Walking the Corridors Again

She toured the school with her mother Joy Sampson, who was on the board of Governors while Miss Garwood-Scott was Head Mistress. “I was here from the age of eight to 19,” said Lindy.  “We spent so much time here, it was like a second home.  It’s so incredible to be back after all these years. I can’t wait to tell my old LEH friends about my visit.”

Lindy moved to the States in 1974 with her husband Greg, where she discovered a life-long passion for charity work, including raising funds for a women’s shelter and helping run an organisation mentoring at-risk youth. She now lives in California, in the Lake Tahoe area, and is delighted to have her daughter Katy, and her twin girls, living nearby in Sacramento.

The Assembly Hall was particularly nostalgic, as Lindy recalled sitting on the floor listening to Miss Garwood-Scot addressing the assembled masses. While Lindy marvelled over many of the newer additions – the theatre, the art and music block and impressive design technology labs – much of the fabric of the school remained reassuringly familiar – from the parquet floor corridors to the smell of lunch cooking!

She remembered a long-vanished patch of carpet outside the Head Mistress’ office, where pupils were expected to queue quietly for their audience with the “formidable but glamorous” Miss Garwood-Scott.  And she was interested to hear that the Sixth Form Prefects – in their academic gowns – are a thing of the past – replaced now by the Leadership Team, who no longer even have to wear school uniform.

She remembered: “The sight of a prefect in full regalia coming towards you in a hallway was alternatively either a delight or a foreboding of punishment to come! But it was mostly a delight!”

Lindy and Joy popped into the Food Tech room – know as Home Economics in her day – and chatted to pupils making a range of delicious smelling bread.  Lindy said it had scarcely changed since she was there.

“It was delightful to meet some of the pupils and to see what amazing facilities they have now. They are very lucky indeed. What a treat it was to visit LEH this morning.  Thank you so much for taking the time to give Joy and I the grand tour. So many memories and now some new ones of the school I so loved.”

If you are logged into your Holles Connect account, you will be able to see the photos in the gallery below. In the class photo, taken Lindy thinks in about 1968, she is standing fourth from the left. And she is also seen with her twin grandchildren.