“The discipline was great and grew out of respect. We all stood aside as Miss Holden and Miss Stowell glided by in their black gowns.” Sheila Fingret ’41-’47

“Do you recall those stentorian voices of prefects calling “Don't Run down the corridor!” Their room was to the right of the main entrance.” Hilary Steeple ’44-’51

“Once some of my friends and I were - illegally - on the staff room corridor in the lunch hour. All of a sudden 2 girls from the form below us came staggering from the side corridor, dressed in one cardigan. One had her right arm in the right sleeve and the other her left arm in the left sleeve. We screamed with laughter and they were in fits when Millie's [Miss Holden’s] side door opened!! She looked about 6ft 6ins and terrifying. My friends and I leapt into the side corridor to beat a hasty retreat - BUT - not before we saw 3 buttons fly off the cardi and bounce and ricochet off the walls and floor.” Janet Ball ’56-’61

“I was in trouble almost from day one with old Hilda ...” Jocelyn Laws ’59-’65

“I was always in trouble. On more than one occasion, when my mother had been summoned to school to discuss my bad behaviour, Miss Longworth suggested that I was the type of girl who ought to be in some sort of reformatory. I am pleased to say she was proved right, I ended up at H M Prison Leeds, but only as a member of staff I hasten to add.” Margaret China ’61-’66

“I was frequently in trouble with Ms. Longworth who also had occasion to call my parents on my behalf.” Sue Hudson ’68-’71

“Wasn't the crush hall a good place for detention? I know it was always warm in winter and I didn't seem to mind spending time there.” Jocelyn Laws ’59-’65

“Another memorable curtailer of bad behaviour was having to sit in the entrance hall under the school motto – “Nonquam non Paratus” - waiting for a summons from Miss Holden and walking across what seemed like acres of carpet to reach her desk. She was strict but fair and I admired her. Her office was beyond that of the secretary, to the left of the panelled main entrance.” Hilary Steeple ’44-’51

“I remember having to walk across the acres of Miss Holden's room because I had refused to eat a boiled egg for lunch. I also remember her coming to visit my home to try to persuade me to stay on in the sixth form.” Pat Winn ’52-’57

“I was once to have my art lessons in Miss Longworth’s office on the instructions of the ‘other’ art mistress of the time (not Mrs. Precious) because I had refused to move from my usual seat at the back of the class. Predictably I spent most of the double lessons sitting in the crush hall whilst Longworth took private telephone calls. I entertained myself with the thought that she was talking to her married lover.......but I always did have an over-the-top imagination!” Glenis Smith ’60-’65

“I remember being given a special exercise book in the First Form and having to rule it out into columns. I think stars were recorded on one side and black marks on the other. As far as I can recall, these were only for work and were added up at the end of each school year to see which house had won the Work Shield.” Margaret Collie ’59-’66

“Black marks were for bad work and order marks for bad behavior. Don't think I got any of either.” Margaret Anderson ’59-’64

“Somebody once etched "AGGIE" on the grand piano with their compasses - or is it compi? Each and every pupil had to donate 1d for it to be French polished out.” Janet Ball ’56-’61

“I remember always being in trouble for talking - still my downfall according to nearly everyone who knows me - and having to stand at my bench throughout Biology lessons.” Veronica Skirrow ’59-’64

“I remember not wearing my hat to school one day and horror of horrors Miss Walker spied me from the lab. window. As I was a prefect at the time she was not amused! I can't remember what my punishment was! I saw her about twelve years later in Wetherby Market but didn't dare say anything to her!” Carol Peacock ’55-’61

“And if we were seen outside without the beret on it was detention. I copped it a few times.” Gill Crossley ’59-’66

“I remember Rachel Hoare once deciding that as she had [hat] detention she would wear it in the swimming pool too and her diving in gave us all a hoot!” Joyce Latto ’59-’64

“I remember Katy Brady once getting into trouble for wearing rollers in class after a swimming lesson.” Margaret Collie ’59-’66

“Also remembered that people carved things like, “All the teachers in this school are sex starved idiots,” on the loo doors (4th form loos I think). Anyway it was discovered and there was a big hoo ha — the upshot was that we went in the loos one lunchtime and there stood Miss Gill, arms folded, and under each door protruded a pair of feet and the only sound was the shhhh shhhhh shhhh of sandpaper. Who was picked to do it and why I don't know but it WAS a laugh. Mind you, most things at school were a laugh.” Janet Ball ’56-’61

“[My sister] had sneaked into the classroom with some others at break (strictly forbidden) to escape the rain, and they barricaded the door against any interlopers. Next thing, one of the others came and banged on the door impersonating Miss Walker's booming voice, “come out of there.” Much mocking of the bad impersonation followed before the door was opened. It was not an impersonator. Detentions all round.” Janet China ’65-’70

