OTHER TEACHERS
Teachers who had degrees wore gowns every day when teaching, and at Prize Giving hoods and mortar boards as well. Ursula Lock recalls nothing of her geography lessons except some mention of "copra, tallow and hides". Her favourite teacher was Miss Brown, possibly about forty, plain, informed, interesting and an excellent teacher. Her subjects were History, English, Latin and sometimes Scripture with much emphasis on its historical aspects. Miss Kathleen de la Mare took over Scripture when she joined the school and charged it with emotion. A few of the girls learned Italian, but German was not taught; the Great War had left the British with strong prejudices against anything German.

In Miss Brown's English classes the girls studied their set plays by acting them, a system which Ursula thoroughly approved of. "It made us see how the plays worked, how situations developed from character and it was all wonderfully enjoyable." There were also plays written by the school doctor; it was fun dressing up but his plays were dreadful.

In sewing classes the girls had to make "awful calico camisoles". Ursula was excused from singing lessons because she could not sing, and enjoyed extra history lessons with her favourite teacher, Miss Brown. On the last day of term the senior school did a general knowledge paper. There were no prizes and no recriminations for those who did badly, so they were quite enjoyable. They were taught ballroom dancing, including the Charleston, to set them up for dances when they left school.

My sister Amber Thomas, 1931-38, recalls a number of the teachers and the pranks she used to play on them. "I used to lock Mademoiselle Ténot in the cupboard in the library and not let her out until she promised to give me good marks for homework which I had failed to finish. She never reported me for some reason or other. I tried to run away from school three times, and Miss Rogers used to hare after me. I used to sneak up behind Miss Alderbarrett and throw her gown over her head. I wrote a poem about her: 'The Waterbarrell was in the garden, catching little drops of rain; now she lies on her bed in agony and pain.' We had a 'stinks' mistress, Miss Greenway, who wore a wig, and we once tied her to a lab stool with gymslip girdles and whisked her round the lab table at high speed.  Miss Cambridge taught history, I think, and had huge coils of dark shiny hair plaited over her ears. I initiated a competition: on different days we took it in turns to ask questions with our exercise book on the desk and keep her talking while we removed enormous hair pins. If the coils collapsed before she noticed we won a point. The game did not last very long. Madame Trébini was a tyrant and we retaliated by turning her non-spill inkpot upside down so that she split her pen nib on the bottom. I was accused, quite rightly, of leading the 'crocodile' in pursuit of the boys. I was forbidden to lead any more and had to sit for two hours in Miss Guilbert's study. Miss Price was the best; she taught history very well and we respected her and never teased her or were inattentive." My sister must have been the naughtiest girl in the school; I hope there were none worse! In the 1938 photograph on page xxx Amber is seated in the second row, below the girl with plaits. Mlle Ténot is on the far right in a striped jumper, none the worse from having been locked in a cupboard, and Miss Greenway sits in front of her wearing mortar board and, presumably, a wig.

June Harris, who attended for two years just before the war, remembers a walk down the Zig-zag Path on which aniseed balls were furtively passed around, making the girls' tongues bright red. The commotion brought MlleTénot to investigate, and she decided they had all caught some terrible disease and marched them back up the cliff to school, while she puffed and panted behind in her grey squirrel fur coat and black felt hat.

June also recalls Miss Conybere who came from Canada. She was calm and pale with thick dark hair and gold-rimmed glasses. On cloakroom duty she did a great deal of knitting. She showed the girls some American Indian mocassins embroidered with dyed porcupine quills.

Ursula Lock found the education rather narrow in some ways. "I wish we had had much more intellectual stimulus and scholarly discipline. We had no idea of other religions; C of E was all there was. Catholics and Jews were not mentioned, and beyond that were heathens. We never heard of Russian literature, we did not know of public libraries, but we did learn proper grammar and how to write invitations and refuse them. However we learned how to live with each other and realised the value of friendship."


CONNECTIONS
Because the de la Mares came from the Channel Islands, there were many Channel Island girls at the school, including Margaret Aubin, Kathleen Cole, Constance Anthoine, Doreen and Rosemary Voisin.

