COMMUNITY & EDUCATION


school, I was into everything from drama and the choir to many sports clubs and even House Captain; I pretty much lived at school. There were plenty of other girls like me who may have been ‘Top Dog’ at school but we all ended up back at rock bottom and had to work hard to stand out or be noticed.”


Of course, there were students who excelled in sports, such as Sheila who won silver in long jump at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico just one year after graduating. Four years earlier when she had just settled into life at Lady Mabel, Sheila was called up to the Tokyo Olympics. Here, she also went on to meet her future husband and fellow medal-winning athlete, John Sherwood at a blind double date accompanied by fellow South Yorkshire sports star, Dorothy Hyman. For Sheila, becoming a PE teacher was the obvious route to follow having grown up surrounded by sport thanks to having two older brothers in the post-war era of no TV. Her childhood revolved around football, cricket or finding ways to entertain herself outdoors.


‘‘They danced in the same Marble Saloon where Anna Pavlova danced for King George V in 1912, others studied in the library where aristocrats had studied before them.’’


who was so entrenched in the old methods,” Sybil says.


Sue was taught by two former Lady Mabel students at her school in Grimbsy, as too was her fellow 1967 classmate Gwyn Elliott who grew up in Hartlepool.


In Gwyn’s first year at secondary school during the baby boom of the early 60s, there was a shortage of PE teachers and she was taught by one hockey coach and one teacher who went on to leave to get married. By her third year, the school had employed two newly qualified teachers from Lady Mabel College with another quickly following. “I loved how they taught; it was so modern. They concentrated on quality of movement rather than sporting ability. It didn’t matter if you couldn’t do a back handspring,” Gwyn says. With an aptitude for hockey,


athletics and largely swimming – having a place in the North East Schools’ team – Gwyn was encouraged by her teachers to apply for Lady Mabel. As too was Sue who was also a good all-rounder at school and was accepted at her first- choice college of Lady Mabel. Along with the gratuitous training and accommodation, Lady Mabel College also differed from its competitors by its admissions procedure which meant that so long as a student had gained five O-Levels, one of which needed to be English Language, they could apply for a place.


“They didn’t just choose those who were the best at sport or the most academic. As they say, there is no ‘I’ in team and the year groups were all level playing fields,” Sue says.


Sybil reiterates this by saying: “At 48 aroundtownmagazine.co.uk


She accidently fell into becoming a long jumper after years as a kid spent practicing how many paving slabs she could jump over when her friends had gone home for their tea. With a long body and short legs, Sheila says she’s not naturally made for it but was spotted by her school PE teacher after jumping over 15 feet at a first attempt – the national schools’ standard.


While at college, her athletics training took a back seat due to the highly involved curriculum that covered a broad spectrum of sports played across many areas of the house and estate.


“The training was unbelievably thorough. Our days would start with a compulsory breakfast due to the physicalness of the course, with meals and refreshments provided through the day to keep our energy levels up for back-to-back lectures. But it was fantastic and I wish the principal was still here to tell her how grateful I am,” Sheila says. Facilities were limited in the early days but the extensive grounds made for excellent sports pitches, with cricket played on the front lawn, lacrosse by the deer sheds and even canoeing on the lakes. The stable block had a large gymnasium which was also used for hockey, badminton and netball.


There wasn’t a pool on site until the early ‘70s so swimming lessons took place at Chapeltown Leisure Centre or Wath Baths where the students would regularly arrive to


the caretaker’s ginger cat doing the kitty paddle in the pool before it was their turn to do Eskimo rolls in their kayaks.


Dance was taught in the


Whistlejacket room with the famous racehorse’s original portrait glaring down, or larger groups did ballroom dancing in the marble saloon where Sheila re-enacted the waltz with her friend when the house reopened a few years ago- albeit without the college’s old dirdl skirts.


As an all-female college, activities like ballroom dancing could be embarrassing for the young women, as Chris remembers. “Obviously, some of us would have to play the male role and ballroom required hip contact which nobody wanted to do. Our tutor made us hold a sheet of newspaper between us – but they didn’t stipulate where. We’d hold it in our teeth to avoid hip contact.”


School placements were also part of the course and the students had many observation periods each year based around seasonal games and activities.


Although students were taught how to teach PE, mainly for secondary schools, they also learnt about a child’s physical and emotional development from birth to 18 which prepared many for motherhood and raising families. Studies also included a subsidiary subject from English literature, music, biology, arts and crafts, or drama, which some,


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