PONTEFRACT GIRL'S SCHOOL SONG

ADDED 28 FEBRUARY 2007

With regard to the old school song from Pontefract and District Girls High School, published in the February edition of the Digest, there was a third verse which went as follows:

But one day we must leave it
And ‘mid the world’s stern strife
We’ll know another teacher
The great headmistress, Life.
Then may our old school’s honour,
Be still our proudest boast,
And may we e’er prove worthy,
Of her who taught us most.

(Chorus - Veritas via vitae etc..)

The meaning of the Latin motto is, “Truth is the way of life.”

The song was very typical of its age and was included in  a book of school songs (which unfortunately I don’t have!) Even in the 1940s and 1950s, we found it rather jingoistic and tended to sing our own version. The words were written by Miss Guest, who taught Scripture at the school for many years. Much later, she confessed that she was rather embarrassed by them!

Mollie Garbett.

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