1 Feb 2010

Hi All,
The reunion plans are steaming ahead. We have 80+ confirmed attendees at present which is great news. I am having to put a cut off date of the 10th of May 2010. The reason for this is, confirming numbers with the hotel. So if your planning to attend please get your name down as soon as possible. You can secure your place with a deposit of £5.00, payable as before to Max Danvers. The remainder can be paid by the cut of date.
Looking forward to seeing you all.

Jed Bottomley (B77-80)

2 Feb 2010

I am seriously looking for former students now living in Australia/New Zealand or other parts of Asia. If you are in contact with any of your former buddy's would you please ask them to contact me at fhewarnaby2@bigpond.com. My objective is to give the Society a local feel & grow the school spirit locally.

Ellen Warnaby (Brandon)
Australasian Representative
Windsor Society

5 Feb 2010

Hello everyone. I have just realised that it is 37 years since I departed for the last time through the gates of WBS. Never again would I, and fellow cohorts, climb back in over the gate at 3 am after consuming many half litres of Lowenbrau in the town centre and stagger back to the dorm hoping that John Dudley (Housemaster) had not heard the disturbance. Normally, we fell into bed fully clothed and feigned unconsciousness until J.D.opened the dorm door to check we were safely stowed!

At the time of leaving, although I left with a sense of having had a great time, the intensity of the experience didn’t really dawn on me until several years later when I returned to Hamm in 1985 and looked at the then closed school from the main gate. That was the moment when I wished I was still there…the real world had obviously caught up with me! I realised at that moment the WBS and WGS experience was something that I would cherish for the rest of my life. That feeling has always been with me and has actually grown in stature down the years. A few years ago I joined the Windsor Society but never really found the time to sit back and think it all through. However, things have changed recently.

So, 37 years later, a transient career behind me and a bit of time to reflect, I started turning out the papers and memorabilia collected over the years. In a box of work papers in the garage I was very pleasantly surprised to uncover a real treasure which made the heart beat faster and the memories come flooding back. I found my WBS school monitor tie, prefects tie, prefects badge, all my school reports, four copies of Concordia, two Balmoral House photographs dated 1972 and 1973, my ‘O’ level and ‘A’ level exam timetables, the History and Geography book prizes from the 5th and upper 6th and, even more stimulating, several letters from old friends all dated between 1973 and 1975.

This discovery brought all the wonderful memories, faces, names and exploits flooding back. The intensity of the experience was fascinating and I was a little shocked at just how much these 3 years had impacted on my life. From all the posts and comments on the various sites I gather this is a common experience.

Any way, without going on too much I intend to do something about it! I want to swing the lantern with old Windsor colleagues ASAP. I will be coming to the next reunion in Weymouth. But before then, as a start, I would love to hear from or news about some of my contemporaries : Dave Shadrack (H), Tony Lobban , Dave Lewis, John Zellma, Carole Todd (honorary member of Balmoral who came over to do maths and something scientific on Fridays!), Janice Lehy, John Kiel, Sally Musson and Kathy Meadowcroft (left 1972). What about the Balmoral matrons Iris de Silva and Inga Dilla? Also, the sick bay nurse Sue Blackmore? Where are they now and how has the Windsor experience affected them? I would love to hear anything…

Ian Hutchison (B70-73)

6 Feb 2010

My sentiments exactly Ian Hutchison - it gives you a nice fuzzy feeling when recalling those heady school days. We thought we knew it all as we set out to change the world. Well at least we tried.

Ellen Warnaby (Brandon) (B59-62)

6 Feb 2010

Well June better hurry up, had a great time in York. Jed is doing a fantastic job in getting another reunion on the go. I shall be there Friday (unless they refuse my leave application) can't see em doing that not to me ;-) Hope to see a shed load of you there, camera batteries are on charge and I think I have enough SD cards for the weekend too ………………….. come on June ;-)

Andy Quigley (E76-82)

9 Feb 2010

Well it's been a while since I posted although I've kept on visiting the site. Had a Christmas card from Ralph Bennett, very nice of him, ordering me to keep on posting so, being frightened of his little brother James, I thought that I had better obey. Good to see that another reunion is taking place and not so far away from where we are but sadly I've already booked the summer holiday from June 15th for a month so I'll miss it again. Have a great time all of you and I hope that some staff make it.

Still teaching sums from time to time - requests for help arrive out of the blue from a local Girls School. Ian Hutchison's mention of Carole Todd brought memories flooding back - she was one of the trailblazers and a very successful one at that - braving the all-male domain of the Maths Block. At that time young ladies just didn't do maths at A level - a crazy notion. She was followed by Sally Pennington a year later and that opened the gates a little - Christine Law, Anita Leversidge, Carole Buchanan and so on. Great memories but a fair while ago now. Sadly the Maths Block no longer exists although it was still standing when we visited in August 2009. They were just starting to demolish Marlborough/Sandringham block. Very sad!!
We still go yearly to the Sauerland for a 3-4 weeks walking holiday - can't forget it or leave it alone. Make a pilgrimage to Altenilpe, with all its memories of D of E camps, walking over the top from Dorlar where we stay. Great memories of Cow-Pat trophies, Night Orienteering and so on. Hope that some others have such good memories. Hamm was really good to me and in fact I've been really fortunate (as I've often written before) in the teaching jobs that I have had. Finishing up in an International School in Copenhagen.
Enough nostalgia but here's a little problem for you all.

