The caption to this picture from Friends Reunited of Leah Ashcroft says:

Down to the seaside in 1982, at innocent 16, with my boyfriend, ***** ********. SOOOOOO in LUV!!!!! But I was moody that week because I had got the cane at school the week, prior.

ALAN

Thanks for that.

Just what a man needs in his wife's temporary absence for the first part of this evening!

No wonder the blessed Wilfred liked caning girls on the bottom!


Steve M

ALAN

Incidentally, there don't seem to be any marks left.

She got 6 for drinking(or not)at the pub the boyfriend's dad owned, so maybe Wilf was merciful?


Steve M

Good heavens Mr Turing, it's a good job I'd just had my tablets when I saw that! Have you no consideration for aged persons such as myself! The slightest shock can send our pulse racing into the red-line zone! The juxtaposition of 'got the cane' and that bottom could have been the end of Another_Lurker, and then where would this estimable Forum be?

Seriously (and much closer to the real Another_Lurker) I think you have a technical first there. I've never seen anyone link direct to a picture via the FR Image Handler before. I'm surprised that it is possible, but now that you have demonstrated that it is I hope that anyone else finding pictures on FR of interest to the earnest seekers after truth here will do the same.

From time to time I've played with cracking the FR image handler to get at the underlying images in native format. So far I've been unsuccessful. I must have another go in case they've altered anything. The image handler appears to exercise some control over the display size, and it may be that some of the originals are bigger and better. When trying to identify individuals on group photographs this would be of assistance.

On the subject of FR I trust that you are all aware that they are keeping a record of what you look at, and have been doing for some time. I'd been meaning to post this anyway, and here is as convenient as anywhere. In the course of my first big post here, back in April 2008, I said that the FR entry for the girl whose very severe punishment I'd described seemed to indicate that she had suffered no ill effects from the event. I'd looked just before I posted, and I haven't accessed her profile since. At the weekend I got an email from FR asking if I'd like to add her to my 'Friends List'. Nobody else in the class, for whom there are several entries I hadn't looked at, just that one girl from that school. I haven't got a 'Friends List', but that's immaterial. What matters is that FR are keeping records which, if you use FR without disguising your identity (needless to say I do disguise mine) could someday prove embarrasing! Be warned!

Of course I was simply concerned to publicise the dangers of walking on a beach in high heels.

Actually there are some other points worth making here, particularly as this is a photograph of an under-18 in, some might say, a state of undress. I did think carefully about posting this link, and here are some of the factors I considered.

First, there's no way in which the photo could be considered indecent. It was taken in a public place, Margate beach, and anyone else on the beach that day would have seen the same (and also, no doubt, many other men, women and children similarly attired). And secondly, it was posted on a public internet site by Mrs Ashcroft herself, albeit 27 years later. Clearly, therefore, she's happy for it to be viewed and no doubt talked about by members of the general public.

The comment, though, is interesting. Leah has six photos in her FR profile, and in comments for three of them she refers to her caning: the other two comments are

Thought I was so grown up when this was taken at home. I was 15!!!!!! Grown up??? This was taken about a year before I got the cane!!!!! How grown up was that!!!

and

1983.YIPEEE! 'Schools Out,' Alice Cooper had once rocked!!! School was out for me! Pressure off! No more swatting, no more getting the cane! I had been caned the year before in 1982.

Looks like it had an effect!

This is Leah at her leaving-do:-





From which, you'll gather, some things DO get better with age!

And, going back a few months, Alison Cousins, Bacon's most-caned girl, and the fun-day outfit that got her sent home:-



Now, what could any one find offensive about that, I wonder?


Steve M

Hi Steve. As usual Another_Lurker has very little interest in pictures of pretty girls but a great deal of interest in the technicalities of how they got there!

Unless I'm missing something you appear to have uploaded the two pictures above into the temporary folder of Realm, which I believe means they could possibly be arbitrarily deleted by Network54 after a month or so. Was this intentional?

