Old Girls

I have only used maiden names, because that is how we remember our school chums and classmates. If you read your name here but are uncomfortable with it being published on the web page, please let me know and I will remove it immediately. Conversely, if anyone wants to be included and especially if you have photographs or anecdotes to share, please write. Also, let me know if you see any errors (memories fail as we age!), or would like to rewrite your own paragraph I will happily make alterations. The email address is HeathfieldHarrow@gmail.com.

Diane (Deena) Henry

Newly added names are highlighted in pink. Names are alphabetical by surname.

Cherry Asbury was at Heathfield during the 40s and left in 1953. She has kept in touch with Janet Pedley and Heather Carpenter all these years. Cherry lives in Canada.

Vivian Baker joined Lower I in 1940 and left at the end of Lower V to pursue a successful career as a Quantity Surveyor. Click on this account of her memories to read more about Vivan's experiences at Heathfield. She is still keeps in touch with some of her school friends: Marjorie Moss, Aileen Thomas, Margaret Booth, Mary Hutcheon and Irene Fisk. Click to see a photograph of three of Vivian's friends. Vivian took part in the school's 1949 production of The Tragedy of King Richard the Second. Take a look at the program, and also enjoy these two photographs from the play.

Virginia Biddell was a pupil from 1943 until 1955, leaving after taking her GCE's. She worked with the United Nations in New York City and also in Geneva and Cyprus. She also worked for a company in Singapore for a couple of years and when she married, lived in Iran for five years up until the Revolution. She is still in touch with two of her old school friends, Pat Ewing (who was with the BBC for many years) and Jane Peebles (who became an actress and starred in The Mousetrap). Ginny now lives in Perthshire, and to see the snapshots that she sent, please click Virginia's photographs

Valerie Budd began her days at St. Keverne in January 1946. Here is an account of some of her fondest memories. Some of the pupils she remembers are Susan Bagnell, Evelyn Milburn and Christine Wimlett. She would love to hear from anyone who was in the Senior School from 1952 to 1959, which can be done by emailing HeathfieldHarrow@gmail.com.

Penny Carnall left Heathfield in 1963 when she was 18, and went on to Guys Hospital to train to be a nurse. She recently met Gillian Dobson who was a year ahead of Penny but left Heathfield in Upper 2. Penny said that she admired Gillian way back then, and the two had a great afternoon looking through photographs and reminiscing. They live near each other in Sussex and belong to the same community orchestra.

Marion Cook started at St. Keverne, leaving Heathfield in 1961. She has lived in Germany and now lives in Australia. She and Diane Henry were the best of friends all through school.

Julia Chaney found an old school friend, Susan Farquahrson, on Facebook having lost contact with her for years, and she would love to re-connect with Jane Peters, who she thinks moved to Germany. Susan Burley and Angela Bowles were also her good frineds. Julia left Heathfield in 1966 and now lives in America.

Saira Chogley started at Heathfield in Year 7 in 2000 (?). She wrote about how there were still some of the old desks in use - complete with the old ink wells. She was working towards her GCSEs at the time of writing in 2004, and hoped to become a fashion editor or to work in the fashion industry.

Jan Conway left Heathfield in the summer of 1982. At that time, she took a number of photographs around the school before the buildings were all demolished. Heathfield moved from College Road to its new home in Pinner that same summer.  For a fascinating reminder of the school and its grounds, click Photos of Campus.  Here is a picture of Jan and Nicola, and you can flick through the following delightful collection of  Jan's photos of her class. also taken in 1982.

Sarah Edwards lived in Ruislip when she joined Heathfield in Lower 1 in 1961 and left after the sixth form in 1972. She remembers it as a happy place with some dedicated and fine teachers. She still keeps in touch with three of her school friends and often wonders what happened to some of the others from her class: Kathryn Hawkins, Susan Chrstie-Murray, Cynthia Palmer, Sally Newbery, Caroline Wood, Carline Williams to name a few. Sarah went to a reunion about sixteen or seventeen years ago which was very enjoyable and found it interesting to see all the different directions that people's lives have taken. She is married to Andrew and lives in Cheshire. Their two sons live in London.