There was also a strong French connection because Marie de Barante, Comtesse de Nadaillac had been at the school under the aunt and was a lifelong friend of Miss Marguerite and Miss Guilbert. Not only did several of her children attend the school from time to time, her daughter Claude being a full-time boarder in the 1930s, but she also recommended the school to many of her friends.

By 1925 there were 67 girls: 25 boarders and 42 day-girls.

DORMITORIES
Apart from this frustration, Maud van Hien was extremely happy and could not understand why the other little girls cried themselves to sleep with homesickness. She remembers what they used to call 'midnight feasts' in the dormitories, though they were probably no later than 9 o'clock. Her young aunt used to give her chocolates, and she smuggled them into the school tied to her waist, a trick made possible by the drop-waisted dresses of the day. One evening Miss Marguerite entered the dormitory as Maud was undressing, and she just managed to kneel down and push the chocolates under the bedclothes while holding a conversation with Delly.

For one term Ursula Lock shared a two-bedded room with a girl who pined for her pet mice at home and thought it would be a good idea to install them on the top of the dormitory wardrobe. Fearing expulsion, Ursula warned her room-mate that they would certainly be discovered and then drowned, and the girl gave up the idea.

In the four-bedded dormitories there were pairs of washing stands with screens for privacy. One afternoon Ursula and her friends invented a game using the screens as a net and a wet sponge as a ball. It was fast and noisy and Miss Guilbert soon came along to stop them and tell them they were "totally dishonourable". For the next ten days she sat in their room while they undressed, washed and said their prayers.

The rooms were very cold in winter and the girls slept with their underclothes under the blanket ready to be put on while still in bed the next morning. This was no easy task, as underclothes consisted of combinations, liberty bodice, white cotton knickers and dark blue over-knickers.


HEALTH
At the beginning of each term the girls queued up to be weighed and measured in Miss Guilbert's bedroom. Suzanne Farran came to the school in 1922 and recalls Miss Guilbert's attempts at keeping her girls healthy. "On arrival at school in the winter and spring terms, day-girls had to form a queue on the upper landing going one by one in front of 'Gilly' who had a garden syringe full of disinfectant which she discharged into our open mouths. We then ran (fast) to spit it out in the bathroom. This must have been very efficacious because there was only one epidemic - chickenpox, when I was there; there were a few scarlet fever cases and the head girl, Patty Evans, died."


MANNERS AND BEHAVIOUR
The de la Mares' school motto was: "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." (Colossians III:17). At meals the girls had to speak only French, and were expected to ensure that their neighbours had everything they needed. This often involved a great deal of nudging to indicate that one wished to be passed the salt and pepper. Left-handedness was discouraged. Not only was Kathleen Cole, 1923-29, forbidden to use her left hand for writing, but Miss de la Mare would spot if she inadvertently served herself or others at meal times using her left hand. Claude de Nadaillac had an intense loathing of tapioca and had a special way of exclaiming: "Ugh! Ze jellyfeesh!" whenever it was served. She later became the Marquise de Roquemaurel and won the Croix de Guerre as a courier in the French Resistance. When Suzanne Farran first joined the school in 1922, supervision and chaperoning were strictly upheld. If a boarder had an invitation to tea in a house on the other side of Earl's Avenue she would be escorted across the road and fetched afterwards. Sybil Niven, 1924-29, remembers Miss Guilbert's sarcasm. "One afternoon my great friend, Patty Evans, and I tied ourselves up with yards of white reel cotton in Mamzelle's sewing class. She reported us to G.B. who came storming in and said to me 'Little things please little minds'."

Patricia Swinhoe-Phelan, 1937-40, recalls Miss Guilbert's speechless horror at her behaviour one day: "We only lived down Bouverie Road West, near Trinity Church. During my first term I used to walk to school with my brothers and their friends, who carried on to their prep school Felton Fleet (destroyed during the Second World War). And they all waited outside St Margaret's for me to walk home again. One hot summer lunch time, Miss Guilbert called me into her study overlooking Earl's Avenue. As I entered the study I could see the boys sitting on the grass verge across the road, so I impulsively rushed to the open window and shouted out across the road 'Just coming!' A frightening silence ensued; Miss Guilbert was quite unable to say anything at all and just waved me away. By the time I got home GB had phoned my father to tell me off; but he was quite unable to say a thing, for laughing."

