Jane Livingstone
(Class of 1969)

GWLC

Arriving at 5 George Square to join the Watson’s family was a daunting experience. It was the autumn of 1960 when a few of us entered primary classes and 5 along with pupils from St. Alban’s road. Soon I was familiar with such names as the Dark Passage and Tiled Hall. The Admiral’s Kitchen was where mugs of hot cocoa were served from very large teapots and a table was set out with catering sized trays of both milk and plain digestive biscuits which I could buy for a few pence. Assembly took place each day with the school orchestra playing both the hymn and the march out. A prefect would ring the bell on the gallery when the whole school was gathered and the Headmistress, Hilda Fleming, swept on to the gallery with her black gown billowing behind to lead a hymn and prayer. I was fortunate to have started lessons on the Viola at my former school and was quickly brought in to the orchestra. Mr Langdon, a rather fearsome man, kept us in order and conducted orchestra practice each Tuesday after school. Once, he erupted, giving us a thorough telling off about posture. We were to sit up straight with our feet flat on the floor. I was small and terrified of his temper, so I sat up straight and put my feet parallel to the floor. Mr Langdon duly noticed this anomaly and his humour improved greatly. He allowed me to attend the Usher Hall to hear Yehudi Menuhin with other members of the orchestra, although it caused grief with my form teacher who argued that it was for senior pupils only. Handwriting caused problems for me for a while in junior school as I had to abandon my learned loopy writing and firstly scratch Italic style writing with a nib and ink and later master an Osmeroid Italic Oblique fountain pen. Basket weaving and textile weaving with our own basic loom kept us busy too. Now, remembering that all this took place in the “swinging sixties” the tunics we had to wear for Physical Education were more suitable for ancient Greece! It consisted square necked short tunic with matching pants in our House colours. The matching pants were huge and definitely what we named “PK’s”, passion killers. Mrs McPherson took the juniors for Music and she did wonders with the 4/5 choir. Miss Traves became Head of Music when Mr Langdon retired and continued to nurture the strong tradition of music in the school. Sometimes a pupil would give a recital at assembly and I remember a very special recital given in the Central Hall by Julian Bream, the classical guitarist. Each year, a pupil played a solo at the Prize Giving in the Usher Hall and I was honoured to perform there in 1969. I did indulge in some harmless mischief however. In the junior department I placed a kipper in Miss Cowan’s desk and glued the lid! She used to treat us on a Friday afternoon by allowing us to rest heads down on our desks while she read stories from Classical History. I was taught how to play the Bassoon by my friend and played it at assembly instead of the Viola. That was not popular as at the time I was leader of the Viola section.

Moving to the senior school meant a blue or green overall for science and a white overall for cookery/laundry. Yes, I had to learn how to wash and iron a handkerchief. Believe me, these two classes would have much in common with downstairs in Downton Abbey. There were no steam irons just simple electric and even flat irons! The kitchens still worked with gill measures, ingredients all weighed out on greaseproof paper squares and the use of Chemico, a dull pink paste used to clean the steel knife blades. Thankfully, the catering for school lunches was more enlightened, as from third year we could opt for salad lunches George Square itself was going through a metamorphosis at this time with the encroachment of the University. This transformation was viewed on a daily basis as we walked the paths of the gardens. The whole of the eastern side of the square was flattened to make way for the David Hume tower. Part of the southern side was redeveloped into the George Square Theatre which gave the school a venue for production of Dido and Aeneas and demonstration of Gymnastics and Dance. Games activities were central to extracurricular activities and Outdoor Activities were introduced. Our year stayed at Balquidder Youth Hostel and enjoyed hillwalking and sailing. In winter, skiing weekends found muscles we did not know we had. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award introduced me to many new experiences including canoeing. I became the Scottish Slalom Ladies’ Champion in1967 and 1968. The Merchant Company bought Ardrostan for the four schools to use as an outdoor centre. Both Alison Ashford (nee Brown) and I were promoted to staff in our sixth year to instruct sailing there. A photo of us both along with Dot Brown, Marjory Traves and Maggie Smith can be found on page 151 of “Outdoor Adventures, the story of Third Year Projects at George Watson’s College. It was here that an evening visit to the pub resulted in a refusal to serve me not believing I was eighteen. I was eighteen, and the barman then went ahead and served a pupil who was not. C’est la vie.

Jane Livingstone née Tupper (Class of 1969)