Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Spendaholics on BBC3 last night at 8pm about a female OB, single mother of 10-year-old twin boys with £45,000 of debt who blamed it all on CH?

My sister saw it as apparently the subject returned to Hertford to confront her demons.

Apparently her name is (was?) Lynne James.

I didn't see the programme.

I wonder though why does she blame CH?

I blame CH for everything, especially the boil on my arse.

Mid A 15 wrote:I didn't see the programme.

I wonder though why does she blame CH?

I could echo this posting exactly. When was she there? Would that make a difference?

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/tv/spenda ... es2a.shtml

Episode Eleven: Lynne James
Despite a £32,000 salary, 49-year-old single mum and social worker Lynne James is £45,000 in debt. Her house is re-mortgaged and her debt is going through the roof. It’s one of the toughest cases for the Spendaholics team. There is nothing Lynne likes better then buying clothes and lots of them. In fact she has a different outfit for every day of the YEAR! The spending isn’t made easier by the demands of her nine-year-old twins Brandon and Troy, who pile on the pressure.

Jay Hunt helps Lynne find cheaper ways of entertaining her children and finding bargains, while Benjamin Fry discovers the schoolgirl trauma that lies at the roots of her addiction.

I heard about this at Singing Old Blues yesterday.....Sue Howell-Evans had caught the last few minutes of it. Apparently they took the subject back to Hertford, and filmed inside one of the Houses (we don't know which one).
I didn't see the programme so I can't say why she blamed her shopaholic nature on her schooldays - but when I heard about it I did feel that she may have bought the school into a little bit of disrepute. I wonder if the Foundation knew about it beforehand?
It's hard to see how anyone could blame CH for their overspending in later life.

We all went through the same 'trauma' of clothes provided by the Foundation but we weren't all affected in the same way. In my case, I am just the reverse and have very few clothes and find it difficult to spemd money on them. It was years before I could go out to buy things which I knew I could have made. That I see as a legacy of School Needlework.

I can just suppose that it made a good story to blame CH for it. The fact that the uniform was provided would no doubt make 'interesting viewing' in some producers' eyes.

kerrensimmonds wrote:It's hard to see how anyone could blame CH for their overspending in later life.

If I remember rightly, Leigh Hunt did.

I didn't see this either - shame as it would have been interesting to see CH Hertford again. Wonder if the programme will be repeated at all - knowing the BBC it probably will be

I didn't see it as I'm dog-sitting' for youngest daughter. Only getting on here for a few minutes each day whilst she, partner and the kids are having a long weekend in the Isle of Widget !

To be honest, I'm starting to get a bit p1ssed off with all these reality TV shows. Did she say how much she got paid by the BBC for her half hour of fame ? (Licence payers money !)

I read comments made by Maureen Lipman or someone recently about the number of reality tv shows - she was saying that all our actors and actresses who`ve worked hard to get where they have are being "ousted" by "the public", and please could we have some REAL tv programmes instead of reality ones!! (words to that effect anyway).

I have to admit to being in total agreement!!

I can't find the subject, Lynne James, in Who's Blue 1997 or in the update 1999. So who knows who she is, how long she was at Hertford or whatever. All we can tell is that she has not wished to stay in touch with the Foundation (either through the former CHOGA or subsequently through the CH Club) which seems to indicate why she had no scruples whatever about publicly slating the school for her own ends, now.
Like Vonny I would hope that the programme is repeated - yes it would be nice to see the school buildings on film but I would even more like to find out who the lady is and what is driving her to publicly castigate what must, at the very least, have been a good educational experience for her. Things like this play into the hands of those (not too far from home, as it happens.....) who are convinced that Hertford was a 'second class' institution and bred generations of disaffected women.

Wow, some spectacular judgments about this woman here, especially directly above, considering no-one has actually seen the programme or read any more than the snippet of text above!
Lots of people get traumatised at school, any school, for a variety of reasons. To think that CH is any different, or that everyone should love it undyingly, or that everyone got an amazing education, is nonsense.
At least wait until seeing the programme before judging her - and even then bear in mind it carries the spin of the director.

p.s. Definitely agree with the comment about too many reality shows - it's utterly ridiculous at the moment.