Ladies be good

I wonder if Cheltenham Ladies’ College is still like that,’ I thought, as I interviewed a succession of 1950s old girls recently. Their memories left me reeling, and I felt relieved not to have been a sensitive girl sent to Cheltenham from an outpost of the empire, condemned to spend seven years being hissed at in Gothic classrooms by sarcastic unmarried women. I still can’t decide whether I would have preferred to have had a terrifying time at Cheltenham in the Fifties but be -brilliantly taught, or have gone somewhere relaxed like Southover (which closed in 1988) and have a lovely time but learn nothing. Probably Cheltenham — but only just.

So last month I decided to find out if any of the old scariness remained. What I discovered was that it would be no fun writing a book about girls’ boarding schools in the 21st century: they are far, far too nice, happy and comfortable. I’ll take you through the chief memories of my 1950s old girls, and compare and contrast with How Cheltenham Ladies College Is Now.

‘There was a rule of absolute silence in the corridors. All the girls walked between lessons in total silence, and they looked as if they had rods up their backs.’

Today, the girls saunter along the corridors and one or two of them are so busy looking at their phones that they bump into you. Dragana Hartley (director of marketing and a 1960s old girl) told me very -quietly as we walked along the famous Marble Corridor that girls are now allowed to talk here, as long as they keep their voices down. The corridor is right next to the magnificent school library, she pointed out, so there’s a good reason for the keep-quiet rule.

‘The College looked like an intimidating cathedral: when you sat at your desk, the Gothic windows made Gothic-shaped shade-marks on your exercise books.’