“Does anyone else remember tormenting our long-suffering caretaker by pulling the plug out of the wall when he was polishing the floors? And because it was a long extension cord, he had to walk all the way back, poor man.” Maureen Whitehead ’59-’64

“... a Miss Harris who taught Latin and was one of the old school. She was always giving me lines for talking in class, so once I wrote them out in advance and gave them to her straight away. You should have seen the look on her face!” Janet China ’65-’70

“Janet Saville was a bit of a rebel, and I always felt privileged that I was allowed to be part of their group.” Maureen Whitehead ’59-’64

“There was a girl who danced to unheard music in the gym cloakroom and threatened me with a filed smooth, razor sharp ha'penny for looking at her!” Merryll Wheatley ’58-’61

“[I remember] we used to sneak to West Park or a local fish shop occasionally and once being hauled back by a prefect who saw us.” Veronica Skirrow ’59-’64

“Does anyone else remember sneaking out to the shops in West Park for potted meat sandwiches?” Sarah Sharp ’64-’71

“One day my mates and I were sitting on the table at the right hand side of the dining room door, backs to the wall, with the playing field on our right. On the menu were sausages - aka petrified chipolatas! We decided it might be quite fun to throw a few across the dining room. Mrs. Harris was presiding on the table at the Ring Road side and the windows were open. One sausage missed Mrs. Harris by a hairs breadth but she didn't seem to notice and several of the missiles in question flew out of the window.

... “Deciding to forego our sponge pud in favour of a jape, we legged it down the stairs and inched round the corner onto the drive that was STRICTLY out of bounds. There in resplendent glory lay several sausages. One by one we threw them upwards and they sailed majestically through the dining room window. We beat a hasty retreat but later learned that one poor soul was eating sponge and custard one minute and sponge custard and sausage the next!! We weren’t caught.” Janet Ball ’56-’61

“On my first day at Lawnswood, I turned up in long white socks (we weren't allowed nylons in 5th year at my old school), sat at the front of the class, and - HORROR OF HORRORS - put my hand up to answer the teacher's questions. Three deadly sins in the first half hour - it didn't last long though - I caught on quickly!” Sue Hudson ’68-’71

“I loved my time at Lawnswood, although I was a rebel and caused some disturbances in my time there, campaigning against the Vietnam war and staging a walk-out when the school's central heating broke down - but this was 1968, so it seemed the thing to do. I still have the letter Miss Longworth wrote to my mother about this: '17 fifth form girls have staged an ill conceived revolt....' is a line that has stayed in my memory.” Alison Dalwood ’65-’72

“I recall setting up a small folk group with Liz Smith and I playing guitars and Janet Parkin and Judith Reed singing with us. I remember getting a warm reception at one of the concerts - but my mother told me later that she was sitting behind Miss Longworth who applauded every performance except ours - when we had finished she kept her hands on her lap and told her companion that of course we were not worth recognition as what we did was not proper music and we were all troublemakers!” Sarah Sharp ’64-’71

“… and I remember a house music competition when one of our year, whose name I cannot remember, was forced to play the violin. She was a very good player but because she was forced to participate she produced the most awful sounds. We all thought she was very brave!” Jane Porter ’65-’72

“Eileen [Suthers], Anne [Johnson] and I seemed to court trouble and I’ll never forget the day we managed to avoid Miss Boyd, the gym teacher we were sure was ex-army (“Come ALONG girls! Don't shilly-shally now!”) and climbing in through a wooden hatch we discovered not far from the icy-cold, open-to-the-elements changing rooms (which opened directly onto South Drive) and discovering a warren of passages. We went back the next day with a box of matches as none of us had a torch, and some polony in case we were hungry.

... It was very dusty down there and there were little heaps of straw at intervals. When we had progressed a fair way along one of the tunnels and seemed to be lost, we set a bit of the straw alight so the matches would last longer as by then we were scared of being lost in the dark. The straw proved more difficult to control than anticipated and at that point the school was in severe danger of being burnt down! Eventually we could see glimmers of light and discovered we were actually under the school platform in the hall. Immediately above us we heard voices in conversation and were horrified to realise that Miss Holden was conducting a Staff meeting overhead and that our only way out would be right under their noses. We emerged: our navy gymslips and white blouses covered in dust, Anne’s and my plaits and Eileen’s short fair hair had collected cobwebs en route, our faces blackened by smoke from the straw, and altogether we were a “disgrace to Lawnswood” we were told in Miss Holden's carpeted office later. ” Hilary Steeple ’44-’51