Yesterday I went to a reunion at my old primary school, The Highlands School, Tilehurst. I didn’t get very much opportunity to relive shared memories as it turned out that few of the former staff and pupils who attended overlapped much with my time there. So I’ll put some of the music-related ones down here instead.
I remember playing a Euro-melody “Eye Level” as part of a recorder ensemble (I can still recall how it went though I rather wish I couldn’t) and singing an arrangement for choir of a folk-song “Marianina”. I can’t remember which if either of these I performed at the Tilehurst Eisteddfod, but I certainly recollect competing in that too.
I think I overheard yesterday that the pupils still did “Margaret Morris” dancing as part of their physical education. I have rarely heard of this in any other context but as I understand it Margaret Morris was a disciple of Isadora Duncan and had similar ideas about going back to the ancient Greeks for inspiration; at any rate her system was based on something called ‘Greek positions’. I can only remember one of the dances we did; it involved swinging your arms in front of you in a kind of figure-of-eight, and we executed it to the strains of the seventh of Schubert’s Deutsche Tänze D783.
One thing which I suspect has changed was the strongly Catholic flavour of school assembly (though it wasn’t a Catholic school). We used the English Hymnal (the hymn Ye who own the faith of Jesus seemed to come round about once a fortnight), supplemented by a little booklet in a pink cover which contained, for example, an uncut version of Lord, for tomorrow and its needs.
I was reminded again of my time at this school when we sang (for no particular reason) God be with you till we meet again at church last week. Several of us in choir and congregation compared notes about this hymn after the service, and we all associated it overwhelmingly with end-of-term assemblies; at the Highlands we sang it every term, and I had never sung it since leaving. Another hymn I sang frequently at the Highlands but never since is Pray when the morn is breaking.
I went to the Highlands circa 1954. It was run by Mrs Peach who was exceptional and I would have done well had she educated me through to my teens.
Her husband ran St Edward’s boys school in Tilehust Road, Reading. The Peach’s were a strict Catholic couple and this would account for the Catholic style of assembly which you describe. At St Edwards I remember learning Latin and visiting a Convent as part of my education. I won a “Beast Book for the Pocket” at the Highlands and still have that book. Happy days…
The main thing I remember about Mrs Peach was that throughout my six years at the school she never got my name right first time! She always had to correct herself.
One thing that the Highlands failed to teach me, though, was Mrs Peach’s favoured style of italic handwriting, done with a fountain pen of course. It was almost impossible if you were left-handed. Perhaps it was forced on us all the more strongly because the battle against biros was almost lost – I think I and my contemporaries were the last to struggle with fountain pens at school.
I don’t recall much about the music teaching at the school but I think it must have been good as it set me up well for my next school.
Mrs Peach was some woman and I was terrified of her. She seemed to deeply disapprove of the dominance of music in my life. My handwriting was never up to scratch but I did learn one very important life lesson from Mrs Peach – that it is always acceptable to ask questions as the worst that could happen is that the answer is “No”.
Did you have to use Osmiroid fountain pens? We had to at St Edward’s where italic writing was compulsory. If you were left handed, you were supposed to use a left handed nib. My writing still retains some italic elements. For some reason I was near top of the class under Mrs Peach but I was never to attain such heights again. However I was only 7 or 8 years old while there. I remember running a sack race, making paper mache mugs, stroking a Manx cat and observing a live stag beetle and lining up to kiss a girl called Fanny every morning ( not part of the sylabus !)
Yes, I had an Osmiroid fountain pen with a weird left-handed nib twisted through about 60 degrees. I still smudged all that I wrote with it.
There were a hundred or so at the reunion, so it was a great shame that I only found one person there who was within three years of me, and no one who’d taught me! These events tend to be attended by the recently-left and the recently-retired. I suppose many of the older ones would not have gone on to university and so have stayed in the Reading area and in touch with one another ever since, whereas my contemporaries will have dispersed.
First of all I apologise for intruding on what is a specialist choral music website of yours. On music I feel totally out of my depth here. At the Highlands I only played the triangle, tambourine and the cuckoo ( can’t spell the technical name of that instrument). I think Mrs Peach knew my limitations. At secondary school I dearly wanted to learn music and to play the piano and trumpet but they told me that it would get in the way of my “important” O levels. Art was treated much the same way and I was one of only two entrants at O Level.
