Friends reunited
Lifelong aspirations and friendships start at school
‘Sometimes you need wise advice and support from someone away from your immediate family, and best friends can do that.’
So says Eileen Williams, aged 88 (on the right in the photograph), reflecting on a lifetime of experience, from schooldays to retirement. When Eileen joined the Harperbury Bowls Club in 2001, she came face-to-face with her past when she was reunited with old school friend, Ivy Fennel (on the left), now aged 90, who was already a member.
And their alma mater? Claremont High School of course.
Their time at Claremont overlapped: Eileen (then Eileen Evans) was at the school from 1949 to 1954, whereas Ivy (née Sparrow), two years her senior, was there from 1947 to 1952. This was shortly after the Second World War when austerity and rationing were still at their height. When Eileen first joined the school, the playing-fields had been ploughed up to grow crops during the war and were yet to be reinstated. For this reason, she recalls Claremont’s Sports Days being held at nearby Kingsbury Green School instead.
Eileen and Ivy believe their lifelong love of sports was instilled in them at Claremont over seventy years ago. Eileen, a strong runner, was a member of the school’s ‘4 x 440 yards’ relay-race team (the forerunner to the 400 metre). She also played rounders and, alongside Ivy, represented Claremont in netball against other schools. Eileen eventually joined a local netball club after leaving school, but this didn’t last long… Work (and boyfriends) got in the way!
In terms of the curriculum, subjects available to girls reflected the era and its aspirations for young women. Typing, Commerce and Needlework were common. Eileen’s favourite subject by far was English, both literature and ‘grammar’ (language). She was a voracious reader and Daphne du Maurier, author of the celebrated novel Rebecca and many more, soon became a firm favourite. She also enjoyed Music and Drama and recalls a role in the school production of Everyman.
On balance, Eileen hugely enjoyed her school days and says several of her teachers were particularly influential, helping her excel academically and personally. The exam system was very different in the early 1950s, especially for girls, but one exam in particular stands out in Eileen’s memory. It took place on 6th February 1952: the day King George VI died. The school decided not to announce his death until the exam was over for fear of distracting the pupils.
Towards the end of Eileen’s final year at Claremont, she secured a job with the Westminster Bank (now NatWest). Her teachers celebrated her achievement amongst her peers, pointing to Eileen as a role-model for aspirational female students. At the time, it was rare for young women to go to university or secure prestigious positions within banks. Eileen can only recall one girl from her year leaving Claremont to go to university.
Eileen progressed from an original six-week placement in Kensington to the Willesden Green branch of the bank, before moving on to St John’s Wood. Whilst working, she attended evening classes where she improved her typing, studied commerce and continued to pursue her passion for English Literature. At the time, Claremont also hosted evening classes for local people who’d left school but still wanted to continue their studies and advance their prospects.
As another reflection of the era, when Eileen married in 1961 and the first of her two children was born a couple of years later, she had to give up her career and become a full-time parent. There was no maternity provision back then. After raising her family, she returned to work in the 1980s as a legal secretary, until her eventual retirement in 1992 and a move to St Albans.
In the years following Claremont, before being reunited with Eileen at the bowling club almost fifty years later, Ivy followed in her mother’s footsteps and became a sewing machinist. She had three children – twin girls who now live in Australia plus a son – and eventually settled in Radlett.
She recalls her time at Claremont fondly, where her favourite subjects were English and Science. She made many good friends there, including Wendy, who went on to be one of Ivy’s bridesmaids. Wendy now lives in Portsmouth with her family and only last year Ivy went to visit her for a long catch-up.
Ivy’s advice to current Claremont students is to ‘study hard and respect your teachers’. Eileen agrees. ‘Enjoy your schooldays,’ she says, ‘but also get a good academic grounding. It will help you get the best job you can and will form the basis of everything you achieve later in life.’
Like Ivy and her best friend Wendy, Eileen met her oldest friend, Barbara, through education when they both attended ‘night school’ seventy years ago. Over the decades they have helped each other through the good and the bad - from boyfriends and marriage, raising children, coping with the passing of their husbands, forming new relationships, to going on holiday together and simply being there for a coffee and chat.
‘Keep in touch with your friends,’ encourages Eileen. ‘Those close to you now could be your friends for life and will help you through all the ups and downs it will inevitably throw at you.’
All of which proves that school is so much more than timetables and studies. The life lessons you learn there and the friendships you make will hopefully last you a lifetime. Make the most of them, like Eileen and Ivy.