Leaving Bedford in a hurry - December 1957

It is now mid-December and Alice's commitments mean she barely has time to write a last letter from Bedford before heading off on her activity course which she has been preparing for.

She expresses her relief at completing a Pathology examination paper but has no time to relax as there is packing to be done in readiness for the Christmas holiday break and, more urgently, for the trip to Wales which is tomorrow:

Despite suffering from a heavy cold Alice continues with all her activities right up to the last minute. She has been selected to attend the equivalent of a modern day 'outward bound' course, run by The Central Council of Physical Recreation, an organisation created through the endeavours of the college's own Phyllis Colson.
Although the course is not a requirement for her studies it is one of the many extra-curricular activities that the ladies are encouraged to take part in as part of gaining a well-rounded education. Alice has had a long day getting there but is full of enthusiasm.

Once she has settled in Alice begins to write a small journal-type letter to her parents, filling them in on her new adventures in Snowdonia:

Extract from publication marking the achievements of Phyllis Colson upon her retirement in 1963, and featuring the CCPR Centre in Snowdonia.

Demonstrations and the long wait for exam results, 30 June 1957

This month Alice spends a lot of time writing to her parents despite being very busy with taking exams and preparing for and performing in multiple demonstrations. Alice is in good spirits as she is excited for the annual College Camp in July and subsequently returning home. In this letter, Alice has written only to her mother who is camping in Wiltshire and was unable to come to her gymnastics demonstration.

Alice talks of the gymnastics demonstration attended by her father and aunt saying she has left instructions for her father to explain the programme to her mother once she returns home. During the demonstrations (she participated in two) the temperature is reportedly over 80°F; gymnastics at that temperature must have been unbearable for them!

Pictured below is the Gymnastics programme from the Archive. It shows that shape and pattern are the pre-eminent factors for this year as with the three thematic approaches of body shape, rope work, and pushing and pulling with asymmetry and symmetry.

The swimming demonstration took place on 29 June and Alice believes the performance was one of the most successful in recent years. However, she admits a slight faux par on her part - during a pairs diving sequence she misjudged her footing and went crashing into the water – “with a rather large splash”. Although accidental she was fearful of what the staff may think but looking up she was pleased to see they had found the funny side of the mishap.

Demonstrations aside, Alice must wait for her Biology and English exam results, commenting that the Biology exam was extremely hard and so believes she will not get a distinction.

Alice closes her letter wondering what she could do for work over the summer, hoping to attend a friend’s birthday party on the way to camp, and asks her mother to send on a few camp essentials.

BPEA OSA 5/6 Programmme for Demonstration Day 1957

Start of Spring Term 1957

It’s January 1957 and Alice is back at Bedford College of Physical Education following the Christmas holidays – minus her trunk - thus forcing her to borrow bits and pieces of clothing for Modern Dance and Games for a few days.  As usual she and her fellow students have the usual start-of-term inspection to check that they have all the required books on their reading list.

A new dining hall is under construction but in the meantime meals are taken in one of several houses which form part of the Lansdowne Road campus.  As with many other aspects of College life, the regime surrounding meals is strict and non-attendance is frowned upon by staff.  Hence Alice and her friends conceal the absence of a fellow student from a Sunday breakfast even though the student would appear to have a reasonable excuse – arriving at College at 11.45pm the previous evening following a lacrosse match in Exeter.

 
Alice is also shocked at the price of a cloth badge for her blazer – 8s/6d (8 shillings and 6 pence) – equivalent to £9.24 today which does seem very expensive.

 

Dining Room at 37 Lansdowne Road (c.1919-1920)

A Very Busy Time

The end of June 1956 is a very busy time in Alice’s life, not only does she have revision for the looming exams but has teaching practice write-ups to complete.  Repeat school visits in Hertfordshire are also on the cards to look at schools selected for their architecture and good results.

The Demonstration appears to be an important event in the college year, Alice is attending practices and is involved in scene shifting, dress changes, policemen (sic) and waitressing; although it appears that the 2^nd & 3^rd years will be actually putting on the demonstration.  The annual church fete is also on the calendar and the 1^st years are in charge of running this.   

The 4^th July is the Inter Year Athletics meeting which Alice is training daily for and complains she is in the 800 yards this year which means extra training as she has further to run. There is also a 3^rd year sale on the same day where she plans to buy items cheaper in preparation for next year.

A visit to Mullion Camp in Cornwall is also looming large as Alice requests some extra items to take with her and reminds her parents the fees are now due for it.

A surprising element to Alice’s teacher training is a visit to Cambridge for dissections which she states:  ‘not a particularly enjoyable day but very interesting’

The final part of Alice’s letter home tells of spending Sunday ‘stitching and tailoring for a 3^rd year’, in preparation for the Demonstration, a sewing machine was borrowed from the vicar to help with this and Alice was very pleased with the results.

The final paragraph tells of her getting her hair cut by another 1^st year student who did well but ‘cut off so much we had to find a carpet sweeper to clean up the mess.’

Making alterations for Demonstration Day, 1933

Demonstration Day Programme, 1956

Dance Demonstration performed by senior students, c.1942-1945

September 1955

In 1955 Alice was among 51 First Year students who entered Bedford College of Physical Education to study for the 3-year Certificate of Teaching of the Cambridge Institute of Education for teachers of Physical Education.  It was an all-female college of 147 students with only one male lecturer.  The curriculum consisted of two elements: the Principles and Practice of Education and specialist training in Physical Education.  During the first two years all students studied English Language and Social Biology, including Anatomy and Physiology, and took a general course in Art and Music.  In the third year each student chose a subject for special study from a choice of English Speech and Drama, Biology, Art and Music.  The specialist training in Physical Education carried out throughout the three years included the theory and practice of Educational Gymnastics; the theory and practice of Games (including Hockey, Lacrosse, Netball, Cricket, Lawn Tennis and Rounders); Dance (including Modern Dance, National Dance and Ballroom dancing); Swimming, Athletics; and Camping.

Alice’s first letter home describes her arrival in Bedford and settling in to the room she shared with another student at 29 Lansdowne Road, one of several houses in Lansdowne Road and neighbouring Dynevor Road and Warwick Avenue which formed part of the College campus.  Interestingly she notes that ‘College time’ ran three minutes ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).  For anyone under the age of 50, it is hard to imagine accounting in pounds, shillings and pence, a system whereby 12 pennies made a shilling and 20 shillings a pound. But that was the complex arithmetic everyone wrestled with in pre-decimalisation Britain.  Alice makes reference to the cost of her share of the taxi fare from Bedford train station to Lansdowne Road, one shilling, which is expressed as ‘1/-’ and was equivalent to 5p.  And finally, ‘B. R.’ refers to British Railways.