Upstairs at Manor Farm, 1985
Manor Farm, Winter 86(?)
Jo - Guessing the year - but 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun', whatever their age.
MRB - Just to put the record straight; Cyndi Lauper, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, was released in 1984, but may have taken a little longer to reach Nottingham.
DLTC, 1987
Sara J - This is the first time the three of us met. I
can’t remember the cliquey jokes now but there were many and I have
enjoyed looking back on these photos as the wonderful start to 18 years
of friendship. From here we began the phone and letter trail that
lasted right through to the present day.
Biology lesson, April 1st 1988
Rebecca Milnes-James - A clear school memory was a biology lesson, April 1st 1988. The lesson commenced as normal until Charl exclaimed that her contact lens had fallen on the floor. She asked the whole class, including the teacher, who I think was Mrs Wilson, to crawl around on their hands and knees and help find it. After a while Charl quietly stepped away from the bedlam and placed a note on Mrs Wilson's desk - 'Never ever lose your contact lens on April Fool's day!'
BBYO National Weekend 1988
Sara J - This photo was on my bedroom wall for about 10 years
and is one of my favourites. Another reminder of weekends full of
gossiping and laughing, not sleeping and shouting til we were hoarse.
NGHS sweet and cake sale, 1989
Sophie Stannard - We were in the sixth form at NGHS and one of the first year forms had held a sweet and cake sale during morning break. On the school bus on the way home Soph got on the bus before Char and came and sat down next to me and looked quite miserable so I asked her what was wrong. She told me that she and Char had gone to the sweet and cake sale separately and unbeknownst to each other had each bought two fairy cakes one for themselves and one for the other. Soph said she had got hungry after she had eaten her own cake and so then ate Char's thinking she would never know that she had bought it for her. At the end of the day Soph had gone to her locker to get some books to do some work that evening and found the cake that Char had bought for her. Soph sat there racked with guilt about having eaten Char's fairy cake and said "that just somes us up doesn't it - Char is so lovely and sharing and I am just selfish and horrible". We did end up laughing about it in the end but she was quite disraught.
Manor Farm, 1989
Sara J - The many weekends I spent staying at Aunty Judy’s
rest very fondly in my memory. Sleeping bags on the floor, my
fascination with Soph and Char’s night-time contact lens and glasses
routine, talking til the early hours and the warm welcome from the
family regardless of the noise and general over excitement that ensued.
Manor Farm, 1989 (ish)
Jo - Sophie and Char's Mini Metro.
MRB
- I remember this car well for a few reasons. The winter after I
met Char in New York, I used to fly to see Char who was in her last
year at Leeds. I did this trip a few times and by far the most
worrying part of the trip was being driven in this car from Manchester
to Leeds. Not that I was focused on the car.
If my memory serves me right, this car got 'sold' to Richard Bentwood who left it on the street in Brondesbury when we all lived there. I know that Richard has some good stories about this car, most of which are not appropriate for this publication, however, next time you see him, it is definitely worth asking him.
Israel, 1989
Sara J - We followed working in a kids camp by a bit of free
holiday time in Israel although my memory is foggy as to where and for
how long. What I do remember is that me Soph, Char and Lucy
booked into a hotel in Jerusalem that seemed a little odd and we
couldn’t work out why the receptionists and various dodgy looking hotel
guests were looking at us strangely and with some interest. We
were just four fairly clean cut English girls carefree wanting to
explore the city like any other travellers. We soon realised we’d
booked into a hotel that charged out its rooms by the hour and once the
panic of realisation had subsided, and we’d survived our night by going
to the toilet in twos, the benefit of hindsight made it a very funny
experience.