Obituaries

Lorna Granlund

K’40

Obituary written by Madeline Russell, and Lorna’s friends

Lorna was born in Devon in 1922, the youngest of four children. During her early life, she went to Blundells School, where her father was school chaplain. She then started at Sherborne Girls with her sister, Ruth, where both excelled at sport.

On leaving school around 1939, Lorna joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment, and then the Women’s Royal Naval Service. When the war ended, Lorna went on to become the Housekeeper at St Ronan’s Prep School in Kent.

When Lorna’s father died in 1964, she moved to Northumberland to care for her mother. She started a job looking after student wellbeing at Alnwick Teacher Training College, before completing teacher training herself. She then taught at Amble Secondary Modern and Middle Schools, with responsibility for music. Lorna was very musical, playing the flute in the local orchestra and wind band and teaching flute and piano at home. She was also very knowledgeable about local birds, flora and fauna, as evidenced by her own beautiful garden.

Then there were her dogs, whom she loved to walk along the Northumbrian beaches with her friends, Bet and Eva. Lorna was also a founder member of the Alnwick and District Natural History Society, of which she later became president. She loved to fish, knit and create tapestries, and in her 90s took up bellringing.

Those of us who knew Lorna have had our lives enriched by her courage, stoicism, love of life, stubbornness, loyalty and kindness; not forgetting her sense of fun, and her interest in everything and everybody around her. For that, we are truly thankful.

Sarah Waterlow (Broadie)

W’59

Sarah’s cousin, Philippa Gray (Grant) W’60, writes:

Sarah sadly passed away on 9 August 2021. We were both at Wingfield in the 1950s: cousins and the second generation at the School. Our mothers, best friends, were in Thurstan in the 1930s: Angela Gray (Waterlow) T’33 and Bridget Bradfer-Lawrence (Gray) T’33. My mother Bridget went on to marry Angela’s brother, Peter Gray. Sarah’s School contemporaries knew her as ‘Flo’ or ‘Sally’. As well as me, they included Joanna Hoare (Durham-Matthews) W’58, Susan Clarke (Mackworth-Praed) W’58 and Lynn Boden (Holman) W’58, and we were all in awe of her academic prowess. We can also recall her regrettable feebleness in sport! Indeed, Joanna tells of how Flo regularly persuaded our Housemistress, Bice Crichton-Miller (also her godmother), to excuse her from PE, such was her distaste for sporting activities. Above all, we call to mind Sarah’s personal qualities of patience and kindness, which were of course later demonstrated in her teaching. At School, she distinguished herself in Classics and was greatly admired by Gwen Beese, then Head of Classics at Sherborne. In 1958, Sarah entered Somerville College, Oxford, to read Classical Greats and Philosophy. Her first appointment was to the University of Edinburgh. There she met her future husband Frederick Broadie – another philosopher. In 1982, she published her PhD thesis, Nature, Change and Agency in Aristotle’s Physics. Following this, she was offered a place at the University of Texas, eventually accepting professorships at Yale, Rutgers and Princeton Universities, all in the USA. In 2001, Sarah and Frederick returned to Scotland and she accepted a position at the University of St Andrews. She remained there until her death in 2021, just short of her 80th birthday. Sarah published eight books, including Ethics with Aristotle (1991) and Nature and Divinity in Plato’s Timaeus (2012). Her various honours included membership of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the British Academy. In 2019, Sarah was awarded the OBE for ‘services to classical philosophy’, conferred by HRH The Duke of Cambridge. I leave the final words to Joanna, who writes: “I considered and consider ‘Flo’ [Sarah’s nickname] an important part of my life. Never mind the world of academia and philosophy. Never mind the honours that were heaped upon her – quite rightly. I shall sorely miss my gentle, loving, friend.”