Jennifer Evans started at St. Keverne in 1950 and left Heathfield in 1963. She said how strange it is to be wandering around St. Anns shopping centre in Harrow trying to remember the school being there. Jennifer went to Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) a few years after leaving school to stay with cousins who also went to Heathfield. She fell in love with the country and has spent many years living there, although she has now moved back to England. She has kept in touch with Alison Bell and Jill Plyman.

Katherine Gladden was a pupil at Heathfield from 1938 to 1949. She is still in touch with her friend Barbara Hales. Katherine lives in Canterbury.

Rowena Harris went to St Keverne around 1965 and then on to the 'big school'. She has lived in Italy, France, Switzerland and has now settled in the United States. She says that her life in the UK feels like a very long time ago. Click here for photos of Rowena in her first school uniform - winter version and summer version and also a school class photo - year uncertain.

Sara Hampson joined the Junior school in 1963, although she left when she was twelve because her parents moved to Germany. Her best friend was Anne Goodfellow and another friend was Hester Chapman. Sara has lasting memories of the long walk to Harrow Swimming Pool in the summer term, and to the lacrosse pitch during the winter.

Kirsten Hartely started school in 1962 in Transition, St. Keverne and left when she was ten in 1966 because her family moved. One recollection of that first year in school was climbing the steps during break, missing the step, falling on her knee making it bleed. Miss Roberts bundled her up and patched her knee with ‘magic red daub’ and was very kind. Some of the girls Kirsten remembers in her class are Nicola Rudd, whose birthday was on the same day. She recalls going to the ballet with Nicola Harris and being driven home in a Jaguar in the pouring rain. She fondly remembers a very fetching red woollen cape with a black lining made in Miss Johnson’s needlework class and which she wore constantly. She is a naturopathic herbalist by training and is living in Australia.

Diane (Deena) Henry was at Heathfield from 1950 (St. Keverne) until 1964. Scary memories were of smog rapidly rolling in which was so thick and dirty that you could hardly see your hand in front of your face. Girls were immediately dismissed to hurry home. Buses stopped running and there was hardly a car on the roads. She had to fetch her younger sister from St. Keverne and then walk (five miles) home feeling the fences along the way and the silence was eerie. Fond memories were of sharing snacks during break, swapping beads and sharing secrets among friends. She is living in America and is responsible for assembling the information on this web site.

Marilyn Henry started school at St Keverne in 1954 and left in 1964, when she moved to a school in Ealing to complete her 'O' levels. Marilyn writes "Completed a year at Pitmans and out into the world of working. Married and moved to Sydney Australia in 1970, where I am still living. Memrories? Two come to mind. That little bottle of warm milk each day! Thank goodness for flavoured straws! The other, and a strange one ... The smell of the newly polished floors in the hall when we returned to school each term! Funnily, I went to visit Heathfield after it had moved to Pinner, primarily to see Marie Colbeck who was still an English teacher there..... and yes.... the first thing I recognised was that smell of the polished floors in the hall while I was checking out the award plaques on the wall to see which names I recognised." Some names Marilyn remembers from her class are Penny Tregoning, Jennifer Elvin, Jill Barbrooke-Grubb, Ann Fullarton, Karen Levinson, Anne Baker, Marie Colbeck, Denise Anderson and Barbara Gould ... just to name a few.

Richenda Hewlett was called Ricky to her friends but is now known as Chenda. She and her younger sister Charmian were only at Heathfield for two years from 1956-1958 and were saddened when they had to move to a new school. She has written an impish account which will give you a giggle.Click Richenda's Memories to find out more. Check out Ricky's photo of Miss Kerly and Lower IVa in 1958. And then check some of photos of Ricky's friends here.

