There was no Drama, Economics, Computer Studies, Design and Familv Studies on the time-table. Some of our teaching took place in a hired room above the dairy depot in Kingston Road. And yet, whenever our old students return to see us they seem to look around and say, "Hello Sir, school is just like the day I left." Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. John Wooding  Sailing Club LETTER TO THE 2nd FORM Hello, you lucky newcomers to Therfield! Welcome to your last and possibly best school. We expect you area little lost in your new school. Well, don't be worried. You will have a map in this journal. It will be clearly marked with a name or number. It took most of us less than a week to find our way round the school. Look out for clubs that you like, either at lunchtime or after school. Enjoy your lessons and be enthusiastic about them. Homework will obviously be more than in your previous school. This will help you more as it all pays off in the end.You will be given a school timetable. At first, you won't be able to make head or tail of it. But as time progresses, you will understand more about how it works. Your registration teacher will explain carefully how to find your way around. So when you come to Therfield, look for help. Ask the teachers and the sixth form where to go. Don't be embarrassed if you are in the wrong room. Ask the third form what they did in the second form. The food at the canteen is good.There are a lot of choices at reasonable prices. Also there is a tuck shop at break-time which sells sweets and the canteen is also open then so you can buy drinks and snacks. Good luck from us all, Term Dates LEITH HOUSE We have continued to support the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Appeal as our charity and have this year raised over£900 towards that cause. Over £286 was raised by collecting pennies for the traditional "PENNY RACE" held in November last year. Some of our students have had the opportunity to visit the Anthony Nolan Research Laboratories in Kensington and we have also been invited to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Appeal this summer in London. Rock-on Leith! ALPINE VILLAGE PROJECT 1984 The following day, after a continental breakfast, we carried our extremely heavy skis up to the chairlift where it literally whisked us to the top; well almost. The chair became slower and slower until it stopped, and there I was dangling eighty feet above the ground and one thousand, four hundred metres up (Gulp!). But after a short panicky time, the chair lift got going again. At the top we arranged ourselves into groups of 12, and then we met our ski instructor. I was amazed when the instructor turned out to be a SHE!!! She or rather Ursula was a very good instructress, although when I was bombing down the ski slopes at sixty miles per hour, all she could say was "snow plough, snow plough" and as I whizzed past her I shouted back angrily, "I'm trying to snow plough". In the end I crashed into a bush, which was fortunate in some ways because about fifty metres ahead of me was a steep acute slope back down to the village. I now know if you are going too fast and want to stop, all you have to TRY and do is snow plough. As the week progressed I became more confident with my skis but just as cautious. It was now time to venture up the slopes even higher and this meant the journey on the T-bar or drag lift as it's sometimes known. I had heard from other friends that they had fallen off many times before they had reached the top, but not so for me, I made it right to the top first time.(on the last day of skiing I fell off the T-bar and had to go back down to the bottom to start again.) Once everyone had reached the top we skied off down the slope. At one section of the slope, there was a fairly flat piece where we were allowed to ski in a straight line. I really looked forward to this section every time we went down the slope. It was just like a ten lane motorway. In the evenings there always seemed to be something to do. There were discos, a film, 7 pin bowling, a Tyrol evening with a yodelling old lady! A fancy dress competition and the best of all, I thought, was swimming in a snow blizzard!!! Unfortunately all good holidays must come to an end and so did this one, miles too soon. We arrived back at Therfield at six o'clock and a dreadful thought struck me - "School Tomorrow". Robert Chalmers
There was the customary panic during the last week that it was not going to be ready. The costumes seemed to be in havoc, things were going badly wrong in rehearsals, but everyone kept their fingers crossed. Then all of a sudden everything came together for the dress rehearsal. Many members of the cast and stage chorus were relatively young compared to previous years, but nevertheless managed a very professional and high standard.
