Dances, Dates and Writing Home

As a new member of the Archive team here at Corsham Court, I was excited to see some more of the collection this week. I really enjoyed reading the letters of Vivianne Ollerearnshaw, who studied on the teacher training course at Newton Park from 1951- 53. Her interview and the letters which she kindly gave to the Archive cover her two years at the college, and provide a wonderful glimpse into life as a student at that time.

During her first year Vivianne lived on the top floor of No. 19 of the Royal Crescent, along with 8 other girls. They shared one big bathroom between them and ate in the large basement; 'our first meal was rabbit stew, which was gorgeous, and custard with banana in it which I shall never forget because we were rationed, we never had enough to eat at home.' In her second year Vivianne lived at Newton Park, in Main House. The had 'a huge breakfast, a huge dinner and a huge supper and tea' everyday in the East Wing, which today is a small cafe. I love the little openings into the details of her life as a student; among other things Vivianne writes to her parents about playing hockey and netball matches between Newton Park and The Elms (P.S. We've won the netball match!'), about going to see Wuthering Heights 'with Lawrence Olivier in' and also about holidays; 'For the Coronation we get not far off a week!'.

'Wuthering Heights will be at Bath next weekend, with Lawrence Olivier in. I've seen it once, but would love to see it again if time.' 

Many of her letters are signed with 'xxxx' and use shortenings such as 'if poss'. This is surprisingly similar to texts and informal emails today- my friends and I use them! In one of the letters, Vivianne is asking her parents for references. The language used seems quite abrupt, and as with the similarities to texts mentioned above, this reminded me that letters were the main form of communication (apart from the telephone', so in a way they did the job of what texts and emails do now. On the other hand, one of the main differences is that many were written over several days. The envelopes have very readable postmarks, unlike today, and the range of stamps is interesting.

Her handwriting is very twirly compared to how my generation were taught to write!

Another thing that surprised me is that the term 'going out' was also in use then. In Vivianne's time it often meant going to dances; she writes about the Weston in Bath ('a little dance place') and about a Valentine's Ball at Bristol University, whereas now 'dances' is clubbing! A little later she wrote about refusing to see 'a partner', meaning a male dancing partner, because she 'musn't go out this term'. I think this shows how some phrases have become outdated, while some are still very much in use amongst people my age. And now that 50s style is back in fashion, it makes me think that maybe some things about youth culture never really change!

By Alice Meigh, 2nd year student at Bath Spa University