Maureen Hilton started at St. Keverne in 1945 and her older sister Sheila was two years ahead. She was an understody to Caliban in the school production of The Tempest in December 1957 at the Rudolph Steiner Theatre and was friends with Valerie Budd (above) who was understudy to Ariel in the same production. She is still in touch with several of her school friends: Chris Wimlet, Pauline Teare, Sylvia Page, Mary Barralet and Brenda Thorndyke. Another friend, Gillian Cooper, sadly died in 2014. Maureen studied mathematics at London University and worked in the early days of computers. She lives in North Carolina with her husband Michael, having moved to the USA in 1976. They have two children Patrick and Gail.

Rosemary Hilton was at Heathfield until 1971. She remembers her interview prior to starting at St. Keverne in 1957. Miss Norris asked her if she would like to go on the ‘jungle gym’ and Rosemary felt too shy to say yes. While shopping in Budgens back in 2007, and quite by chance, Rosemary met Jean Goodfellow who used to be in the class above. They have since enjoyed time together reminiscing over schooldays. Rosemary lives in Pinner. On 18th September, 2011, a very successful class reunion was held, after Rosemary had spent many weeks tracking down women who had been in her class. Twenty two of them got together at the Tudor Lodge Hotel in Eastcote and spent a very memorable afternoon together. Click here for Rosemary's Reunion photos.

Carol Hood started at Heathfield in 1954 and left the same year Miss Norris retired in 1964. She sent some great photographs of her friends taken between 1963 / 1964. There are two serious photographs followed by two fun pictures. Sheena Royal was a neighbor and although she was a year older than Carol, they became good friends. They are still in touch with each other to this day. Please click Carol's photos. 

Elizabeth Anne Jones attended Heathfield from 1955 until 1962 and she started work at Barclays Bank after leaving school. Some of the names she remembers are Pamela Maltby, Judith Tregunna and Vivien Crook.

Jenny Lawrance was a pupil at Heathfield from 1957 until the year Miss Norris retired in 1964. She has written a witty and candid account of her days at school plus a picture of the bell that Miss Woodhouse would ring to assemble the Junior pupils from the playground. She wrote a poem about this bell which was published in the Autumn of 2009 in the Forward Press Anthology "Tides of Life" and includes it for your enjoyment. Click to read Jenny's narrative. Jenny remembers many of her teachers, and talks about them in her account. Her two best friends in the Junior school were Rosalind Ward and Kathryn Watson. Other friends included Carol Hood, Angela Huggins, Jane Butters, Pauline Simkins, Angela Bowles, Maggie Paterson, Elizabeth Barder, and her special friend Hilary Daniels. Here is a link to the photo of Miss Woodhouse's Bell

Jennifer Lockley found her picture in the 1955 and the 1959 photos, much to the excitement of her grandchildren, who were thrilled at trying to search for her. The girls that she remembers are Pamela Edwards, Pamela Maltby, Marion Ashworth, Susan Aldersley, Patsy Joel, Valerie Crowhurst and the teachers Miss Woodhouse, Miss Ramsay, Mrs Clegg, Miss Johnson and Miss Flack.

Pauline Manville was a pupil at Heathfield from 1939 to 1948. She used to cycle to school during the war with her younger twin brother and sister. If an air raid started, they would shelter in a ditch. Pauline would then have to decide whether it was safter to return home or to continue to school, at which point one of the teachers would shepherd them quickly into the shelter. Pauline was in Field house, and in her final year at Heathfield she was a Prefect and also House Games Captain. She enjoyed netball and was very good at drill.

After she sadly died in May 2016, her daughter Catherine found a wonderful photograph of the 1948 production of The Merchant of Venice that had been put on by the Heathfield School Dramatic Society. You can find Pauline by clicking this link: Drama Production 1948. She is second row from the back, fourth from the left in school uniform, so she was probably one of the stage managers. You can see Mrs. Rye centred in the back row.

Chloe Milton has many happy memories of her time at Heathfield, from 1967 at St. Keverne until she left school in July 1981. When she was 13 her family moved to a house that was next door to St. Keverne.