Susan Hamlin (Stanier)

T’53

Susan’s friend Daphne Wilkie (Burdick) T’53 writes:

Susan and her sister Jennifer Hamlin (Grater) T’54, were both born in Tiverton, Devon. After leaving Sherborne, Susan did a secretarial course and, aged 20, joined the ‘Green Room’ girls in Number 10 Downing Street. She worked there for Sir Anthony Eden PM, then Harold Macmillan PM.

Susan travelled worldwide with the two prime ministers. She lived in Chelsea near her School friends Stefanie Hilton-Sergeant (Harwood) T’52 and Daphne Burdick.

On marrying Alan Stanier, she moved back to Devon. Anne Pugsley (Glendining) K’56 and Daphne were bridesmaids. At her funeral were her sister, Jennifer, children and grandchildren. Also Anne Pugsley, Daphne Wilkie and Anne Finchett – another ‘Green Room’ girl who shared Susan’s flat in Chelsea.

Virginia Harding

DH’54

Obituary submitted by Virginia’s brother, Anthony

Virginia Harding died on 27 August 2021. She had a remarkable career in music administration, having started as a junior in the BBC and then working for, in succession: Decca Records, as Lord Harewood’s secretary at the Edinburgh Festival, the City of London Festival, the Royal Festival Hall and the Barbican Arts Centre. It was at the Barbican that she started administering the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition, which led to work for other music competitions – notably the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition from 1997.

Passionate about music, Virginia was a dedicated choral singer, performing with a number of excellent choirs in London and elsewhere. She was also a keen traveller, visiting Australia and New Zealand several times and forming a lifelong love of both countries.

She had a great gift for friendship and her many friends around the world will miss her greatly.

Clare Roberts (Sands)

AW’82

Clare’s friend Kate Muriel AW’82 writes:

Clare created and ran a very successful craft business in the Bahamas, which she started soon after getting married in the late 1980s. She helped to revive the straw/basket work industry by designing and creating beautiful bags using local products and weavers. She also created other items and gifts using materials like shells and driftwood. Clare’s business was proudly 100% Bahamian and around 350 local families relied on her for work.

Clare and her husband Jimmy had two daughters and two sons. Two of their children work with Jimmy in the family firm: a Bahamian brewery company.

Clare was a loving and supporting wife, who Jimmy described as his “rock and anchor” in his eulogy. She was a wonderful mother and a successful businesswoman who was highly respected. She will be missed by many.

Photo taken when Kate visited Clare in the Bahamas in 2016

Angela Tatham (Clarke) OBE, DL

T’49

Obituary submitted by Angela’s brother, George

First educated at St Albans High School, Angela attended Sherborne Girls from 1945 to 1948. She joined Thurstan House – following in the footsteps of her mother, Mary Leigh-Wood (Tatham) T’22, who attended Sherborne Girls from 1919 to 1922.

Angela learned the piano and enjoyed music-making throughout her life, including playing the organ at St Peter and St Paul’s Church in Mottistone on the Isle of Wight. She spent family summer holidays at Bembridge, where she enjoyed sailing.

After leaving Sherborne Girls, Angela qualified as a teacher at the Froebel Institute, Roehampton. In 1954, she married Michael Stephenson Clarke, a farmer on the Isle of Wight. Angela and Michael remained on the Isle of Wight, raising their four children there, and opening an agricultural museum at Yafford Mill.

Angela became keenly involved in Conservative politics, Save the Children and the Isle of Wight NHS Trust. In 1983, she was awarded the OBE for political services, and in 1993 was appointed deputy lieutenant for the Isle of Wight.

Angela died in a nursing home on the Isle of Wight in February 2021.

Photo taken on behalf of the Daily Telegraph in an article about Yafford Mill, circa 1974

Georgina Andrewes (Dodd)

A’77

Obituary submitted by Georgina’s husband, Daniel Dodd

Georgina joined Sherborne Girls on a scholarship in 1972. Academically she was an all-rounder and the School steered her into Science. Georgina loved exploring and on leaving Sherborne Girls she took a gap year – travelling overland from London to Delhi across Europe, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nepal. On her return, Georgina went to read Natural Sciences at Girton College, Cambridge.

