[WillowTheWhisp]

I left in 1969. She terrified me too most of the time but I do recall one classic "incident" when I painted an easel pink and was sent to "see Miss Horne" which meant standing outside her door, having knocked, waiting for the light signal to change.

Standing there wondering what she might do was far worse than actually facing her. When I explained to her that Miss Hindle had sent me to see her because I painted my easel pink her response would have fitted well in "The Importance of Being Ernest" - "an easel?" as if painting anything else pink wouldn't have been anywhere near half as serious! She didn't do any more than give me a very fixed stare which would have defeated Paddington Bear. I think she was probably bewildered.

The easel painting was a moment of total madness on my part. I had been working on a painting of a pink box, some of my paint (as was normal) went over the edge of the paper onto the board, but I'd had a lot on the brush and some splashed onto the actual easel. Miss Hindle, in an uncharacteristically sarcastic moment saw the mess and said "Why don't you paint the whole easel pink?" - so I did. Well, at least I started to.........

Another memory of Miss Horne was being summoned to assist her one day "sign" letters to parents. This involved rubber stamping them all with a stamp which said "Mabel B Horne" in the form of her signature. I can still visualise the flow of it to this day.

Do you remember how she seemed top float down the corridors wearing her gown which fluttered out behind her and her "sensible" shoes clattering?