Madeline Muir's daughter, Julia, wrote about her mother, who joined Heathfield in 1926 at the age of eleven, and left in 1928.  Madeline well remembers her own mother taking her for the initial interview with Miss Norris. Julia bought a Charlesworth pram for her children (Madeline's grandchidren), which always triggered her mother's memories of one of her teachers (Miss Charlsworth).  One story that Madeline tells is of the teachers spending time searching for the missing blackboard duster. This meant  holding up lessons to the delight of most of the pupils! Madeline loved ancient Greek dancing - which was fashionable in the 1920s, and she always enjoyed singing "Girls and Boys of Heathfield Ever" at the end of each term. The words to the school song can be found by clicking Heathfield school songs. 

Margaret Norman joined in form III, leaving Heathfield in 1963.  Her mother taught Physics at the school, continuing until she retired. Margaret is still in contact with Adrienne Bennet, Mrs, Barker (née Miss James - PE teacher) and Mary Took.

Phillipa Norman-Smith started in St. Keverne in 1959 and left Heathfield in 1971 to study Fashion Design at Harrow Art School. She has three sisters: June, Fenella and Charlotte. She has regularly kept in touch with Linda Ward, Debbie Newing, Melinda Pooley, Barbara Exley and Alison Collard. They often talk about their memories of Heathfield. Phillipa was trying to remember the full version of the school song "Steadfast and Loyal, Friendly and True.  Click on Heathfield School Songs  to find the words.

Barbara Nunn attended Heathfield from 1942 to 1952 when there were still one or two girls who were boarders. She has vivid memories of College Road with chestnut trees in front of the school. She described how, during the war, the gymnasium was surrounded by sandbags to become the bomb shelter. When it became noisy outside (Northolt had some very loud field guns) they would sit on the gym floor and sing Jerusalem at the tops of their voices. She explained how Somertons did not carry all the school uniform at that time, so gym shorts, for example, had to be made by hand. She now lives in Canada.

Alexandra Paleologos attended Heathfield from 1983 to 1991

Jane Richards started at St. Keverne in 1953 and remembers Miss Roberts and Miss Doodian. One of her worst memories was going swimming at Harrow Baths when the water was so cold. School dinners used to be 2 shillings and the apple crumble was always good. Another memory is sitting in Miss Croxton’s office when she wasn’t well. She was friends with Jacqueline Rivers and recounts how they burned their panama hats in the playground on their last day at school in 1965.

David Salmond was one of the rare boys who briefly attended St. Keverne. His mother used to teach maths part time at Heathfield.

Jacqui Schauerman took her 'A' levels in 1982 which was the final summer of Heathfield in College Road. Harrow Council were eager to get access to demolish the surrounding buildings to make way for the St. Anne's shopping centre. She is still in touch with a number of her classmates and many of them went to the 2000 reunion held at the school in Pinner. She wrote "Even though we'd all changed, our voices hadn't."

Dorothy Spruzen attended Heathfield from 1955 to 1959 (Lower IV to Upper V). She would love to find Gillian Weir who was in her class. She now lives in America where she paints on silk (scarves, table runners, pillow covers) and is also an author.

Jane Tibbles first year in Harrow was 1975. She recalls how she started at St. Keverne, moving on to ‘big school’ where she stayed until she was 18. She lives in Germany now.

Penny Tregoning can't remember when she started at St. Keverne, but she left in December 1967 in order to start training as an SRN at Charing Cross Group of Hospitals. Her mother, Vivien Osborn and ex sister-in-law Jackie Evans went to Heathfield, and her brother Martin was at St. Keverne. Penny loved school lunches and remembers playing jacks and jump rope during recess. When the smog came down, she recalls her brother walking in front of their car guiding her mother all the way back to Ruislip. Some of the girls in Penny's class were Glenda Savage, Ann Baker, Jennifer Elvin, Jillian Barbrooke-Grubb, Penny De La Mare, Gillian Townsend, Philippa Kingsley, Karen Levenson and Andrea Martin. Since 1974, Penny has lived in Fort Worth, where she works as an American RN and became a U.S. citizen in the early 2000s.

