“The experiences were all so new that I can’t say I had time to be homesick. I remember being shown round the School with my parents and telling Poppy when she asked me my 11 year old opinion, that the buildings were awful but the countryside was lovely."

In 1952 I sat an entrance exam although I already had a grammar school place and was sad to lose my local friends, but from the first meeting on Paddington station where I said goodbye to my parents, I seemed to find new ones. After a long hot journey, changing trains at Bristol and Yatton we arrived at Winscombe (we had to write postcards home to say we’d arrived safely) and toiled up to the School with our overnight cases. Ted Hembrey and Violet the horse (later replaced by Tom) brought our trunks on the cart.

We were very conscious of the seasons of the School and the heating in winter was never more than luke warm; we all suffered from chilblains. The food was not good but there seemed to be enough and we enjoyed strawberries and gooseberries that we picked ourselves in the warmer months.

One lovely summer memory is the scent of the wallflowers in the round flowerbed at the front. We were taken on long walks at half term to get to know the area and one memorable trip was on the paddle steamer “Glen Usk” from Weston to Penarth, especially with my first boyfriend Tim Holding (pictured left,) whom I subsequently married in 1964.

Other trips were frequent, to the Old Vic for some memorable plays and the Colston Hall for concerts, so while we were mostly out of touch with our own homes for most of the term, we felt part of the outside world.

There were dull days but we had no glamorous places and events to compare it with and plenty of school productions, concerts and sporting activities to distract us from our raging teenage hormones and a mostly supportive respect from staff to keep rebellious natures in check. Winscombe - being on the Strawberry Line (The Cheddar Slug) - was quite busy then. We once walked through the tunnel near shute shelf. Fortunately no train came. That was about the most dangerous thing I did, although there was plenty of tree climbing and trespassing near the edge of quarries.

The copper beech in the girls playground was a training ground and health and safety had not been heard of then.

I was an assiduous Old Scholar and on the committee for its 100th  anniversary in 1971 and some of my most lasting friendships were made at Easter - and not just with Sidcotians from my peer group. Pictured below left. Carol in the Upper Sixth in 1959,  studying in the old music school and a picture of Tim and Carole on their wedding day.