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                                        Scotia Ebot (2022, Haygate)I joined LWC when I was 11 years of age. This was my first time living away from home, which I found overwhelming and difficult to fathom. Despite this, I was privileged to have access to support provided by the matrons. The matrons have played a significant parental role during my time at LWC, from taking me to the opticians to helping me with my piano exams. I particularly appreciate Matron Lucy from Haygate House, who helped me a lot in the Third Form up until the Upper Sixth Form.Guy Consterdine (1960, School, A031)There were two Roman Catholic matrons during my time at the school, 1953-1960: Miss Wilmott of School House, who left in December 1958, and Mrs Curry who had a short tenure of two terms at Junior House in 1959. As a Catholic myself at that time I and the other one or two Catholic boys would be joined by Miss Wilmott and later Mrs Curry when we went to Mass every Sunday at the little church on RAF Odiham airfield. We’d be taken there and back on the school lorry, with Matron in the cabin with the driver and us boys bouncing on wooden benches in the canvas-topped back of the lorry.Once a week Miss Wilmott gave over her comfortable room next to the front entrance of School House for a priest from Basingstoke to give Religious Instruction for the few Catholic boys in the school.Occasionally on a Sunday afternoon a small group of School House boys would have a luxury tea with Miss Wilmott in her room. She was a warm welcoming hostess, good at encouraging conversation, and along with the sandwiches and cakes of unaccustomed quality, there would usually be games of some sort. These teas were enjoyable events. One Sunday in November 1959 when I was in the Upper Sixth, Tim Fox, the only other Catholic boy, and I returned to Junior House for afternoon tea with Mrs Curry, the Catholic Matron with whom we’d been to Mass at RAF Odiham as usual in the morning. I kept a diary at that time, and wrote ‘We had sandwiches, tea etc and got down to a heart-to-heart talk: she is leaving next term; she told us why; she told us about her children, her future, and so on. She has a lovely black Labrador pup called Roley who we played with most of the time. The other Matron, Jenny Blunt was there too, a very nice girl of about 18. It was a very good evening. We left at 7pm – having arrived at 3pm. Jenny Blunt became Matron at Sutton House in the following term’.My earliest recollection of a matron goes back to 1954 when the Junior House matron drove three or four of us JH boys to an athletics match. Roger Bannister had recently run the first ever four-minute mile, and his pacemaker Chris Chataway was to attempt it himself, which created a sense of excitement. My diary recorded ‘2 July 54: In the afternoon I went in Goofy’s car (Goofy was the French master R.E.Ward), with Matron driving, to Aldershot’s athletics meeting. Saw Chataway do 0.86 seconds short of the 4-minute mile. Saw Roger Bannister’.35

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