This photo was taken sometime between 1990 and 1994. I was between 8 and 12 years old and this was *my* bed at boarding school.
I think we were in St Nicholas’s dorm room – it held about 10 girls. We each had our bed (with obligatory bunk drawer), one of those horrible cheap orange chairs to put our clothes on and a bedside table.
This photo was obviously taken in the summer – the blue and white stripped dresses give that away.
My duvet cover tells of years of pestering. Everyone had a “Snatch the dog” duvet cover (an unfortunate name, now I think about it). Everyone had one, so I had to have one too. Slightly ironic that neither of my bed-mates apparently gave into this peer pressure.
I’m reminded by an old school chum that the dog on the bed was called Rupert. The dorm bought him for the princely sum of 15p and he was shared between all the girls. I have no idea what happened to him after we all moved on. I like to think that he’s still at the boarding house, being loved by the future generations of 8 year olds. I doubt it somehow.
The slightly dirty cushion at the top of my bed was my equivalent of a comfort blanket. I think it was one of those things that I just picked up. It was obviously a real cushion at one point (at which I have to question my mother’s taste in material) but, over time, it had become so soft and worn that I couldn’t go anywhere without it.
The chest of drawers to the right of the picture is mine. It looks so bare in comparison to my bedside table now (which is host to a teetering tower of books). All I have there is a travel clock my grandmother gave me (since lost in the dustbunnies of the attic I think) and a picture frame with my mother and father in it. I still remember the pictures. My mother (on the left) is squinting slightly into the sun (it was taken in Egypt) and my father is in uniform (also taken on his tour of Egypt)
It’s the end of term apparently. Trunks, bags and clothes are scattered around the room. I’m not sure why the curtains are closed – it’s obviously still bright outside. If I think about it hard enough I can still remember who slept in which bed (mainly by remembering their duvet covers, isn’t that odd?)
These photos bring up mixed memories for me. They remind me of the fun times I had at boarding school and then, later, when I think about it a bit more, I remember the not so fun times. I remember midnight feasts (held at 10 o’clock), I remember catwalk shows and dancing parties (well, what else do pre-teen girls do for fun when they’re stuck in a boarding house!) I remember telling my house mistress that the local village boys were sneaking into the school to meet with the 6th formers. I remember Saturdays out in the village and the route we used to take around all the local shops – heady days of freedom, well before we were allowed to go to the nearest town. I remember being caught by the headmaster walking across the grass to the quad. I remember laughing about it for the next year. I remember planning to escape and plotting where we would go. I remember the tyre swing in the garden. I remember our “stables” in the small wooded area at the bottom of the garden.
I remember growing up.
This blog post was submitted for the weekly gallery over at Sticky Fingers. This week’s theme was ‘A Memory’. You can see all of this weeks entries >>> here <<<
I think this is my favourite post of all I’ve read on blogs in recent weeks. Not really sure why, I just like it, the nostalgia and having a peek into your childhood.
I didn’t go to boarding school but my school was quite old fashioned and we led quite sheltered lives there in a way I imagine that boarding school possibly provided a protection from the outside world for you.
This has inspired me to go looking through old photos and put something up myself this evening.
Thanks Soupy – that’s really kind.
It was weird writing this post because, suddenly, all this *stuff* just came out of my brain and onto the page. I didn’t even have to think about what I was writing (which makes a change!)
We were protected at school but I’m actually grateful for this – it meant I could have a childhood and grow up in a certain way, without the huge pressure from the outside world to conform to some spur-of-the-moment fashion. I grew up to be me.
Great post Nutty
There must’ve been something about those blue & white stripes (on your summer dresses) – my senior school uniform included a blouse of a very similar pattern.
BTW – lovely pics, but I’m now itching to go clean and tidy stuff away. Permission to call me Miss OCD.
Miss OCD indeed – by the end of the term the room was (probably) cleaned up. I don’t envy my parents having to clean through all our trunks with just stack loads of mud and dirt and general dregs of boarding school!
A blouse of blue & white stripes? You poor thing – wouldn’t it make you look like one of those helpers in American hospitals?
Candy Stripers have red and white dresses
I knew they were stripy though
What a wonderful post!
Thanks Jenni and welcome
Wow, I always wanted to go to boarding school (mad eh?) I probably wouldn’t have liked it when I was actually there though! Such nice pics to share, thank you
Hi Nic – welcome and thank you.
I did enjoy boarding school – there were, of course, some aspects I didn’t enjoy quite so much but overall, I had some really good times there. I haven’t really stayed in touch with those girls I was in a dorm with, which is a shame, but I remember them all with fondness.
Very nice. Personally, I appreciate the Coca-Cola bedspread the most
That’s because you’re not a British child of the 80s. Snatch was, like, so cool.
I would love to hear more about boarding school from when you were young. Boarding school is fairly uncommon here in the States — especially for anyone under 12 or 13.
There’s an idea for a future post then. Boarding school.
It might have to be a collabrative post with some of the other Brit bloggers who I know where put through it!
Ah boarding school. I remeber the days well. I remember not enjoying my first year but really finding it helped me “find myself” without having to go to Thailand or what not. Happy days indeed.
I don’t think I really enjoyed my first year that much but you’re right, it certainly makes you grow up (in a good way). Why find yourself in Thailand when you can find yourself in the leafy enclaves of Surrey, eh?
This post brings back memories of my junior boarding house.
Like you, some good, some not so.
I think that’s the story for all boarding school pupils. Good bits. Bad bits.
What a lovely post, it really feels like you are there. You describe it so well. x
Thanks
Thats a lovely post.
I had a snatch duvet cover too!
Hoorah! It wasn’t just me!
Wow. I think anyone who read something like Mallory Towers as a young girl wanted to go to boarding school but I can’t imagine sending my two away at that age, tho the money is a bigger limiting factor.
Great post – I know what you mean about it writing and it all coming out. I went to write a guest post for someone one day and I had some other thoughts in my head about something else. I started writing and I wrote a completely different post.
Thanks Kate (and welcome to the blog).
I was sent to school as a needs-must. My parents lived overseas and so I had to go. As other commenters have said, there’s a double-edged sword when it comes to boarding school – there are brilliant times and there are not so brilliant times. However, despite the not so brilliant times, I think the whole experience has made me a better person.
I had a Snatch duvet cover. The name is rather worrying isn’t it!
Oh those innocent days
Thanks for taking us back there with you…I always thought it’d be cool to be in boarding school, but obviously it wouldn’t be like what I’d expect!
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