I thought I'd look at Leah's post in the "Teacher memories" message board on FR; here it is:

Great place, but I hated the uniform!!! Wasn't ours just dreadful?!!! But I do see the importance of school uniform nowadays. I have some fond memories of Bacons and some not so! Like when in the 5th, I got caught out of uniform and coming out of a pub with my boyfriend. His dad was the landlord. Thought I was so grown up at that time!!!! I got sent to the headmaster for that. He was totally livid! I said I'd only had two lemonades, but the headmaster was having none of it. I think he was unwell with diabetes at that time and he was suffering with the most terrible mood swings. For my double offence, as he described it, he chose to cane me. I was due four, but because I initially refused and mounted a strong protest about being caned because I was a fifth form girl, he increased it and gave me six - It really did hurt. Anyone recall Dracula? I met up with some old friends last year in London. I don't get chance to visit Southwark these days!! Life is just too hectic.

(posted 03/01/2009 22:35:35). But something didn't seem right, so I looked back at the Girl caned at Bacons by the infamous Mr Ing thread (now at the top of page 3), and Jack quotes:

Great place, but I hated the uniform!!! Wasn't ours just dreadful?!!! But I do see the importance of school uniform nowadays. I have some fond memories of Bacons and some not so! Like when in the 5th, I got caught out of uniform and coming out of a pub with my boyfriend. His dad was the landlord. Thought I was so grown up at that time!!!! I got sent to Mr Ing for that. He was totally livid! I said I'd only had two lemonades, but Mr Ing was having none of it. I think he was unwell with diabetes at that time and he was suffering with the most terrible mood swings. For my double offence, as he described it, he chose to cane me. I was due four, but because I initially refused and mounted a strong protest about being caned because I was a fifth form girl, he increased it and gave me six - over the desk. Anyone recall Dracula? I met up with some old friends last year in London. I don't get chance to visit Southwark these days!! Life is just too hectic.

Spot the differences? The post visible now refers to the headmaster instead of Mr Ing, and also says It really did hurt instead of over the desk. I wonder what's going on here?

Hi A_L

That's all I'm getting up now, instead of photobucket, so presumably we don't have PB any more on here? Would make sense, otherwise it will presumably clog the system?


Steve M

On 12th January, I quoted the FR post by Alison Coisins as:

Went on a camping trip and we let a stink bomb off on the coach. It really stunk! Eggs and Cabbage water flavour! Miss Davenport went BESERK!!! One teacher told me I was "a nearly pupil," and that I was a member of 'The Wandering Tribe' because I was always wandering about in class!!!! Alison has potential but never quite fulfils it!!! said one end of term report. I recall somebody nicking the shower heads on another trip away.
I was a bit of gal and a live wire at school, and I bet I was the most whacked girl they ever had. During my time I got caned five times and the slipper once. Caned twice by Mr Ings, twice by Drac and once by Miss Davenport! Miss Evans said I was hopeless on one occasion. But HEY! I have done OK. Nice job, nice house, great kids and a loving husband!!! And after all that, I expect my kids to do well at school!!!!!! Ironic, eh?

But today, the post says:

Went on a camping trip and we let a stink bomb off on the coach. It really stunk! Eggs and Cabbage water flavour! Miss Davenport went BESERK!!! One teacher told me I was "a nearly pupil," and that I was a member of 'The Wandering Tribe' because I was always wandering about in class!!!! Alison has potential but never quite fulfils it!!! said one end of term report. I recall somebody nicking the shower heads on another trip away.
I was a bit of gal and a live wire at school, and I bet I was the most whacked girl they ever had. During my time I got caned six times and the slipper once. Caned twice by Mr Ing, twice by Drac, once by Miss Davenport and once by Miss Paige! Miss Evans said I was hopeless on one occasion. But HEY! I have done OK. Nice job, nice house, great kids and a loving husband!!! And after all that, I expect my kids to do well at school!!!!!! Ironic, eh?

Mr Ings has become Mr Ing; and five canings has become six (the extra one from Miss Paige).

Does anyone know whether FR posts can be edited after the event (without any indication being given)? And, if so, why would someone want to?

Hi Steve. Mmm, not sure about that, I'll try a little test.

There's an invisible link to the 'Girls caned at Bacons by the infamous Mr Ing' thread after the full stop at the end of the above sentence. If it stays invisible and works then photobucket still works.

An amazing observation Alan! I don't know the answer to your question re editing FR posts but I'd say your evidence proves conclusively that they can be edited. I am no FR expert, but is it a post or her profile? Profiles can usually be altered, that may be the explanation.

