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. 61
Gillian Erskine (née Wilson) (CertEd 1954–56) wrote to us in her capacity as a justly proud grandmother. “Our seven-year-old granddaughter Wrenny Erskine recently astonished us by landing a part in the West End musical Les Miserables. She plays ‘Little Cossette’, dressed in rags, and enters sweeping the floor of an inn. All alone she puts down her broom, comes to the front and sings a solo called Castle on a Cloud, then a scene with the leading man, her stage father, in which they do a little dance together. Aged 85, I think I’m more proud of this than anything in my entire life!”
response to the Aberfan disaster in 1966. Louise Joyner, Associate Publisher at Faber, said: “Spending time with the characters in Jo’s astonishing debut was one of those unforgettable encounters. A novel with deep emotional truth at its heart, and wit, honesty and resilience pulsing through every paragraph. It is a very special debut and one we all feel really honoured to be publishing.” Jo is Creative Writing Supervisor at Lucy Cavendish College.
1970s Deborah Hofman (née Brass) (BEd 1979–83) and her husband Martin (St John’s), sold their holiday cottage business in Earl Sterndale, Buxton, and look forward to an active retirement in Winster, Derbyshire. Mary Powles (née Underwood) (BEd 1978–82) has published her third novel, Misplaced Fortune, which explores themes of love and loss with gentle humour.
1980s Jo Browing Wroe (BEd 1981–85) will see her first novel, A Terrible Kindness, published by Faber early next year. The novel, which was shortlisted for the Bridport Peggy Chapman-Andrews Award, tells the story of a 19-year-old embalmer’s
Mary Powles
ANNUAL REVIEW ALUMNI
1950s
