From the 1954 Jubilee Chronicle:
SCHOOL OFFICERS, 1954-5:
HEAD GIRL: Daphne Jackson
DEPUTY HEAD GIRL: Joan Clover
PREFECTS:
Annette Affleck, Jean Avery, Mary Bullard, Brenda Clayton, Pat Delamore, Shirley Johnson, Mary Joyce, Catherine Lang, Alison Lowey, Mildred Mercer, Cynthia Morrison, Mary Muir, Mary Parish, Mollie Saville, Valerie Sewell, Sheila Stevenson, Marlene Travers, Yvonne Twitchett.
The Prefects, September 1954
For fifty years this school has fulfilled a useful function in the town of Peterborough. As we think of the thousands of girls who have passed through it, and the contributions they have made to the life of the community, we feel a glow of pride. Yet with our pride must go humility. Are we worthy successors of those who laid such firm foundations and those who built on them and added to them? Our golden jubilee is a turning-point from which we must not only look back with gratitude, but also look forward with determination. Let us resolve to do our best to maintain the high standards of service and loyalty which are summed up in our school motto.
The many visitors at our jubilee celebrations in September enjoyed seeing their old haunts again, but were very interested also in our new gymnasium. This is now assuming character and dignity, and we await its completion eagerly. It will be a most useful and elegant addition to the school. Few visitors could avoid hearing also about our latest efforts to raise money – this time to provide a filter plant for the swimming pool. Since November, 1953 we have all devised (and suffered from) ingenious ways of extracting money from each other and from outsiders, and now have great hopes of reaching our target of £1.000 by the end of 1954.
The school continues to show a commendable interest in cultural activities. The Modern Dance Group and Junior Dramatic Society under the guidance of Miss Dykes and Miss Riches provided a most enjoyable summer concert, and we were all very proud when the choir was invited to make a recording for a BBC programme. members of the Sixth Form attended two conference at the end of the summer term – one on Local Education, the other on Central African Federation.
We welcomed girls from France, Spain, Austria, Germany and Switzerland to school during the year, and a small party went to Spain at Easter. The usual mammoth outing to Wembley for the International Hockey Match took place in March, and smaller parties went to Stratford to see “King Lear” and to Cambridge to see “Richard II.” The whole school attended a performance of “Coppelia” given by the Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet Company and also saw the film of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar.”
During the past months a double honour has been brought to the school by Pat Delamore: having gained a creditable position in the examination lists of the Civil Service, she was offered a post in the Executive Branch. Later she was awarded a State Scholarship, and abandoning for the present the idea of a Civil Service career, she now hopes to obtain entrance to one of the women’s colleges at Oxford.
We are still fortunate to have the help of French and German assistants in the teaching of those languages. From 1953-4 we were pleased to have with us Mlle Lionet and Frl Kaminski, who took a lively interest in our affairs, and brought a touch of the continental into school life.
There have been several staff changes during the past school year: in September, 1953, Mr Priest came to teach biology, Mrs Finney (then Miss Adams) to teach mathematics, Mrs Heiser to teach French and Spanish, and Miss Lloyd to teach music and help with the general subjects. At the end of the summer term we lost Miss Whincop, who has finally achieved a well-deserved retirement, Miss Hands and Miss brown, who are now both living and working in Oxford, Miss Tebbs (English), now teaching in a British school in Germany, Miss Detnon (now Mrs Bryan), who is living in Cambridge and teaching in Bedford, and Miss Lloyd, who left to get married. To them all we offer our thanks for their many and varied contributions to school life and our best wishes for the future.
The Staff, September 1954
At the beginning fo this year our new staff included Miss Bonwit who came to teach German, Miss Ranby, to assist with music and Scripture, Mr Martin, whose subject is physics, and Miss Patterson, who has come from new Zealand to teach English. Mrs Crann and Mrs Atkins are very kindly helping us until it is possible to find a full-time domestic science mistress. The new language assistants are Mlle Tetart and Frl Claussen. We extend a warm welcome to them all and hope they will be happy in our midst.
Peterborough County School for Girls 