I've never been caned, but I'd have thought most canings would be sufficiently memorable to preclude forgetting them! Especially so for a girl, where one would assume they would make a bigger impression than might be the case with a lad. Strange that Alison should suddenly recall another caning after all this time, having overlooked it when she first posted.

I wonder if another young lady from Bacons has claimed 5 canings on FR and Alison is trying to regain her self-styled record as Bacons most caned girl by whatever means it takes? But surely someone here would have noticed if a new contender had come on the scene. Perhaps we have to be charitable and assume that poor Alison was caned so frequently she really can't remember all her canings with certainty and just adds them as they happen to come to mind. Who knows, the total may even get into double figures!

I thought I'd look at Leah's post in the "Teacher memories" message board on FR; here it is:

Great place, but I hated the uniform!!! Wasn't ours just dreadful?!!! But I do see the importance of school uniform nowadays. I have some fond memories of Bacons and some not so! Like when in the 5th, I got caught out of uniform and coming out of a pub with my boyfriend. His dad was the landlord. Thought I was so grown up at that time!!!! I got sent to the headmaster for that. He was totally livid! I said I'd only had two lemonades, but the headmaster was having none of it. I think he was unwell with diabetes at that time and he was suffering with the most terrible mood swings. For my double offence, as he described it, he chose to cane me. I was due four, but because I initially refused and mounted a strong protest about being caned because I was a fifth form girl, he increased it and gave me six - It really did hurt. Anyone recall Dracula? I met up with some old friends last year in London. I don't get chance to visit Southwark these days!! Life is just too hectic.

(posted 03/01/2009 22:35:35). But something didn't seem right, so I looked back at the Girl caned at Bacons by the infamous Mr Ing thread (now at the top of page 3), and Jack quotes:

Great place, but I hated the uniform!!! Wasn't ours just dreadful?!!! But I do see the importance of school uniform nowadays. I have some fond memories of Bacons and some not so! Like when in the 5th, I got caught out of uniform and coming out of a pub with my boyfriend. His dad was the landlord. Thought I was so grown up at that time!!!! I got sent to Mr Ing for that. He was totally livid! I said I'd only had two lemonades, but Mr Ing was having none of it. I think he was unwell with diabetes at that time and he was suffering with the most terrible mood swings. For my double offence, as he described it, he chose to cane me. I was due four, but because I initially refused and mounted a strong protest about being caned because I was a fifth form girl, he increased it and gave me six - over the desk. Anyone recall Dracula? I met up with some old friends last year in London. I don't get chance to visit Southwark these days!! Life is just too hectic.

Spot the differences? The post visible now refers to the headmaster instead of Mr Ing, and also says It really did hurt instead of over the desk. I wonder what's going on here?

Sorry if anyone's getting confused.

I spotted the change to Leah's FR post, and wrote about it here. Then I spotted the change to Alison's post, and again wrote about it here. But the observation about Leah didn't seem to make it. So I've re-posted it (and, assuming it appears, it will be out of sequence).

Actually, I think the change to Leah's post is the more significant: the remark about "over the desk" is replaced by "It really did hurt". One wonders why.

The Bacon Girl USA may be a classmate of Megan Lowry, exhaustively discussed in this esteem Forum because of her essay and by far less honotable ones. It was a fictional essay that she wrote when she was much younger and from her Website she has taken a radical turn to the right when it comes to her Roman Catholicism. The girl needs to go to confession. You think? Lillington North Carolina is the County Seat of Hartnett County that was recently featured in Corpun. I'll let you look up her site on My Space. Mayberry was the town frozen in time used by the classic Andy Griffith Show who later became Matlock.

Corpun file 20595

kelyannsmith.livejournal.com/11760.html

Western Harnett High

Lillington, NC
Graduated: 1993
Student status: Alumni
Degree: High School Diploma
Clubs: Varsity cheerleading

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=90116171&albumID=8178&imageID=152213

Still can't get any icon up for Photobucket, though the link worked, thanks!

Just edited one of my posts on FR-all you do is click edit reply-assuming it's YOUR post, of course! It definitely does NOT work on other people's posts or photos.


