ALUMNI NEWS We are delighted to share the following news of our alumni. Please do get in touch (alumni@homerton.cam.ac.uk ) if you would like to include an update in the next issue. 47 ANNUAL REVIEW ALUMNI
1940s Eileen McWilliam (née Price) (CertEd with Music, 1945) sent us a wonderful overview of her post-Homerton career. “Miss Skillicorn was not pleased that I had not accepted a teaching post on leaving Homerton, but I think I was forgiven when I told her that I had accepted the Open Scholarship at the Royal College of Music in London, where I stayed for five years to qualify. My voice developed so well I sang professionally for many years, until a devastating car accident stopped my progress for some years. However I was able to start again after a few years quite successfully, ending up as Head of the Vocal Department of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and London University. I was also the chair of the Association of Teachers of Singing in the UK for two years. I returned to the Land of my Fathers six years ago, and take occasional private pupils and give advice on voice.”
Rebecca Kirkby, Ann Kirkby and Eleanor Harper
“Eleanor was a wonderful mother and teacher who held Homerton in a special place in her heart,” Ann wrote. “I probably would not have gone to Homerton were it not for her, and the same would probably be true for my daughter. My mother, my daughter and I have all loved Homerton and, on their behalf, they and I wish the staff and students the very best for the future years there.”
1950s We were saddened to hear from Ann Kirkby (née Harper) (BEd 1976) of the death of her mother, Eleanor Harper (née Kirkby) (CertEd 1949). Eleanor, who died just shy of her 90th birthday in February 2020, was the first of three generations of Homertonian women. Her granddaughter, Ann’s daughter, Rebecca Kirkby, completed her PGCE at Homerton in 2016–17, before undertaking the Masters in Education in 2018. Rebecca currently teaches at Comberton Village College, and is completing her Farmington Scholarship at Homerton.
Ruth Alcock (née Alpine) (CertEd 1954) travelled from Yorkshire to study at Homerton, where she qualified as a teacher and met a St John’s student, Robert Alcock, whom she married in 1960. Ruth sent us these memories of her time in Cambridge.