Julie Trollope started in the kindergarten in 1950 and left Heathfield in 1962. She has lived and worked in London, and also lived for a short time in Hawaii, in France and in Finalnd before moving to Australia, where she spent six years. She now lives in Bath, and is still in touch with Frances Blaber and Susan Warner. She remembers her first teachers in St. Keverne were Miss Jack, Miss Starling and Miss Lawrence. Julie attended the school's 100 years celebration.

Gillian Towndrow joined kindergarten in September 1955. She remembers Andrew Peckham who was one of the few boys at St. Keverne. She became friends with Philippa Kingsley and Penny Tregoning. See a picture of Gillian and Penny outside her father's rectory in Greenford when they were young. Other school pals that Gillian remembers are Karen Levinson and Jill Barbrooke-Grub. They were happy days for Gillian, and one thing she recalls was having full attendance for the term earned a half-day off school. She also remembers the  Gym being a scary place for exams! Gillian left Heathfield when her family moved to Northampton after taking her 11+ exam in 1962.

Simuko Wagai moved from Japan when her father's business brought them to England from 1975 until 1978. During this time Simuko and her sister were pupils at Heathfield. She and Dina Warburg both played clarinet in the school orchestra and keep in touch with each other. They are both in the Class Photo sent in by Rowena Harris (see Photos page)

Elizabeth Wallis was delighted to find the 1964 photo of herself when she was in the sixth form and to pick out the faces of some of the staff and friends. Miss Norris, Mrs. Gray, Miss Lambert, Mrs. Rye, Miss Johnson, Miss Ramsey, Miss Burton, Mrs. Tucker, Miss Steed, and then Hilary Sparks, Hilary Gawthorne, Wendy Pope and many more.

Dina Warburg attended Heathfield from 1972 in Upper 2 until 1978 after taking 'O' levels. She went on to study History at Leicester University. One of her memories of Heathfield was playing the clarinet in the school orchestra with Sumiko Wagai and another friend Jayne Barratt who played oboe. The three of them were best friends and still keep in touch. She is in Rowena Harris' Class Photo, which she remembers was taken when they were in Lower V alpha. Dina recently sent in to pictures of old School Magazine Covers from 1977-78 and 1978-79. Click the link to see them.

Brenda Winch's daughter has been looking into her family history and, to the delight of her eighty year old mother, came across this web site. Brenda has written a wonderful account with some of her fond recollections of Heathfield which you will find by clicking both Brenda's Memoirs. and Further Memoirs. Brenda was at Heathfield from 1942 to 1946 and she remembers a lot of her classmates. Cynthia Brown was a special friend, as was Doreen Francis. Others were Elaine Lyons (known as Lay-Lay to her family), Eileen Grieve, Angela Grocott, Pamela Hewitt, Renate Hornung, Paula Thompson Pat (Pattie) Jones, Margaret Davies and Julie Brown. Click on this link, Brenda and her friends, to see a lovely picture of them all dressed up at a party. 

Sally Younger has memories of her friends singing "Younger than Springtime" as they walked past! She found herself in the 1959 and 1964 photograhs and her sister in the 1955 photo. Memories of chocolate sponge pudding and chocolate custard. She loved studying Shakespeare with Mrs. Rye and recalling how she always leaned forward slightly when she spoke to her and so she had to lean ever so slightly backwards. Fellow class mates were Diane Morgan Jones, April Miller, Margaret Guppy, Gillian Earl, Pamela Whelan and Rosemary Cook (with whom she is still in touch), She lives in Essex.

The following  is a list of names mentioned in my corrspondence with Old Girls. Maybe you are one of these people? Search above to see who remembered you.