Ursula Lock remembers that pocket money was less than £5 a term. Out of this they bought make-up and sweets (both forbidden) and photographic films. Parents provided the official supply of sweets, and each girl was allowed one sweet after lunch each day and two on Sundays. The pocket money also had to provide the church collection. "Church was a great trial as the vicar, Canon Elliot, was a well-known preacher and thought nothing of preaching for forty minutes. I'm afraid that he did not hold our attention for long. The first spring term I was at school some of us were confirmed and for about a month we had rather sultry religious feelings - awful evenings in Miss Guilbert's bedroom with Toto in attendance." Ursula recalls a Scots girl who passed on her brother's stories and jokes to them, as well as some startling sex information which they deemed highly improbable, if the middle-aged couples in church were anything to go by.

Another girl was responsible for extending their vocabularies. "In those innocent days no-one told us not to say 'Merde' and I'm sure even the French-speaking de la Mares did not know its Anglo-Saxon equivalent; we didn't either. Then one term this girl was heard to say 'fuck' and we took that up with enthusiasm, a lot richer than the damns and blasts and even bloody-awfuls which were of course never used when any grown-up was near. As no-one took any notice of the word - in fact they may have thought she was saying 'puck' - we were not corrected or warned. Luckily I first used it at home when I was with my brother. He was vastly amused but warned me not to say it in front of my father. I tried it on my mother but she didn't notice it either, and my brother, who was younger than I, didn't know exactly what it meant."

June Harris reports that the girls were never allowed to use fountain pens, only spiky nibs which had to be held at a certain angle for neat copperplate writing, but which she found always gouged holes in the paper and spattered ink. Each desk had a chine inkwell topped up from a bit stoneware bottle of ink thinned with water. Someone once put sherbert powder into the ink well, producing astonishing green fizz. On Saturday mornings there were no formal classes, but day girls could go in to make puppets and other crafts. The boarders could join them only after they had done their mending. At Christmas they had to knit garments to be sent to poor children.

SPORT
By 1927 the open space beside the Leas where the school had its playing field was so reduced in size by the construction of the Manor House and development along Sandgate Road that the school was forced to find an alternative. The nearest option was a three-acre site bounded by Grimston Avenue, Shorncliffe Road and Godwyn Road, just a few minutes' walk away.

In addition to hockey, the nieces had introduced lacrosse. Ursula Lock, 1925-28, hated lacrosse and was grateful to Doreen the captain for her understanding attitude: "Run about a bit but don't join in as you always get it wrong". The girls also played rounders, and in one game on the Leas Suzanne Farran knocked out Anne Stapleton's front teeth.

The Games Pavilion in the north east corner of the playing field was built in memory of Hilda Patricia (Patty) Evans, who had died of scarlet fever and whose portrait hung inside for many years. The pavilion was officially opened by Canon Watkins on Empire Day, 24 May 1930. One of Miss Guilbert's pekinese dogs was commemorated in a weather-vane on the pavilion, Our home in Shorncliffe Road had a clear view of Toto on his spike pointing either his head or his bushy tail into the wind; it was never quite clear which way he was facing. If the weather was too cold or wet for lacrosse the girls went for walks instead, either on the Leas or down to the sea to enjoy the stormy breakers and the chance of being drenched in spray.

When Miss de la Mare died, the three nieces inherited the school. Miss Marguerite came home after fifteen years abroad to take up the role of Principal and was known as Miss de la Mare. Her sisters, Miss Guilbert and Miss Kathleen, became joint Vice-Principals. Thus began a new era in September 1922. The three sisters differed from each other, both in appearance and in character.


