Jill Sparrow

You're obviously in a class of your own Beekay! I've said many times how much I detested Manning. I started school when I was 4 and by the age of 11, I'd had enough of it. It wouldn't really have mattered where I went, I'd have hated it. Aged 11, I desperately wanted to work on the biscuit counter in Woolworths. I have never been ambitious and money or possessions mean little to me. My overriding aim in life has been to follow my own path, think, study and work out the point of the journey. Manning didn't shed much light on any of that.

There was...it was called Manning!

Yes, an interesting photographic timeline of the history of Kings Mill along the wall near the clinics. Until a few years ago, there were still a number of areas within the hospital dating from its use as an army base. They had a very eerie atmosphere but since the rebuild, they are virtually all gone.

Sutton in Ashfield, Loppy. Has a very interesting history. It was a US Army base during WW2. Now part of Sherwood Forest Hospitals.

What were you doing at Kings Mill, our Ben? I'll be running into you in Morrison's! I don't shoplift, though! I'll be taking a friend to Kings Mill in a coup!e of weeks for a day case op. I'll look out for you.

Do you remember the Dickson family, Mandie? Moved to Leybourne after the war. One of them is still there! I know Ben doesn't remember them.

I worked for Rotheras, solicitors, when they were sited on Friar Lane. One of the partners at that time was Ian Rothera. His father was then semi retired and a consultant. Both were involved with the office of coroner.

I think you'd be better with Maurice Chevalier, our Ben. Thank heavens for little girls/They grow up in the most delightful way/Those little eyes so helpless and appealing/One day will flash and send you crashing through the ceiling! Could be your theme song!

Donald Pleasance was brilliant in The Barchester Chronicles, where his daughter Angela appeared as his screen daughter. Brilliant cast all round including the late Alan Rickman and Nigel Hawthorne. I love Trollope.

I attended a funeral at Markeaton Crem a few years ago, The deceased was a member of the Strelley family and a keen fisherman. He was encased in an osier basket, similar to the one he took fishing. Half way through, during a lull after a reading from The Strelley Bible, we were treated to a rendition of The William Tell Overture from someone's phone! Gone Fishin' would have been more appropriate but we laughed anyway, as he would have done.

Practice is the key...no pun intended. Spelling is also crucial. One needs to have an excellent knowledge of medical terminology for the job I did until recently, along with legal terminology and the language spoken by the police! With up to 20 people round the table, you need to watch them and not the keyboard, simply to know who is speaking. Mr High Powered Consultant from the QMC is not going to stop and tell you how to spell the obscure condition he's babbling on about, nor the drugs he's using to treat it, so you'd better know what he means. The police won't give you a copy

Modern computer keyboards require virtually no pressure, therefore a person who can touch type may achieve high speeds not attainable on a manual or even an electronic typewriter. It's not really so difficult.

I learned shorthand in my late teens. Never liked it but needed it when taking notes in court. I could do 100wpm given a fair wind. In more recent years, taking virtually verbatim minutes at child protection conferences and the like, I've used a laptop with external full sized keyboard attached. This enables me to hit 200wpm plus. Much easier than shorthand.

Or even affectatious...dare one say?

Not as erotic as it might sound, Beekay. There was nothing at all salacious about Mrs Christie's knicker inspection.

My sister had a very similar rucksack during her final years at Peveril. I remember her coming home once with a blue hard backed shorthand dictionary which she'd been awarded as a prize. Apparently, she'd annoyed the shorthand teacher who clipped my sister around the head with it just before it was presented to her! Didn't do shorthand at Manning and would never have got away with carrying a rucksack!

By the time I arrived at Manning in September 1969, the rules about socks had been relaxed. As first years, we wore white ankle socks but grey wool tights in winter. It was damned draughty inside Manning with all those ill-fitting French doors and unheated quads. From the second year, we wore ordinary nylon tights. One of my friends who was at Manning in the 50s tells me that, even in the sixth form, girls had to wear white ankle socks and she attended her first job interview wearing school uniform, complete with socks. She was offered the job on the strength of the Manning's reputation!

I also think there are more than two. Two would be a little abstemious!

The Co-Op stocked the Manning blouse and was the only outlet other than D&P to do so. The blouse had sort of maroon and white stripes, not red and white...which would have been much easier to find but was not permitted, grey skirts, for daily wear and for hockey/netball plus the white aertex shirt were stocked by the Co-Op. Everything else was D&P. Green wraparound overall for science subjects, petersham tie, grey flannel knickers!! red pursebelt, beret,blazer,badges for blazer and beret, hockey boots, tennis shoes. We had to make our own cookery aprons. Mine was yellow, my house colo

True, Beekay. That branch of Pork Farms used to sell miniature cottage loaf buns. One could buy them with various fillings at lunchtime in the70s. Cheese salad was my favourite. On the corner opposite The Halifax was National & Provincial Building Society, providers of my first mortgage. Later taken over by Abbey National.

By all means, Beekay, but I'm a vegetarian with perfect eyesight!

To the left of D&P was Pork Farms and to the right was Rowley's Opticians, later a branch of Dolland & Aitchison.

Memories, SG! My blazer lasted right the way through Manning too. Sleeves were rather short at the end. We, too, had a Grecian style tunic, for dance,complete with a silk corded belt! Petersham ribbon tie. D&P was the only outlet for those and they were very expensive. To this day, I can't tie a conventional tie. Summer dresses were made from fabric bought from the school. As I've said before, the day I left I took great pleasure in dumping the whole lot, ceremoniously, in the bin. On 4 September this year, it will be 50 years since I commenced my sentence at Manning. An an

Dixon & Parker, Friar Lane. My Manning uniform came from there, including the grey flannel knickers about which the Dalai Chulla used to get so excited! You didn't have to wear em Chulla!

All female team? Trust our Ben!