Memories of Diana go under the hammer
A remarkable collection of photographs and mementoes belonging to former West Heath pupil Katherine Hanbury is due to be auctioned by Gorringes on 7 July, and among the treasures are several previously unseen photographs of a young Diana Spencer during…
Meeting up with old friends
A year group of former pupils, who started at West Heath in 1981/82, reunited for a trip down memory lane over lunch at The Phene, Chelsea recently. The consensus from those who attended is that the reunion was a wonderful…
Still not ringing any bells?
The question over whether there was once a large bell hanging somewhere on the West Heath estate remains unanswered. We appealed for memories after Laurence Corper contacted WHOGA and said he inherited a bell that his father told him came…
Can you help solve another school mystery…
Does this story ring any bells? Does anyone recall there being a bell at West Heath? Not a hand-held one, but a large bell which would have been hanging somewhere. Laurence Corper has contacted WHOGA to ask if anyone remembers…
Old girls clear up confusion over Miss Elliott’s accident
The confusion surrounding the location of the accident that caused the death of former West Heath headmistress Miss Phyllis Elliott, has finally been cleared up thanks to memories provided by former pupils. Previously, stories circulated that she drowned in January…
Where did ‘tragic mischance’ involving West Heath headmistress take place?
Miss Phyllis Elliot, the West Heath headmistress who made the bold decision to move the school from Ham Common to Sevenoaks in the 1930s, sadly drowned in a swimming pool accident in 1967, two years after her retirement. Miss Elliott…
Gail takes us back to West Heath during the 1950s in words and photographs
Gail Lynch (nee Malcolm) was a pupil at West Heath from 1955 to 1960. Here, with aid of her own photographs from that era, she describes some delightful memories of her time at the school and has helped bring some…
Photographic memory
Flash, bang, wallop, what a picture… By Frank ‘Scoop’ Baldwin When the receivers held an auction after West Heath closed its doors in 1997, it seemed anything and everything connected to the school went under the hammer. Even items like…
Ruth Rudge remembers when it was so cold in bed she had to wrap herself in newspaper!
The story of how Ruth Rudge (pictured) found herself teaching Latin at West Heath in the mid-1950s, before she became headmistress (1965 – 1988), was told in her own words in an old school magazine (see full account below). It…
Historic Ash Grove House name makes a comeback
The original name of ‘West Heath School’ was preserved when the charity, that took over the estate in 1998, changed its name from ‘The New School at West Heath’ to West Heath School in 2015. Now another name from the…