Eugenie Abbot - Susan Aldersley - Doreen Allen - Denise Anderson - Marion Ashworth - Angela Ayton - Susan Bagnell - Ann Baker - Jillian Barbrooke-Grubb - Elizabeth Barder - Gillian Barnes - Christine Barr - Mary Barralet - Jayne Barratt - Jill Bedding - Alison Bell - Adrienne Bennett - Peta Bingham - Frances Blaber - Vicky Blenkin - Susan Blow - Margaret Booth - Angela Bowles - Meryl Brazier - Anne Broadwater - Veronica Brooke - Christine Brown - Cynthia Brown - Julie Brown - Susan Brown - Sheila Bruce - Susan Buckeridge - Elizabeth Bull - Susan Burley - Margaret Burr - Yvonne Burton - Jane Butters

Heather Carpenter - Hester Chapman - Alison Christie-Murray - Ann Christie-Murray - Susan Christie-Murray - Marie Colbeck - Alison Collard - Elizabeth Collier - Judith Collins - Rosemary Cook - Gillian Cooper - Valerie Crowhurst - Florence de Cueva - Julie Dadds - Susis Daniel - Hilary Daniels - Margaret Davis - Frances Davies - Penny De La Mare - Susan De La Mare - Dinah Dickins - Gillian Dobson - Barbara Dunford - Gillian Earl - Pamela Edwards - Francis Ellis - Gillian Ellis - Jennifer Elvin - Jacky Evans - Pat Ewing -Barbara Exley - Gillian Farmer - Susan Farquahrson - Verginia Ferguson - Irene Fisk - Doreen Francis - Ann Fullarton

Mary Gale - Hilary Gawthorne - Anne Goodfellow - Jean Goodfellow - Elaine Goodwin - Eileen Grieve - Angela Grocott - Barbara Gould - Catherine Gould - Margaret Guppy - Barbara Hales - Elizabeth Harris - Nicola Harris - Kathryn Hawkins - Pamela Hewitt - Charmian Hewlett - Sheila Hilton - Naomi Hoare - Carol Hood - Renate Hornung - Angela Huggins - Alison Hughes - Gillian Hughes - Janet Hull - Jean Humphriss - Linda Humphriss - Mary Hutcheon - Jillian Jennings - Patsy Joel - Colleen Jones - Pat (Pattie) Jones - Aileen Kerr - Philippa Kingsley

Virginia Lawrence - Jessie Lee - Karen Levinson - Catherine Liebermann - Catherine Lubbock - Elaine Lyons (Lay-Lay) - Andrea Martin - Pamela Maltby - Christine McLuckie - Rhona McNab - Susan Meltzer - Anne Menzies - Penny Metcalf - Evelyn Milburn - April Miller - Judith Morgan - Diane Morgan-Jones - Marjorie Moss - Margaret Murray - Sally Newbery - Debbie Newing - Judith Newman - Margaret Norman - Charlotte Norman-Smith - Fenella Norman-Smith - June Norman-Smith and Philippa Norman-Smith - Claudette Osborn - Fiona Osborn - Sylvia Page - Cynthia Palmer - Lynn Parfitt - Susan Paris - Maggie Paterson - Janet Pedley - Jane Peebles - Alison Pendergast - Jane Peters - Anne Phillips - Tessa Pinney - Jill Plyman - Wendy Poole - Melinda Pooley - Hilary Poor - Wendy Pope - Carolyn Pugh

Yvonne Renouf - Amanda Richardson - Jacqueline Rivers - Krysia Roguski - Elizabeth Rook - Jill Rothnie - Nicola Rudd - Valerie Russell - Hilary Saunders - Glenda Savage - Carole Schaefer - Jennifer Searle - Joy Shelland - Pauline Simkins - Pamela Smith - Hilary Sparks - Kathleen Steadman - Susan Stone - Pauline Teare - Sandra Terek - Aileen Thomas - Paula Thompson - Brenda Thorndyke - Mary Took - Penny Tregoning - Judith Tregunna - Rosemary Timbrell - Julie Trollope - Holly Towler - Gillian Townsend - Mary Wackerel - Alexandra Wallace - Margaret Wallace - Leone Walters - Hilary Ward - Linda Ward - Rosalind Ward - Susan Warner - Kathryn Watson - Elaine Wax - Gillian Weir - Pamela Whelan -Louise Wigmore - Caroline Williams - Christine Wimlett - Caroline Wood - Valerie Worsley - Angela Yates.