Barbara Williams

Interviewed by Gerald Christmas on 10 May 2006
Subject: The Garden School, School

Barbara Williams. On another page there is something about the Garden School, which was my first school because we lived just around the corner. It was run by the Theosophical Society – a very unusual school – it was of course a kindergarten and classes were out in the garden – my mother thought it was good for my health to be outdoors. Every morning at assembly we had to think a beautiful thought, as a small child this worried me. I said something about the roses in the garden and the Principal Miss McDonald, and I remember Miss Arnold as well – said, ‘that’s wonderful Barbara’ because I was only five or six, so I stuck to roses (laughs) at kindergarten.

Every morning at assembly music from the Lohengrin Opera was played every morning because they believed that if you prayed or thought hard enough some knight in shining armour would come and fight your battles for you – anyway something would settle your problems. I think this made me fond of music and opera – I loved the music and I still do. We also had a lot of eurhythmics and marching – dancing outside, but it was a very cold, damp building and if it wasn’t a fine day being inside was very dark and dreary.