Rhubarb 2017

ST EDWARD’S r h u b a r b

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A R C H I V E S

free of charge, to accommodate sixteen boys (The ‘Dorians’) at ‘Bishopstone’ in the Woodstock Road when space was extremely limited at the School. The ‘Dorians’ considered themselves something of an elite’. This arrangement lasted until 1924 when she sold the property. Mrs Dore was given honorary membership of the Society and presented with a silver bowl on her departure. Other female faces seen regularly by the early pupils were the various ladies who ran the ‘School Shop’ which consisted of a window of a rather dark temporary building on the northern perimeter where the western end of the indoor swimming pool later stood, now The North Wall. It was first manned by a ‘Mother’ Blencowe, ‘a maiden lady from Plantation Road’, followed by a Miss Boffin and a Miss Long about whom we know little. Lizzie Johnson served both as Shop Manager and later oversaw the transition to the purpose-built Tuck Shop (today’s Bursary) in 1924. She had come to St Edward’s in 1887 with her parents who had been appointed to look after the Lodge, and was asked in 1910 to look after the School Shop. In all, she served the School for 46 years and became a well-known and well-loved figure at the School. She ran the finances of the Shop so well (with the close cooperation of Bursars Walter Stanton and Walter Dingwall) that it paid for itself and even was able to donate funds for other School building projects. ‘She knew how to buy, where to buy and when to buy’ (an OSE). Her impact on the School was rewarded by the presentation from OSE of over £500 (£22,000 today) in 1943 on her retirement, which enabled her to purchase her home on the Iffley Road, which she then promptly exchanged with 45 Oakthorpe Road to ‘be nearer the School’. The Shop was later taken on, very successfully, by Mr and Mrs Cherry in 1947. They built on all Lizzie Johnson’s hard work starting with all the problems of post war rationing and worked until 1972. Many OSE will recall Mrs Cherry’s kindness linked to a lack of patience

Sister Grimwade in 1964

with the ‘ditherers’ who blocked the queue! She was succeeded by Maureen Cox who laboured in the School Shop for another 29 years until 2001, working her way up to Manager. Another well-known female face from the 1926-1954 was Warden Henry Kendall’s sister Katie who, in the absence of a Mrs Kendall, ran the Warden’s residence in ‘a manner particularly her own, and had

at times appeared to have the Warden very nearly under control’ (R. D. Hill). She was much appreciated by the OSE of that era who presented her with a gold watch and refrigerator on her retirement. Naida Christie, was not only the wife of the School’s ninth Warden but also ‘an enthusiastic and talented teacher of English’ at a time when there were relatively

Lizzie Johnson in retirement c . 1950

Miss Bishop, School Matron c . 1900