Matron Knows Best
My Father had a fetish about Nuns. Perhaps it was the long, black habit swishing gently as the Nuns glided along the corridors, heads bent in prayer, clutching their rosary beads, maybe it was the starched white wimple framing the pale faces. Or it could have been the glimpse of an ankle in black stockings above sensible lace-up shoes. Perhaps it was because many of the Nuns were young and pretty, for they had escaped the poverty and unrest of Ireland during the troubles, and found a ‘true vocation’ by joining the Order of Christian Education in the relative luxury of an English convent. It was to this convent prep school, Yately Hall, that my Father sent me, aged 8 - the only non-Catholic in the whole school - and soon I was overwhelmed by the pomp and circumstance of catholicism.
Yately Hall was a lovely, rambling house, ‘rebuilt’ in the mid-17th century, a Grade II Listed building, surrounded by lawns, beautiful gardens and farmland. It looked idyllic. But inside, in the winter, it was freezing. Ice formed on the inside of the dormitory windows, chillblains itched, hurt, and then cracked open on small, red feet as we clung to luke-warmradiators between lessons. A spartan existence was deemed necessary to turn silly little girls into sensible wives and mothers (no one mentioned ‘careers’).The food in the Refectory was inedible. Bits of gristle and cabbage were hastily stuffed into pockets of gym slips. Letters from home were handed round at lunch time, envelopes slit open but we were not allowed to read the contents until after we had left the dining room. Lumpy custard was scraped into envelopes and many loving letters became soggy and illegible. No one was overweight. Coughs and sneezes proliferated.We all longed to be ill enough to be sent to the Sanatorium where Matron not only ruled but cooked us proper meals.
Breakfast in the infirmary consisted of porridge with Jersey milk and brown sugar.
We were allowed to listen to the radio. This was the era of Two-Way Family
Favourites on the Light Programme, mingling with the aroma of roast chicken and gravy coming from the tiny kitchen where Matron created her magic. And if we weren’t too ill we were allowed a glass of Kia-Ora Suncrush with our Lemon Surprise Pudding. At 3 o’clock a slice of Guinness Cake-to keep our strength up and a cup of strong, sweet tea. At 6pm pills were handed round in little plastic pots, and temperatures taken. We all hoped to be ill enough - but not too ill - to be allowed another day in paradise... Lights out at 8pm after a cup of hot cocoa. Bliss.
Theo Hodges
Theo Hodges was born in Kent. After a degree in Graphic Design she joined J. Walter Thompson Advertising Agency as an Art Director working on accounts such as Rowntrees, Kraft and The Butter Council. While she was at University in Perugia, Italy she started collecting recipes from friends and family. In 1980 she set up her own design agency: Theo Hodges Design Consultants. For many years when they were young Theo, her sister and six cousins used to spend vacations at her Grandmother’s Victorian vicarage in Kent. ‘The thing about remembering childhood’ she says, is ‘there’s a whole lot of oblivion, and then out of it something floats up, quite sharp and clear. Many of the meals I can still see vividly and various recipes of mine were originally from Granny’s kitchen. ‘The kitchen garden was stuffed with raspberries, huge red dessert gooseberries, strawberries, runner beans, peas and much more with the hens in a shed at the back. But Granny only ate chicken breast and runner beans, followed by raspberries and Jersey cream - and therefore so did we. When raspberries were out of season, and in those days the season was much shorter, Granny made Victoria sponge cakes sandwiched with cream and home-made raspberry jam. On this limited but delicious diet we all thrived’. Theo’s mother was an excellent cook as well, and had been taught by the house- keeper at their house in Mougins, South of France. And once rationing was withdrawn in England in 1952 and good, fresh ingredients became available again, she amassed an enormous number of recipes which has formed the basis for Theo’s collection of family desserts.