Quoting from the jubilee Book 1960: “Another important event at this time was the provision of school dinners from 1916. The only catering before this was the warming of food, chiefly pies brought from home by the children, and the supply of tea and coffee at 1d per cup for morning and mid-day breaks. Now, because of travelling difficulties and shortage of food, Mrs Frost, previously employed by the Siamese Embassy in London, was engaged to run a meals service. Cooked meals were provided for scholars from a distance, the full cost, 4d, being paid by the diner. Vegetables were grown in the school grounds; dried milk was used; a ration of one ounce of butter a head was granted by the food authority. Soup was made from bones and all vegetables were prepared by hand. These meals were prepared in the kitchen, now Room 15 (see picture) and served through the serving hatch …”
A personal appraisal of the position by a very early (1914–1919) old scholar, the late Revd J Dawson Hooley in his contribution to the Jubilee Book “Forty Years Back” makes interesting reading:
“Her kitchen was to us just as holy a ground as the Head’s study (and probably pleasanter when recollected in tranquility). Though it was in theory out of bounds, an occasional visit was always worth the risk. Food rationing was a very serious business and there were times when the rice pudding served in the dining room bore a disquieting resemblance to the paste we used for colour printing in the art room. But we accepted it, unquestioning, for Mrs Frost’s baked potatoes made up for all deficiencies.”
A final reference to her leaving states “… she had provided school dinners in ever increasing numbers from a kitchen which for years had been inadequate. She had always had the keenest interest in the pupils and, for many years, Mrs frost in the kitchen was a figure without whom no Old Scholar’s function was complete.” However, she was fully human and did have her favourites for second-helpings!
OTHER BOOKS BY ALAN NEATBY-SMITH
*Escape to South Africa also £5.95. *to be published a book about his years spent in Corwall.
food, chiefly pies brought from home by the children, and the supply of tea and coffee at 1d per cup for morning and mid-day breaks. Now, because of travelling difficulties and shortage of food, Mrs Frost, previously employed by the Siamese Embassy in London, was engaged to run a meals service. Cooked meals were provided for scholars from a distance, the full cost, 4d, being paid by the diner. Vegetables were grown in the school grounds; dried milk was
used; a ration of one ounce of butter a head was granted by the food authority. Soup was made from bones and all vegetables were prepared by hand. These meals were prepared in the kitchen, now Room 15 (see picture) and served through the serving hatch …”
A personal appraisal of the position by a very early (1914–1919) old scholar, the late Revd J Dawson Hooley in his contribution to the Jubilee Book “Forty Years Back” makes interesting reading:
“Her kitchen was to us just as holy a ground as the Head’s study (and probably pleasanter when recollected in tranquility). Though it was in theory out of bounds, an occasional visit was always worth the risk. Food rationing was a very serious business and there were times when the rice pudding served in the dining room bore a disquieting resemblance to the paste we used for colour printing in the art room. But we accepted it, unquestioning, for Mrs Frost’s baked potatoes made up for all deficiencies.”
A final reference to her leaving states “… she had provided school dinners in ever increasing numbers from a kitchen which for years had been inadequate. She had always had the keenest interest in the pupils and, for many years, Mrs frost in the kitchen was a figure without whom no Old Scholar’s function was complete.” However, she was fully human and did have her favourites for second-helpings!
OTHER BOOKS BY ALAN NEATBY-SMITH
*Escape to South Africa also £5.95.
*to be published a book about his years spent in Corwall.