Dear Terry,
Definitely no swimming pool 1969/70 which seems pretty odd if it had been built in 1964, only used for a short time? I wonder if an accident caused it's closure? If it was outdoors and put at the bottom of the large gardens at the rear of the mansion, it could be that the tennis courts replaced it. I can't think where it could have been except for there. There was a sixties type building addition called the school block, where we left the main house and had a very short stroll to the education block. Perhaps it was there at one time.
I can't quite recall the name of the head, but her deputy was Miss
(*), a large lady who seemed to have a bit of trouble with mobility - us girls really took advantage of her slowness at catching us....
There were 4 'houses' (which were all designated a room) all colour coded, red, green, blue and yellow which had a 'house-mother'. Each house-mother would over-see about 8-10 girls. My house-mother was Miss
(*), a very gentle, understanding woman. The only other staff I recall was the chef who came and went on a daily basis. There was also a wing to the house which was solitary confinement, it was awfull, a room with nothing except for a wooden 'bed' kept in place by two chains that supported it from the wall. I spent a couple of episodes in there after I had obsconded.
What newspaper are you writing the article for Terry? If you would like any contribution I would be happy to help with a few facts or purely my subjective recollections! I would also like to see the finished article! It seems to me that that anything to do with the place/era has all been forgotten or hushed..
Aside, good luck with your article and do get in touch if I can help further.
Best wishes Wendy.
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