MARGUERITE, THE NEW MISS DE LA MARE
Miss de la Mare taught some senior French but her main duties were the welfare of the boarders, housekeeping, interviewing parents and organising stage performances at Christmas in the Pleasure Gardens Theatre in aid of the Mayor's Coal Fund.

Ursula Lock, 1925-28, remembers her as "small, thin, with a yellowish complexion, rather friendly when we had any dealings with her, and dressed, at times such as prize giving, with regard to fashion - low waisted, short silk dresses. We did not see much of her except at some meals when she sat at the head of the boarders' table for Saturday lunch or sometimes at supper." Sonia Speich, 1938-39, recalls Miss de la Mare as "austere, pale complexioned, pince-nez on her nose, her grey hair drawn back in a bun and clothes of a sombre hue." Sonia is seen in the 1938 school photograph on page xxx sitting cross-legged on the far left.

My mother, Ruby Gordon, had been at the school during the aunt's time, but when she returned to the school in 1930, ten years after her marriage, meeting the eldest niece brought back memories of the aunt. "I went to interview Miss Marguerite to ask her to accept my daughter Amber as a pupil. The dreaded drawing room reminded me instantly of recurring misdemeanours resulting in being summoned to the Head, and I began to respond to her questions with the old routine of 'Yes, Miss de la Mare,' and 'No, Miss de la Mare', until I suddenly thought 'Gracious, it is I who can lay down the law and tell her what I want my daughter to do!' Amber told me that when she had been particularly naughty, the Dellies used to say 'Your mother never would have done such a thing. She was such a good little girl.' Time is a great healer."

Between 1926 and 1939 Miss de la Mare took parties of girls on annual visits abroad by boat and train: to the Channel Islands, Normandy, Belgium, Italy, Greece, Germany - including the Oberammergau Passion Play - and for winter sports to Saas Fee in Switzerland. At a 'Cheerful Sparrows' charity fête in August 1929 the Principal won an Austin Seven 'Touring' car, called it The Sparrow and learned to drive. Like her aunt, she was called Delly behind her back, and in later years many of the girls spelt this 'Delhi'.


MISS GUILBERT
Miss Guilbert was known by the girls as either 'Gilly', 'Gilly-Bird' or 'G.B.' She not only taught gym and games but also drawing, senior arithmetic and French. She was responsible for the school accounts, and worked with Miss Kathleen to prepare the time-table. The girls remember her now with a variety of emotions, depending on whether they had been among her favourites or had struggled to meet her expectations of them. Sonia Speich compares Miss Guilbert with her elder sister and remembers her as "more volatile and frightening, having a sharp tongue. She wore her hair in a bun, and round her neck a narrow black velvet band." Ursula Lock remembers that the girls always knew when there was going to be a row over some misdemeanour, because it was preceded by the singing of the hymn "O Jesus, I have promised". Miss Guilbert had a series of pekinese dogs, one after the
other, and called them all Toto. Toto III was a good-natured little dog with a beautiful coat,
who let the girls pull him about and never snapped.There are memories of a "frightful peke"
 who "stank" but this may have been one of his predecessors.


MISS KATHLEEN
Miss Kathleen was teaching at Tonbridge County School for Girls when her aunt died, and left a few years later in 1928 to join her sisters at St Margaret's where she taught throughout the school, including geography, English, scripture and junior arithmetic, and supervised the teaching staff. She was quiet and dignified and kept perfect order in the classroom without apparent effort. My aunt, Ivy Gordon, recalled that one could hear a pin drop during Miss Kathleen's lessons. The library was in her charge and she encouraged the girls to do a lot of reading after their Oxford Local Examinations were over. One evening Ursula Lock was reading in the library with a few other girls when Miss Kathleen entered and surprised them by saying: "Now, I wonder if any of you will become famous?" (Ursula Lock later married the composer Ralph Vaughan-Williams and wrote his biography.) Miss Kathleen and Miss Guilbert both collected stamps and were members of the Cinque Ports Philatelic Society. According to the author's sister Amber, Miss Kathleen was in love with two men, Sir Anthony Eden and St.Paul.

