley. I was the first student from EHGS to attend Bingley. Miss Mitchell continued to be supportive and interested in my progress. I needed a second instrument for my two- year music course and she generously offered to lend me her cello. I would visit with her during my college breaks and share my experiences, and she expressed the hope that other students from EHGS would follow in my footsteps. (It was at BTC that I met Shirley Draffen whose name was mentioned in the 2005 newsletter)

The values I was exposed to at EHGS have stayed with me. Not only did they influence my life and work performance, but in turn have influenced the lives of my children. I would be amiss if I failed to share their accomplishments at this time. My eldest son Melvin is a Film and TV Producer and also works for the British Columbian Film Commission.

My daughter Karen is a perpetual student with a B.A., B.Mus. a lawyer and has a doctorate in Bioethics. In 1997 she received a Lieutenant Governor General award for her contribution as Chair and President of the World’s first Breast Cancer Conference. 750 breast cancer survivors from N. America were present as well as reps. from 56 countries.

Simon, my youngest son, is a Mechanical Engineer with a Masters in Science and also in Business Administration and presently works for Intel/Japan.

I taught in Essex and East Ham from 1951 to 1958. In 1955 I married David Weisbaum/Weston who had attended EHGS for Boys under the Headship of Dr. Whitely. We emigrated to Canada in 1958 where David interned at the University Hospital, Edmonton, Alberta and I had a teaching post waiting for me. We then moved to Ontario in 1959. In 1969 my marriage came to an end and I was divorced in 1974. Like many other women I found myself in the challenging position of a single parent. My children were 12, 8 and 5 years of age at the time. Circumstances required me to return to the workplace in order to support the family; and eventually I returned to the classroom in 1989 and taught English as a Second Language to new Canadians, until retiring in 1996.

Maybe I learned more at EHGS than I realized!

PS. Many thanks for sending the POSA newsletter, 2005. I really enjoyed reading it. It must have been my last name which gave me the endearing nickname of ‘Stinky’!

In 1985 I visited Plashet School, took photos and enquired about the possibility of an ‘old girls association’ At that time nothing had been established. So the waiting has been worthwhile and I will look through my albums and send you photos that could be included in the archives. Many thanks for the work you are doing.

E-Mail from Jeanne Osbourn (nee Farrance)

 1959 leaver Plashet County Sec. School

Memories

East Ham Technical College

The Girls Department 1922-32

By Grace Furby

(from the EHGS for Boys Website)

In 1922, the East Ham Technical College – as it was then called, was quite unlike the Grammar School for Boys, which has developed from it. It was a dual school, the Pricipal, Mr W. Barker, being the Head of the whole school, the second mistress, Miss Cross, in charge of the girls, but with full responsibility.

The Curriculum

To understand a school of those times one must realise that education was vastly different from that of the present day. Pupils entered the school at the age of 12+, studied for four years, took the Oxford General Certificate Examination, aiming at matriculation exemption and were, on the whole, intending teachers. Some were allowed a five-year course and a few others took a Civil Service examination. There was, in consequence, a certain rigidity about the curriculum and general school life as compared to the elasticity of our present day organisation.

What was that rigid school life? Uninterrupted work from 9.30am to 4pm, with 15 minutes break in the morning for recreation and approximately one and a half hours for dinner. Apart from the fact that Miss Cross acted as intermediary for the Women Staff and girls, the organisation and administration were in the capable hands of Mr Barker.

Segregation of the Sexes

The girls occupied the rooms on the south side of the building and went to special rooms for Housecraft, Gymnastics, Art and Geography, while the Sixth Form was usually taught in the corridor. Both girls and boys walked in twos from basement to ground floor or from upstairs down and were hardly allowed to look at each other, in fact, it was with an air of boldness and abandon that we planned mixed parties for Christmas in the Town Hall.

Such rules as were made were strictly kept, but they were few and were, on the whole, connected with creating a suitable atmosphere for work. Each girl began the day with a definite number of good conduct marks which she strove to keep. Staff were united in seeing these rules were kept, all complaints going to the Form Mistress, who not only reprimanded, but encouraged and took a deep personal interest in her girls. It was she, also, who dealt with the more serious faults of behaviour, which were never corrected by rule but by personal contact. This made for a very happy relationship between pupil and teacher and laid down a definite line of action for all. It seemed a perfect combination of authority and friendliness.

sympathy she could always rely upon.

It might be appropriate here to mention a few other differences in school routine.

1)      First day of the school year. All school books were in the hall, office staff were in attendance and during the morning subject mistresses distributed text books throughout the school. The afternoon was a holiday.

2)      Break during morning. All pupils were obliged to go out in the air, winter and summer, except on rainy days, while the school was thoroughly ventilated.

3)      End of day. The mistress in charge stood at the exit to see that coats were buttoned and hat and gloves were on, and to say good afternoon to each pupil. All were out of the school within 15 minutes.

4)      Unusually wet weather. A torrential downpour and heavy rain were anything but depressing, especially over the weekend, for, on arrival on Monday morning, the basement was occasionally flooded. This meant drying out, and cleaning and a days holiday for the school, welcomed by pupils and staff alike, however addicted they were to uninterrupted work.

5)      Behaviour in the streets. To walk two abreast was the rule. If three girls wished to walk together, one must always be on the alert to drop behind, should anyone be coming in the opposite direction, a rule as unusual now perhaps as the enforced wearing of gloves.

For the rest of school life, in terms of the present day, it was largely negative. There were no interruptions of school work, except for a play at Prize Giving. There were no clubs, no school dinners, no free milk, no parents meetings, no medical service or dental treatment and very few Staff Meetings. In fact, the latter was an event, held only to discuss some special or unusual arrangements, the Staff sitting in a semi-circle in order of seniority, men on one side and women on the other.

What activities were there and how were health difficulties met? One hour a week was given up to sports, run on a house system, immediately after school, one day a week. There was tennis in the summer on the site of the Girls Grammar School, hockey in the winter on the Barking Recreation Field, swimming in the baths, usually in the dinner hour and athletics at the end of the year on the Hay’s Wharf ground. All these events counted towards the winning of a House Cup, to which was added literary efforts, general deportment and cleanliness.

Music was always a strong point. Mr Day Winter and his son did most unusual work, not only in training choirs which competed with great success at the Stratford Musical festival, but in the ordinary class lessons, inspired as they were by their own enthusiasm and love for music.