As a teenager,I voluntarily joined the school ” Glee Club” as I loved sea chanties, which were sung competitively. Although not in the choir, I helped make up numbers in the alto section for Handle’s Messiah, when we sung it for BBC Radio to record in St Peters, Berkhamsted. That was a wonderful and emotional experience.
I was at Highlands from 1968 – 1972. Mrs Peach was the Headmistess in those days. We grew up on a regular dose of “Onward Christian soldiers” (Mrs Peach made us repeat the word “soldiers” again and again until the first vowel sound was round enough for her). I also remember Mrs Bruton, Mrs Todd and Mrs Turner. All I remember about the music teacher is that she made me write “If I do not learn in school, I’ll grow up to be a mule” 50 times! I also have recollections of a French teacher who slapped me across the face on one occasion for being cheeky! My handwriting has never recovered from the attempt to write in italics using an Osmiroid pen! Apart from all that, however, my memories of Highlands are happy ones and I think the school did a good job (well, I didn’t become a mule…)I’d be interested in contacting anyone who was at the school during the same period.
Hi Anna
I was at Highlands school between 1971-1973.
I remember Mrs Bruton and Mrs Swanborough. Also Mrs Peach and Mrs Baker.
Virginia Knight was in my class, so was Penny Holt and Samantha Laimbeer.
I certainly remember doing Margaret Morris dancing!
Mary Cavan, nee Nicholls.
Hello! I know this thread is very old now but I was in the same class as Caroline Laimbeer, Helena Brogden amongst others. I missed the reunion and would love to hear from anyone who would like to meet up. Sarah (Hannan)
Highlands didn’t really keep in touch with old girls, who might have helped it raise funds to improve facilities (for example, it didn’t have a library till a few years before it closed). I don’t think that it helped either that it was neither single-sex nor co-ed throughout, and I gather some parents saw the danger and begged for the upper years to be mixed. It’s really quite hard to locate the Highlands diaspora now, but two places to try might be Friends Reunited, and the Highlands Facebook group. (There are two groups, but one is mostly people who were parents at the time the school closed).
Hi,
My Gran, Mrs Todd, was a teacher at Highlands School, not sure if the exact years but would have definitely been in the 60s and some if the 70s. She passed away when I was 7 in 1974 – she was only 51
Yes, she taught me. If you are on Facebook there are a couple of ex-Highlands groups which are intermittently active.
Onward Christian Soldiers, Margaret Morris and Osmaroid Italic Pens …. sums up the Highlands I remember (1964-1972). I was not aware that ANYONE still did Margaret Morris …. if they do, wonder if they still have to wear those fetching green tunic things!
Hi all, a local author is considering writing a book about Highlands School. She has written successful books about other successful schools such as Geoffrey Palmer and Kendrick School. At the moment, she is trying to work out how viable such a project would be. If any of you on here would be happy to contribute your thoughts and memories, I would love to hear from you. I was at Highlands from 1966-1970, and have very happy memories of the school. I have also created a Facebook group for Highlands, which is only small at the moment, but is growing. If you’re interested in either the book or the facebook page, please feel free to get in touch with me, Jan Saunders, at jansaunders13@gmail.com. I was Janet Anderson back in my Highlands days!
Hello to Sarah whiter,
I’m trying to find Samantha Laimbeer and Georgia Preston. Samantha’s sister is called Caroline, so what news of them?!! My email is marycavan@hotmail.co.uk If you have any info!
Mary
Thanks to Virginia posting this link on my memory of Margaret Morris (because she came up in the National Gallery of Scotland’s weekly art quiz) I have now got mired in Highlands memories!
I was there 1958 – 1962 so probably Mrs Peach’s heyday! I remember being mocked at my secondary school for using a pen ‘that writes thick and thin’ … because I was doing a version of italic rather than the proper thing, then I would have been admired!
I remember the plays we did and taking them to Tilehurst Eisteddfod.
The fun we had!
Hello there
This thread is old now but I was at the school 1963 until 1968. My name was Fiona Ady and I remember Mrs Peach very well, Margaret Morris dancing and the damn fountain pen! I remember Joanna Batstone, Angela Dickens, Mrs Turner and Mrs Cubis