INSPECTION
In March 1929 the Board of Education inspected the school, now with 79 pupils including 5 boys,  and declared it a recognised 'Efficient Secondary School'. In their report they wrote: "What struck the Inspectors most was the cheerfulness and complete frankness of the girls. They are evidently happy and not overburdened or repressed. In general they do not aim at any very high degree of scholarship, and in consequence they do not make the intense efforts that some girls make who do so aim, but they work with interest, intelligence and reasonable diligence. The School provides very efficiently the education that they and their parents desire."

DRAMATICS
Plays were staged in the school garden during the summer, and in the Town Hall at Christmas in aid of the Mayor's Coal Fund and the Christmas Welfare Fund. Later these Christmas plays were transferred to the Pleasure Gardens Theatre, a tradition which continued until the grand old theatre was demolished in the sixties.

Amber Thomas recalls: "My first visit to St Margaret's coincided with a garden play in which David Tomlinson, who later became a well-known film actor, was one of the rabbits in 'The Tales of Peter Rabbit'." Later my sister played the part of an Italian image seller. In the audience was our mother who suddenly realised that she knew each line before it was spoken, for she had played the same part herself while at the school as Ruby Gordon twenty years before.

Sonia Speich, 1938-39: "At one Christmas party pupils and teachers joined in to dance 'The Lambeth Walk', currently very popular. Probably the same term our class put on a performance which included an enactment of Christina Rossetti's 'Ferry me across the water, do boatman do', an upturned table serving as a ferry. The percussion band also performed; I played the triangle."

35-37 EARL'S AVENUE
By this time the school building in Earl's Avenue was very well appointed with spacious class rooms, pretty, well-furnished dormitories and dining-room tables with white table cloths. There were parlour maids, house maids, kitchen maids and cooks to do all the domestic work. The maids who lived on the premises had bedrooms in the attics, which later became dormitories when domestic staff were cut back.

Miss Guilbert slept in the bedroom above the south front door and Miss Kathleen above the north front door. The front bedroom above the dining room had been occupied by Miss de la Mare the aunt, and after her death it was used by Miss Marguerite. She had electric switches installed there for central control over the whole building's lights, to ensure that no power was being wasted by leaving lights on during the day. Between her room and Miss Kathleen's was a communicating door which in later years came in useful when these rooms became the sick room and Matron's room.

The rear elevation of the building was given a new look by filling in the space beneath the southern overhanging lounge to make a music room and science laboratory at ground level and a cloakroom in the basement. There were striped blinds that could be pulled down to shade the glass windows of the two conservatories.

The school continued to observe Empire Day by parading before the Union Jack in the lime avenue leading from Bouverie Road to Holy Trinity Church. One year Ursula Lock and two other army daughters were given the task of hoisting the flag. They got it upside down and someone called the police. After the church service the girls were given a severe ticking-off but no punishment. From then on the drill sergeant performed the task.


THE LODGE, GRIMSTON GARDENS
From 1925 this building, containing Miss Guilbert's fine gymnasium, was equipped as a domestic science school, with the original kitchen set up for teaching this subject, probably by Miss Marguerite.

Ursula Lock hated gym. As well as marching around to Miss Guilbert's piano music in the Swedish drill style, they had to do "difficult things on rib-stalls and parallel bars, and a drill sergeant came to teach us to vault and climb ropes". She could do neither and soon he gave up trying to teach her.

Later the top floor was called the Sanatorium and was used for isolating girls with infectious diseases from the other boarders.

Maud van Hien, 1922-28, was jealous of the sick girls for they were given jellies and ice-creams. While mumps was going round the school she tried desperately to contract the disease in order to join them, and opened desk after desk inhaling deeply to catch any stray germs that might be lurking among the exercise books.

NOTE          *   The Cheerful Sparrows was a local charitable group that raised funds for the children's ward at the Royal Victoria Hospital. They held a huge, popular annual fete, the highlight of the hospital year, until the outbreak of the Second World War. Raffles were also held, with prizes donated by local businesses. Raffle tickets cost 10/-, a huge price for the 1930s, but one year the first prize was a house.