being a patient at st vincents open air school sussex

Questions on schools and colleges, past and present
linda_hopkins
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2012 5:00 pm

Re: being a patient at st vincents open air school sussex

Postby linda_hopkins » Sun Mar 04, 2012 3:23 pm

you were at the school a long time.iwas in hospital for 6 months befor going ot st vincents.i felt realy well while i was there,but as soon as i went home for the holidays my asthma started up.the doctors said it would go but it never did.one day sister mart turned up with a puppy which was strange as most of us were asthmatics.his name was daxi.itook him to the vets for his jabs and came back with a kitten. sister louise let me keep him in the class room.do you remember the big white cat called bubbles that slept by the ovens in the kitchen.miss graham was our dance teacher,she took us for scottish dancing.we saw her in pantomime at the white rock once .miss howlet was our exercise teacher.she used to do back exercises and breathing.we had to play iplastic flutes to control our breathing,great fun! on the odd occasion we used to go swimming in the sea, i hated it we never sat any exams and i left there without any qualifications.did you do any better,




deirdre_naylor
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Feb 22, 2012 10:26 am

Re: being a patient at st vincents open air school sussex

Postby deirdre_naylor » Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:40 am

[quoted]
linda hopkins wrote:
hi deidre,
i was at st vincents 1958~1961. I still cant get over what has happened to the school. my mother might have some idea.one she met one of the nuns who was on a visit to her church.sister vincent was a strange one,she was always eating sweets but wouldnt let us.i always wondered why the nuns had better food than us.we used to have marge and they would have butter.thier menu was so much better than ours .we used to wait for their food to come down in the lift from their dinning room and we used to help ourselves tothe cakes and puddings that were left over.do you remember breakfast,one day cereal,nextday a banana,next a rasher of bacon on sunday it was always a sausage.
[/quoted]



Hi Linda

Yes, I was a poor eater and had to be fattened up, apparently. (Not a problem for me these days - I wish!) I did get butter, which I really couldn't stand - it was piled on so thickly it made me gag. I think the most difficult breakfast was - on a Sunday as you say - sausage (OK) and what they called fried bread, but which was, in fact, bread dipped into a bain marie full of fat not hot enough to fry it. Makes me shudder!





lynda_rann
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 8:38 pm

Re: being a patient at st vincents open air school sussex

Postby lynda_rann » Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:41 pm

we had sister catherine as our home economics teacher in the end classroom with the set up of a flat at the side of the class room. i see they have removed the roundabout in the middle of the drive. we used to do fashion shows on the grass outside the class rooms in the summer. some of the best days of my life. Like you Linda i found it very hard when i finally left and started work in Hastings. Happy days !!




linda_hopkins
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2012 5:00 pm

Re: being a patient at st vincents open air school sussex

Postby linda_hopkins » Sun Mar 18, 2012 2:56 pm

[quoted]
lynda rann wrote:

we had sister catherine as our home economics teacher in the end classroom with the set up of a flat at the side of the class room. i see they have removed the roundabout in the middle of the drive. we used to do fashion shows on the grass outside the class rooms in the summer. some of the best days of my life. Like you Linda i found it very hard when i finally left and started work in Hastings. Happy days !!
[/quoted]

you were lucky to have home economics,all we had was needle work taught by sister louise.our lessons were not very good,we seem to go over things that i already knew.i didnt have any qualifications when i left. do you remember st knox [the sick bay] run by sister mary.




lynda_rann
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 8:38 pm

Re: being a patient at st vincents open air school sussex

Postby lynda_rann » Sun Mar 18, 2012 4:49 pm

it was a fairly new thing all geared towards the cse we took, we only took two or three in one year, instead of how the other schools did it. which meant going back down to lessons at 4.15 til 5.30 each day and saturday morning school 9 - 12 :cry: i remember a sick bay which was over the kitchen i cant remember who ran it.




linda_hopkins
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2012 5:00 pm

Re: being a patient at st vincents open air school sussex

Postby linda_hopkins » Tue Mar 20, 2012 3:07 pm

yes the sick bay was over the kitchen.fancy having to do extra hours to get your cse,but at least you came away with something.i always felt my education came to a halt while i was at the school. when i left i trained to be a florist i was better with my hands than brain,and thats what i did most of my working life.we have just had st patricks day,i always think of the green ice cream that we used to have.we thought it a real treat but it didnt taste any different.did you have netball matches with the sacred heart convent ,we had one and beat us 21 to 6 .we were all to weak to play strong healthy girls ,we never did it again.




lynda_rann
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 8:38 pm

Re: being a patient at st vincents open air school sussex

Postby lynda_rann » Tue Mar 20, 2012 4:50 pm

we didnt mind the extra tuition really, they hadnt been doing them for many years. i dotn remember green ice cream lol. we never had matches with any other schools infact it was a rare occasion that the netball court ever got used, no of us was fit enough to run far. i do remember a lot of rivalry with a school on filsham road but it was a private school and very toffy nosed girls lol. im going back in hospital now for about 7 - 10 days the reason i was at the school was cos i had TB as a baby and its left me with lung disease which has been a constant in my life. they are not sure how long i have left its at the chronic stage now. talk to you when i get out xx




linda_hopkins
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2012 5:00 pm

Re: being a patient at st vincents open air school sussex

Postby linda_hopkins » Wed Mar 21, 2012 3:19 pm

[quoted]
lynda rann wrote:
we didnt mind the extra tuition really, they hadnt been doing them for many years. i dotn remember green ice cream lol. we never had matches with any other schools infact it was a rare occasion that the netball court ever got used, no of us was fit enough to run far. i do remember a lot of rivalry with a school on filsham road but it was a private school and very toffy nosed girls lol. im going back in hospital now for about 7 - 10 days the reason i was at the school was cos i had TB as a baby and its left me with lung disease which has been a constant in my life. they are not sure how long i have left its at the chronic stage now. talk to you when i get out xx
[/quoted]

sorry to hear you have got to go into hospital,ihope things will go well for you i will be thinking of you .take care and i will look forward to hearing from you when you come home xx





linda_hopkins
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2012 5:00 pm

Re: being a patient at st vincents open air school sussex

Postby linda_hopkins » Wed Mar 28, 2012 4:38 pm

i have just heard from sister winifred,she was at the school three times, the 70s 80s and 90s,she said that the school changed fron an oas to a school for difficult girls with all sorts of problems.in the 80s they didnt have the sisters to staff it and it became more evident that the lay staff were unable to manage the girls.the school belonged to the sisters and they had no choice but to sell.it was sold quickly to the college.the sisters were'nt ready and had to move into a house that they had for a group of girls.sister winifred was very sad to leave.she has heard that the school is now boarded up.some of you may remember a big boarding school on filsham rd . the nuns couldnt sell it and had to watch it being pulled down.the older nuns still live there in a small house. the land was sold and flats were built.




avril_pemberton
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2012 7:38 pm

Re: being a patient at st vincents open air school sussex

Postby avril_pemberton » Fri Apr 06, 2012 7:38 pm

I was at St.vincents from Jan 1975 to May 1979. I remember sister Ita being the house mother at the time but she left and sister Baptista took over. I dont remember dorms they had been replaced with two beds per room, later the house groups names changed the seniors became seaton house, the jounors became Bodiam house and the infants i think it was became Chartwell house. I was in Hastings on the 2nd April 2012 and I drive pass lookng up onto the cliff I could see that the building was still there, but it saddens me to see what has happened to it. Being at this school was the best days of my life and I cried when I had to go home at holiday times and couldnt wait to get back. There are others from the school on friends reunited St.Vincents.





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