Contrary to popular belief, the musical does not end with the final curtain but carries on all the way back to someone's house and everyone has a party. This year's one was the biggest yet and included the cast, dancers, stage crew, lighting crew, sound crew and other people involved. Selina Moore was brave enough to hold this and so her house was packed until about 2.30 a.m. at which time those who were still fit found their way home. But even this is not the end. Good old Mr. Cox then took full responsibility for the official party. At this everyone who had any involvement with "Annie" came along to make general fools of themselves with Mrs. Wadmore's games. So the show was over. Many people had received much pleasure from it, whether watching or being in it; the school had once again found and used its talent, and Farimang Singhateh had learned that his feet could do what they'd never done before - tap dance. Jeff Stewart ANNIE GET YOUR GUN Shortly after I had joined Therfield I heard about the Therfield School musical, Annie Get Your Gun. I liked the idea of singing with a choir, so I went along to see what it was like. Most of the rehearsals were held with the rest of the chorus, but when the performances drew nearer, we began rehearsing with the main characters. The rehearsals took place about two lunchtimes every week, but in the last week or two they were every lunchtime and every day after school. Before the performance actually began, it was very exciting to dress up inour costumes and to have stage make-up put on us. Fortunately we did not have to be in school until 11 o'clock the following morning as the performances finished about 10.30 p.m. Being in the chorus of Annie Get Your Gun was a great opportunity to get to know people from other classes and years whom I might not otherwise have met. Vicky Stanfield "DRACULA" "DRACULA" was a show which came back from the dead. After the initial excitement, the play proved hard to bring to life but in spite of a period of despair, during which it nearly died, the cast discovered a true team spirit and Dracula was resurrected! Under the stake (and mallet) of our lively directors we had a 'bloody' good laugh, especially during the performance nights. The staff certainly entered the spirit of the play on the last night when they played several fiendish jokes on the cast who tried valiantly not to 'corpse' under the brilliant illuminations of our lighting crew. This joking continued until the hour of the wolf when those that still could flew - or thought they did - off to their coffins. Gale Penny FRENCH EXCHANGE The French Exchange. Well, what can I say? It's great fun and to please the parents, educationally useful. I'vebeen two years running now and it's improved my French no end. The whole idea of a French Exchange is that you and a French partner spend 10 days or so in each other's houses. Not only this but many visits, are made such as to Paris and Versailles. This means that durinq the holiday you see all the sights of Paris and the surrounding area and get to know a French family. This, of course, is very useful. All this sounds a bit boring on its own but I can promise you it isn't. This is proved by the fact that almost every evening there is a party minus teachers! As well as this the group excursions are a lot of fun especially if the sights and monuments of Paris are unknown to you. One especially enjoyable day was the day when we visited Paris. In the morning we participated in groups in walks around the Ile de la Cité and Notre Dame. Then in the afternoon we took the Metro up to Sacre Coeur and discovered that area of the city. Another interesting trip was when we were given a worksheet and we walked around Paris in groups without our teachers, which involved taking Metro and bus tickets and seeing more of Paris under our own steam. There is ample time for shopping in the large department stores such as Au Printemps, Galeries Lafayette andbest and cheapest of all, Monoprix. Excuse the name! It's not what you are thinking. I think you will agree that the French Exchange is very useful, and we all really enjoyed livinq in a French family and making lots of new friends! Our French improved greatly so altogether it was a worthwhile holiday THE WYE VALLEY FIELD TRIP, EASTER 1984 A week during the Easter holiday was spent at Llandogo, Gwent, by both O Level and CSE pupils along with Mr.Ham, Miss Atherton, Mr. Dyer, Mrs. Blair, Mr. Hoggins and Mr. Maloney. The work consisted of 5 days out in the field studying such aspects of Geography as industrial change in South Wales, and shopping trends in Cwmbran and Abergavenny. There was a visit to a hill sheep farm and studies made of the physical environment of the region. A lot of hard work was done and a great deal of fun was had by most ... Here follow some of the comments made bypupils on their return to school .... Work "The coach drew up far below the cliff on the valley road and we disembarked. We chose an unfamiliar route to begin our ascent and I was vaguely suspicious. My concern was justified as we came to a dead end!" "The best day was the coalfield day especially when we walked through Ystrad and did a transect of the valley land uses. This day was very exciting, showing us how the coalfield was declining and how all the mountains were made bigger by the dumping of slag." Fun and Entertainment "The entertainment? Better than I thought it would be although it ruined a pair of trousers. The evening was the highlight of the day and some of the entertainment was slightly...... bizarre?!" "The entertainments were organised by Mr. Hoggins which made him nearly as popular as the food. The first game was 'scuff around on knees and toes until bare flesh can be seen', in which some people carried tiddley-winks." Food "The food was unbelievably novel. It was hard to discover what it was supposed to be most of the time. This resulted in a new game on our table - Guess the Grub." "Our table succeeded in finishing a total of 3 tomato sauce bottles in 2 meals. This may sound surprising but compared to the 10 ladle fulls of baked beans Mr. Dyer stuffed down his throat in one meal, our achievement was not so outstanding." L. Atherton
ARTS FESTIVAL EVENING, MAY 1984 Following the theme of "1984" there were also skills with a technological bias - electronic keyboard music, computer graphics and microwave cookery.
A dance demonstration of robotic movement and two drama productions, "Plastic Apathy" and "The Last Flowers", were performed. The cine club put on a Sound/Light show and also ran the video of the school production of "Annie Get Your Gun". The Debating group discussed the Northern Ireland issue. W. Newstead Staff Profiles
page updated 15 Aug 2010 |
