25
News from Diana (Dinny) Turnbull (Wood) (1942-1955)
(continued)
got used to having our butter and sugar ration
portioned for the week. Each child with their
labelled jars was responsible for making their
ration last for seven days! On a good week we
were allowed 1/4lb of butter, but on alternative
weeks it was only 2oz and to eke that amount
out perhaps over 14 or so slices of bread was no
mean feat!
Mrs Belgion was Miss Mattock when I arrived.
She had a kindly smile and shook your hand
firmly at a first meeting. She definitely aroused
some awe in us. The greatest punishment was
to be sent out of class to stand outside the
‘drawing room’ door. This room, the finest ground
floor room in the building, facing south over the
lovely lawn, was her domain. She presided in the
bay window recess behind a desk and would
look enquiringly over her specs at the pupil. I
don’t think I received this ‘punishment’ but the
waiting, often very prolonged, outside being seen
by all who passed by in the hall, was
uncomfortable and made one very aware of
misdemeanours. I do remember when boarding
how kindly she was. She always came around
the dormitory, certainly of the younger girls, to
say goodnight and tuck us in. My dormitory was
the Walnut Room. All of them were named after
trees – clearly a passion of hers and one which
I share.
One day, Mrs Fife (Senior Mistress and maths
wizard) announced at Morning Prayers, in the old
gym (later held in the hall with the overflow
standing in ranks of three up the staircase) that
we must change our morning greeting. It was to
be ‘Good morning Mrs Belgion’. We had to say it
three times so that we would avoid using the
name of the country! Montgomery Belgion was a
permanent feature in the background thereafter.
He used to make jokes for our benefit and spent
most of his time doing scholarly things – writing
poetry critical essays. He and Mrs B knew T S
Eliot and this friendship seemed to last.
A high spot for me were dancing lessons with
Miss Flecknow, a very elegant figure of huge
grace and distinction. These took place every
Friday afternoon. She brought her own pianist
and we used to gyrate around the old gym
wooden parquet floor with our partners to the
strains of The Blue Danube, The Merry Widow
waltz etc. We also learned the Polka (fairly
easy), Quick Step (a bit harder), and Foxtrot
(quite tricky) especially with ‘The Hesitation’ – the
modern Waltz! We learned in lines muttering
under our breath – Forward, Side, Together,
Back, Side, Together until we were confident and
didn’t have to look at our feet! She always wore
black crepe wool silk dresses, high heeled suede
shoes with straps and was perfectly made up.
Her hair was white and gently waved and she
had the most stunning blue eyes. She never
married; it was rumoured she had lost her fiancé
during the first world war. My father always
maintained he had been taught Ballroom
Dancing by the same lady back in 1910 when he
was a boarder at Oundle School.
The grounds seemed very extensive and with
hindsight, I realise how lucky we were to have
space to play or wander or saunter or play
leapfrog or make houses in the tall spruces that
lined the small pathway which was a shortcut to
the drive and passed by the Swing. There was
always a queue under the great tree that
obligingly stretched out a branch at just the right
height to give us a lovely long journey skywards
and then return us. It had a good wooden seat
and great strong ropes we clung on to. The
braver amongst us would stand up! Mrs Belgion
encouraged free and adventurous play.
One day, during the big freeze-up in February
1947, Mrs B announced we were to search our
homes for ice skates and bring them to school.
They were brought to the old gym (stable block)
and everyone miraculously was kitted out with a
pair of skates. Lessons were abandoned and
after an early lunch we paraded down in an
orderly crocodile, crossed Thorpe Road and
entered Thorpe Park. There the fields which had
earlier flooded were completely frozen over and
we had an extensive natural rink on which to
learn to skate. Some of us were already
accomplished but most of us needed lots of
support and encouragement even to get one foot
ahead of the other! After a couple of hours or so
having made plenty of hard landings, much
enthusiastic whooping, a very pink cheeked party
made its way back to school feeling greatly
satisfied with the afternoon.