Find the values of each of the following - use a calculator if you must and then look for patterns - apologies for the 'squared' but the message board rejected the usual square notation.

(27)squared + (68)squared = 5353

(53)squared + (25)squared =

(47)squared + (66)squared =

(92)squared + (11)squared =

Lots of questions could follow. A few could be. Can you write another line like this? What numbers of this type are not possible to get from this pattern? What numbers of this type can be written in two or three or even four different ways using this pattern? Write down a 'general line'. Prove that your general result is true.

Geoff Hern (M60-80)

11 Feb 2010

Geoff Hearn - I may not have been one of your star pupils but strangely enough have done ok........!!!!!!

Christine Willmott (M77 - 80)

12 Feb 2010

OK Christine Willmott - it'll always be Law for me. You don't say what you are doing but I was never in doubt that a former holder of the Bicycle Saddle Trophy (I wonder if you remember that?) would do well in the great wide world. I've just seen that in my last posting that the word memory seems to have been over-used. But I do have really fond memories (there it is again) of your little group - one of the last that I taught in Hamm - I think that we had some fun and did learn a bit of mathematics too. As you may remember I left at the same time as you did and for an all-girls school in Dorset -another great job - don't think that the young ladies had met anything like me before. That school closed soon after I left in 1988 too - I must be a jinx. Now all that remains is for you to fill in a few details and to post an answer to my little maths problem. But L.T.S. - it's Hern not Hearn

Geoff Hern (M60-80)

12 Feb 2010

Hi to all who remember me. Will definitely be at the reunion in Weymouth. Bringing the new man in my life. Can't wait to see everyone again especially those who didn't make York last year.

Chris Duxbury (B78 - 80)

14 Feb 2010

I was in Marlborough House and my maiden name was Gear.
Anyone remember me?

Lorraine Morris (Gear) (M60-62)

16 Feb 2010

Hello to everyone, looking forward to seeing everyone at the re-union in Weymouth.

Steph Southall (B78-80)

17 Feb 2010

I was really thinking of coming to the reunion this year.....then I read that message from Noddy Holder....so I changed my mind.....hahaha. No serious now:If I can talk Nige Murray and Tony Reilly into holding me up in the Hotel bar we may come...see ya soon.

Mark Third (M71-78)

22 Feb 2010

Hallo Mr. Hern! Have you still got that bike? Haha....I never got that funny saddle trophy, but I got the cow pack one (with real dead flies on it!) a couple of times!! If you want to get in touch with George Greedy let me know, I have his number in Canada. Take care everybody.

Mark Third (M71-78)

Greetings to you Noddy and to Dave the Mac. Anybody know what happened to Twiggy? Or to Tom Scott?

23 Feb 2010

Hi! I've just remembered this site (lapsed member) and thought I would take a look again. I'm so glad that I did as I recognise so many of the names and it takes me back in an instant. I joined the WGS staff as a House Matron in Sandringham in 1976 with Matron Giesefeld and Matron Bielefeld. Miss Devine was Housemistress. Two terms later I was promoted to Senior Matron when Miss Cunliffe left. I stayed at the school until 1981 when I moved to Dortmund with my family - husband was S/Sgt Gary Coffin and daughters Debbie and Natalie. (Deb was a day girl at WGS) we lived in Fasanen Strasse in Hamm. I now live in Gloucestershire. I remember so many good times at the school and very many of the girls. I did odd shifts in the other Houses as a Matron as well.If anyone remembers me I would be pleased to hear from you. If you need any details clarified regarding events 1976 - 81 you could ask as I have a very clear memory of those times. I'm good with names! Does anyone know if Frau Gisela Hessenbruch (Matron in Balmoral) is still alive? My best wishes to everyone I knew!

Jean Barnes-Harvey (Coffin) (S76-81)

24 Feb 2010

Jean Coffin; I remember you. I taught Home Economics and also became assistant Housemistress of Marlborough. Miss Devine became Housemistress when Sandringham closed and I am still in touch with her.I too have very happy memories of my time at WGS.

Rae Mitchell(nee Cleverly) (M77-81)

26 Feb 2010

Greetings, Just an update on how the Re-union is going. At present we have 106 attendees, which is great news. Some people are making a weekend of it, don't blame them specially if they have along way to travel. I and a few others are travelling down on the Friday, are planning a few drinks and a meal in the "All you can eat" Gurkha Curry house. So its the beginning of a great weekend. The (Reunion) Committee and I have decided to also run a fundraiser in aid of Help 4 Heroes. Some people are planning to do there own little thing to raise funds for this noble cause. There will also be oppurtunitys to donate on the day. I would also ask those of you who have committed and have not paid, to do so as soon as possible. The cut off date for attendance is the 10th May 2010 so we can confirm numbers with the Hotel. If you chance paying on the day then there is no guarantee that you will be covered for the buffet. Best Regards Jed

Jed Bottomley (B77-80)