ABSTRACT
I went to Charles Edward Brooke Grammar School for Girls (CEBS). It was a church aided (Church of England) school. After I passed the eleven plus, my parents and I had to select three grammar schools and hope I was accepted at one of them. My parents left all the decisions to me. I knew that the most desirable schools, Mary Datchelor and James Allen Girls School (JAGS) would almost certainly not accept me – they would, I thought, consider me too common. I also knew that I would probably be accepted at CEBS: besides, my cousin Ann (my Aunt Dot’s daughter) went there, and I liked the driveway up to the school! I told my mother to put this school first, with Mary Datchelor second and JAGS third. My mother and I went for an interview at CEBS, where one of the questions I was asked was: what did I want to do when I left school? I said I wanted to be a farmer’s wife. The head mistress was surprised and said didn’t I want to be the farmer? This was the first glimmering maybe about equality for women that I had heard. I had never faced sexism but took it as read that my place was to be a farmer’s wife.
