Heathfield

School for Girls

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June 1st, 2023

From 15th Nov 2021, email contact for this site is HeathfieldHarrow@gmail.com.

Over the past few years, I have received a number of email messages from Heathfield Old Girls. It is always exciting to hear from someone who used to go to Heathfield, when my own memories come flooding back. I hope the following pages will jog great memories for you also.

Thank you for showing an interest in this web page. Please Email me if you would like to include your name to the growing list of Old Girls with one or two memories and photographs if you can. Also your permission for me to add it to the site.

Thank you.
Deena (a.k.a.Diane) Henry

Goodbye to Heathfield
Sadlly, we said goodbye forever to Heathfield after the summer term in 2014. Find out more here. However, I plan to keep this site alive in memory of a great school that served so many thousands of young women and successfully prepared them for their adventures into their adult lives.

Please check out Old Girls' News with the first new entries added for 2023 and shown in pink boxes. You may recognize someone you once knew.

Founded in 1900 with only thirty pupils, Heathfield School purchased an old house in College Road, Harrow the following year, and there it flourished and became a familiar landmark until relocating to Pinner in 1982.

Click to see some old Photographs of some of the classrooms and grounds of Heathfield.

Throughout life, certain things happen which cause floods of memories to sweep over me and so many times I am reminded of someone, or groups of people from the my school days.

My one regret is that I didn't work harder at keeping in touch. I live in America now, and one of the major events throughout an American's life are the school reunions - five years, ten years, twenty years, fifty years. Without exception, when someone I know has an upcoming reunion he or she will start to panic about what to wear, will they recognize people, are they too fat, do they look old, who has died. They talk about dreading the occasion and wishing they hadn't agreed to go along. But on return they are full of stories about who they met and bring back a renewed resolve to keep in touch - so easy today via email. I think it is a wonderful tradition.

HERE IS A PHOTO FROM 1946. ARE YOU IN THIS? (photo added October 2010)

For larger image click on picture which will open in a new window and then click again. You can then scroll left or right.

I heard from someone who was at Heathfield the year I was born and she sent me the above photograph. It is amazing how many of the teachers that I had a dozen years later in the Senior school were teaching at that time. Miss Norris seems to look just the same in 1946 as she did in 1964!

ARE YOU IN THIS PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN 1955?

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I remember my first day in Kindergarten at St. Keverne in September 1950 and stubbornly refusing to give my name to Miss Roberts. Fourteen years later, I remember my very last day of school in July 1964 as we all scattered this way and that along College Road. We hugged and wept, and we yelled our goodbyes, and we scribbled phone numbers on the backs of our hands - vowing to keep in touch. We promised each other faithfully that we would all meet up at the foot of the broad steps at Harrow-on-the-Hill tube station ten years from that day. We never did; at least I never did, and I rather suspect no-one kept that appointment.

Nowadays, I find my thoughts frequently drifting back to those school days, old school friends, Miss Norris, teachers we loved, and those we loved to hate, the familiarity of Harrow, the rumbling of the tube trains, the smell of the local popcorn factory, and I wonder what became of the girls I grew up with. I have often searched the internet for clues. Names keep popping into my head, events, places and, well...... memories.

CAN YOU FIND YOURSELF IN THIS 1959 PHOTOGRAPH?

For larger image click on picture which will open in a new window and then click again. You can then scroll left or right.

Althought I never knew any boy from Harrow County, I stumbled upon an amazing site during one of my searches. Heathfield girls were mentioned in the memoirs of several of the letters published on this incredible log of memoirs, which has pages and pages stuffed full of all sorts of priceless photographs and recollections. An extract from one of the letters: ...we used to "follow" the girls from Heathfield School. We never, ever spoke to them of course, nor they to us. We just walked behind them at a respectful distance...

I have been spurred on to endeavour to create something along the same lines but can only do so with a lot of help from Heathfield's Old Girls.

THIS WAS TAKEN IN 1964. WHERE ARE YOU NOW?

For larger image click on picture which will open in a new window and then click again. You can then scroll left or right.

If you went to Heathfield while it was in College Road in Harrow, or Beaulieu Drive in Pinner, please write down some memories and share anything you may recall about the school and the girls you knew. Email me if you wish to include a few lines or a long essay, or anything in between . And if you have photographs, that would be very special too. I will post anything that I receive, providing it is above board and respectable.

So check back from time to time and hopefully you will find information about an old friend or two and perhaps be transported back to times whether good or bad - those old school days nonetheless.

Deena (a.k.a Diane Henry)

El Cerrito, California

This site was originally created on 3rd August 2003

Take a look at the Centenial publication which has some wonderful information from the past, including reminiscences from members of staff and pupils. There's a picture of Mr. Canning's cottage too. Did you know that in 1961 (when I was in the Senior school) the fees were only £45 per term!

Click here for Heathfield's Centenary 1900-2000.

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