After graduating, Georgina studied for a PGCE then taught in Kenya for three years for VSO. She went on to join the BBC African service as a presenter and producer for five years, and wrote a novel called Behind the Waterfall, which won a Betty Trask award.

On leaving the BBC, Georgina continued to teach, study and write, and devoted herself to bringing up three children and cultivating an allotment.

Georgina died in July 2021 aged 61, after a long battle with breast cancer. She was typically brave and spirited to the end. She stayed in touch with friends from Sherborne Girls, and a number attended her funeral in London in August.

Georgina will be deeply missed for her intelligence, wit and compassion.

Diana Hoare (Hony)

E’42

Tribute submitted by her daughters Sarah and Carol

Diana Hoare was born in 1925 at her family home in Westbury, Wiltshire. Her formal education began with a governess, before going to prep school in Seaton and then on to Sherborne Girls.

Diana loved Sherborne, where she made lifelong friends including June Mecredy (Wilmers) E’42, Ruth Vaughan Williams (Clark) E’42 (whom she always called RVW), Anne Grey E’42 and Brenda Cruickshank Reid (Reid) E’40.

She was very artistic and proved a natural academic in the Arts and Humanities, obtaining a place to read English at St Hugh’s College, Oxford, in 1943. She didn’t mind being sent down after failing Anglo-Saxon, because she was keen to join the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) and ‘do her bit’ in the war.

Upon marrying John Hony in 1953, Diana lived in the remote bush of Western Nigeria where John had been posted by British American Tobacco. They had three children during their time in Nigeria – Carol, Guy and Sarah.

When John retired in 1978, they went to live in Ibiza and spent 25 years there before returning to the UK. Diana was a regular churchgoer, and enjoyed groups such as the U3A, Marlborough Gardening Association, and various theatre and concert clubs.

Diana was devastated by the untimely death of her son Guy on 3 July 2021. She desperately hoped to attend his funeral, but sadly it was not to be. In her usual uncomplaining way, she walked into Great Western A&E on 27 July and died less than a week later on 2 August 2021.

Siobhán Jones

Head of Classics 1997 – 2015 Housemistress of Wingfield 1997 – 2002 Siobhán’s sister Alison writes:

Siobhán Ann Jones of Somerton, Somerset, lived from 1 June 1960 to 13 July 2021.

After Siobhán retired from Sherborne, she continued tutoring Latin and marking examinations. Set dancing was her passion as well as hiking with her dogs. Her MND diagnosis in 2019 curtailed her activities as her mobility decreased. Covid-19 restrictions were a major setback that prevented her from travelling to the extent she would have preferred. She was however able to enjoy several trips with family.

Siobhán’s abiding interest in education saw her learning Ancient Hebrew and Finnish in her retirement.

Sarah Haslam, Classics Teacher, writes: My first memory of Siobhán was when I came to Sherborne Girls for an interview on 1 July 2003, which happened to be Canada Day. I noticed that she was wearing both maple-leaf earrings and a brooch and pretty much her first words to me were: “I’m Canadian, you know.” She definitely did not like it when people misplaced her accent and assumed she was American!

Siobhán’s devotion to the welfare of the girls, loyalty to the School, and abounding enthusiasm for all things classical were always evident and inspiring.

Rachel Allen, Classics Teacher, Assistant Director of Sixth Form, EPQ Coordinator and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead, writes: Siobhán was dynamic and energetic with a clear passion for Classics. She got me to learn Greek so that everyone in the department could teach all three subjects. It was not easy to do – I had three young children and it was Greek! – but I am very glad she insisted. When she wasn’t teaching Classics, she was dancing. Always dancing. School trips to Greece had to involve an evening of Greek dancing.