'Old Girl' Shirley Williams re-opens school's air raid shelter

By Victoria Hutton and Samantha Watt

The founder of the Social Democrat Party was one of around 400 people to come together at Talbot Heath School to mark its 125^th anniversary on Friday.

The eighty-year-old Baroness was joined by a number of fellow ex-pupils who gathered to remember their wartime school experiences.

Speaking to the current alumni, Shirley Williams said, “This will go down in the history of my life as a very special day.”

She stood on a platform on the edge of the School’s woodlands, in which there were more than half a dozen replicas of World War Two vehicles.

Behind her, the Union Jack flag was draped across the archway to the air-raid shelter. The atmosphere was set with low drone of blitz sirens.

“I have opened many things… “ she said. “A railway station, a scientific laboratory and several other things, but I have never, ever, re-opened an air raid shelter.”

Talbot Heath has to this day a number of shelters built in to its grounds, created to safeguard the children from potential air strikes and bombings in World War Two.

Former pupil Mary Key remembers running for cover.

She and a small number of others were evacuated from the building after an exam – when they were shot at with machine guns.

“That was pretty terrifying, actually” she recalls.  The Upper 5th girls had hidden under the bushes between the exam room exit and the shelter’s doors until the attack had subsided.

A number of the current Sixth Formers, including the two Head Girls, attended Friday’s event alongside the past pupils – even venturing into the newly restored air-raid shelter with Baroness Shirley Williams. All wore sprigs of heather for brooches as a symbol of their time at Talbot Heath.

The school had avoided disaster once before – in 1940 – thanks to the kindness of a Pilot Officer from the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Cecil Henry Hight had deliberately redirected his plummeting air-craft towards open ground in order to spare the lives of the civilians beneath. A minutes silence was dedicated to his memory by Headmistress Angharad Holloway before the afternoon’s celebrations began.

The afternoon included a unique fashion-show of period costumes and the school’s old uniforms from the last 125 years.

During the war, the Old Girls remember that the limits of fabric tokens meant they couldn’t have pleats in their skirts.

And strict rations were the reason that Barbara Sutton, now seventy-nine, fondly remembers countless trips to her local shop to buy young boarders supplies for their midnight snacks.

Such wartime treats as Carrot Fudge were on Friday’s menu, with tasting sessions of past food favourites.

Meanwhile, students put on the school’s debut performance of former pupil Louise Garcia’s play ‘The Mischling’, which is based on the true story of the Jewish children who came to Talbot Heath following evacuation from Nazi Germany.

The celebrations also saw the reveal of a huge commemorative quilt hand-made by pupils, parents and staff, tours of the former boarding house and displays of World War Two memorabilia.

Ms. Holloway said that seeing the Old Girls back celebrating with the current alumni had made it a “fantastic day”, with “125 years of history coming together.”

“I think there’s a very special feel about this school,” she continued. “People have a real love and pride for it.”

“I didn’t realise that when I came here. I knew people said it was special but it’s only since being here that I start to understand what they really mean.”

Strictly stars sparkle at The Pavilion

World class dance duo Anton Du Beke and Erin Bogue lit up the stage in Bournemouth last week.

The professional couple, best known for their starring roles in BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing, are nearly half-way through their latest tour, “Puttin’ on the Ritz.”

They called their reception in Bournemouth “wonderful” after performing two nights in a row at the Pavilion Theatre.

Erin admits that both are “loving” being on tour for the third time, where they are accompanied by the prestigious London Concert Orchestra.

“There’s nothing better than dancing with a big orchestra behind you,” Erin explains. “It’s a great feeling.”

In “Puttin’ on the Ritz”, she and Du Beke are joined by two other dance couples, as well as Strictly singing sensation Lance Ellington.

Anton explains, “We’ve kept a similar formula [for the tour] but we’ve embellished upon it.”

“It seems to be going well” he says. “The shows have remained enormously popular.”

He describes the current show as having a “lovely” atmosphere.

Du Beke and Boag – dubbed the modern-day Fred Estaire and Ginger Rogers – perform up-tempo West-End style numbers as well as their own choreography in timeless Strictly-esque ballroom routines.

Although the top-class dancers are best known for their fancy footwork, the new show sees them both sharing the stage with soulful Ellington in surprise singing performances.

In the first act, charmer Anton performs “Somewhere beyond the sea.”

And later, Erin opts for a jazzy rendition of “My baby and me” while dressed in a figure hugging silver two-piece, black waistcoat and bowler hat.

It is one of six outfits she wears during the show, in which she says her dresses are worth between £1200 and £2500 each.

By the time the tour finishes in March of this year, the ballroom beauty will have had over 400 costume changes.

“I’m very lucky…” she admits. “I get to dress up every night and dance beautifully [but] I don’t know what is more tiring, the dancing or the quick changes!”

The New-Zealand born performer has as little as one minute twenty to switch from one show-stopping frock to another.

Du Beke, her professional partner since their first meeting in 1997, also boasts an impressive wardrobe, including a unique double-breasted suit jacket in black velvet and patent dancing shoes.

He admitted that in their fourteen years of dancing together, he’d never seen Erin look “anything less than incredible.”

The couple are expected to return to television later this year for their ninth series of hit show, Strictly Come Dancing.

Last series, Erin was knocked out of the competition in week four after being teamed up with footballing legend Peter Shilton.

While Anton’s outlandish routines with his celebrity partner Ann Widdecombe dominated the headlines before the duo’s eventual elimination in the Quarter Final.

The London Protests - BU students witness journalist creating the headlines

November 15th 2010



Paul (back, left) and Katie (front, right) protesting in London



As students across the UK face criticism for the education protests last week, two young people from Bournemouth University reveal that the militant action was in no way limited to their peers.

Paul Taylor,who is 18 and studying Sports Management, explains his suspicions that a professional journalist contributed to the violence at the Conservative Party Headquarters.

"There were photographers all around him," Paul explains, "no demonstrators."

Describing the journalist’s alleged involvement, Paul continues, “he put on a balaclava [and] was kicking the window.”

"The people who we asked said he was a reporter – just doing it for the picture.”

Photgraphs of the event have shown extensive damage caused by the militant behaviour, from smashed windows and graffiti to ceilings being torn down.

Katie Denise Roberts, studying Forensic Science, says fires were started using abandoned placards from the earlier demonstration.

The twenty-one-year-old narrowly avoided injury when a ball of fire “skimmed” past her face.

Neither Katie nor Paul participated in the violent action, explaining that they feel it detracted from the real issues of the demonstration. 

Paul adds that the militancy “wasn’t what the protest was all about,” despite its national coverage in the press.

He continues, discussing the heart of the matter, by saying that “university should not be about the money that you have.”

Katie agrees and - in light of the proposed increases to the cost of higher education – she adds, “I was there for future generations, for my little sister”

Both students had walked the peaceful protest route around Westminster prior to witnessing the outbreak of violent behaviour.

Paul says, "I lost my voice from chanting!"

Three coaches of students from Bournemouth University attended the demonstration on November 10th, where over 50,000 people protested against the rise of University tuition fees.