Steve M

Well Mr Turing, you really are exerting yourself on behalf of this estimable Forum! Some absolutely fascinating finds. As you say, the most significant is certainly the change in Leah's entry. From what almost had to be a caning on the bottom we have a caning that simply hurt, and so could be in any mode. It is of course possible that Leah did not make the entry change herself but that it was made by FR Staff. Steve has established that you can edit your own posts on FR. We can be quite certain that FR staff can edit them too.

The foundation post in the 'Girl caned at Bacons by the infamous Mr Ing' thread was made by 'Jack' at 22:51 Network54 time on 3 January 2009. This is the post that quoted Leah's original 'over the desk' account. You say that the revised 'It really did hurt' entry on FR was made at 22:35 FR time, also on 3 January 2009. Suspicious or what?

But wait, Jack does say the entry on FR had just been added. OK, that explains the times IF (and I'll bet this is the case) once an FR entry is made it keeps the original entry time and date, regardless of the date of any changes made subsequently. I suspect that the most likely explanation is that at some stage an FR functionary has spotted the entry, decided it was a little too specific and amended it, possibly quite recently. I suspect that a good few people here will have looked at the entry on FR while the thread was active, and presumably someone would have noticed if it was changed during that period. Equally Leah herself, a little older and wiser, may have decided recently that she no longer wishes to announce to the world that she was caned on her bottom.

Who knows? The one thing we can be sure of is that it did at one time say 'over the desk' and we can draw whatever conclusions from that that our imaginations dictate!

Hi Steve. As soon as I get round to it (which might not be tonight) I'll put something in 'Computing Corner' re the PhotoBucket thing.

And a footnote to my post above re the change to Leah's entry. IMHO the change from 'Mr Ing' to 'the headmaster' makes it more likely that it was an FR functionary who made the change rather than Leah herself. She might correct a misspelling of Mr Ing's name, as Alison Cousins has done in her revised 'six canings' post, but why on earth amend it to 'the headmaster'. That smacks of FR trying to keep things impersonal.

Another_Lurker:

I'd suspect that Leah changed her own posts; I don't buy your suggestion thet they were "edited" by Friends Reunited.

First, why should FR be concerned about the name of the headmaster? It appears in lots of the other posts. And if they were going to edit it, they'd need to have checked that Mr Ing was indeed the headmaster, and I wouldn't credit the thought police with that much intelligence.

And secondly, if "over the desk" raises concerns, why not just delete it? Adding a phrase about it hurting amounts to putting words into the poster's mouth, and goes way beyond an acceptable edit.

So assuming that Leah did it herself, the question is why? Did she do it when re-reading what she had written? Or -- another possibility -- that she had been contacted by people enquiring about her experience, and felt that she shouldn't have been that explicit? If the latter, that's an argument against getting in touch. Someone who posts on FR wants to be contacted by friends, not by strangers.

To link to Leah's FR picture, I right-clicked on it in FR and then selected Properties from the pop-up menu. Then, in the Properties dialog box, I highlighted the Address field, and copied it to the clipboard by typing ctrl-C.

Then, when creating the post, I added and then put the cursor between the two double-quote marks and pasted the address from the clipboard by typing ctrl-V.

Well, the post above looked OK when I previewed it, but clearly didn't work when I actually submitted it! So I'll try again.

The missing stuff (the characters I typed when linking to the picture) were

img src=""

placed between a less-than symbol < and a greater-than symbol <. (If I try to put them on the same line here then the Network 54 software gets confused and thinks that I really am trying to show an image, rather than tell you how to do it.

And, yes, I am using the escape sequence Ampersand-lt-semicolon instead of a real less-than symbol!

Of course I know that a greater-than symbol is > !

Hi Alan Turing. You say:

placed between a less-than symbol < and a greater-than symbol >. If I try to put them on the same line here then the Network 54 software gets confused and thinks that I really am trying to show an image, rather than tell you how to do it.

We web masters are sworn on penalty of all sorts of dreadful fates not to betray how to do that, but being as it's you, even though you do disagree with me about Leah's FR post , see the 'Computing Corner' thread in an hour or so and all will be revealed!

Hi Steve. I haven't forgotten your PhotoBucket problem from 1 July. See the Computing Corner thread, hopefully by the time you read this but if not very soon!