Roll News 2012

HOMERTON COLLEGE

ROLL NEWS for

2012

Introduction to the Roll News, 2012 From the Principal My last Roll News. My first was written before the Homertonian existed, when membership of the Roll was less inclusive and I knew almost no former students of the College. I had no sense of what might interest you and inevitably I have tended to write about what has interested me about the College over the last two decades. As I have come to know you better I know now that we share a long and abiding interest in almost everything ‘Homertonian’.

I have not been here as long as Mary Allen although some of my colleagues here, like her, have served for over thirty years. Mary Allen, born a Victorian, was Principal through the first third of the twentieth century. In her time the whole social fabric of Britain changed and she had to change with it, technology and all. Some of her more recent students thought she hadn’t changed enough and resented her Edwardian sense of moral and social values, finding Homerton old-fashioned and restrictive when they came here in the 1930s.

The same may be true for me. Will my current students, looking back, think I was hopelessly oldfashioned when they knew me? I have changed the College academically and geographically and the College has changed me but perhaps my students too feel that I have not changed enough. The revolution of our days, the immediacy of communication and access to knowledge is having more effect on the academic life of Homerton and its geography than anything I have done in my twenty years here. I am drafting this by hand in manuscript. My hand and eye, trained over sixty years of coordination, produce a faultless, punctuated piece of script without typographical errors. I know what it should look like, how long it is and whether it makes sense. I can’t do this so well on computer and my students find it equally hard to do it by hand – their handwritten examinations are a burden to them.

There is a gap between us.

Different modes of communication probably don’t matter too much. We do make contact, my students and I, usually through email. But my expectation that they will read books, that not all knowledge can be found on the web, that cutting-and-pasting is perilously near to plagiarism is also beginning to feel old-fashioned. My insistence on the value of knowing and retaining knowledge feels increasingly useless when knowledge can be literally tapped into on a smart phone.

Some of this is trivial. I am intrigued by the fact that students wear watches but use their phone to discover the time. I was watching a group of four graduates travelling together on the train to a common venue, clearly friends, but not talking to each other, with each one on the phone texting someone else. They were personally present but at the same time absent from normal social exchanges – in effect leading a double life. I find these social changes both interesting and baffling – perhaps as Miss Allen may have done?

What of morality in the last two decades? Here I am helped by not being in loco parentis as Miss Allen was. Homerton’s students are over the age of majority when they arrive here and I no longer have the responsibilities that she did. But the Principal has to see that order is maintained and the biggest changes are the advent of an equal number of male and female students and the growth of social legislation that demands equality of treatment. With the boys came the need for a Dean. The legislation helps to maintain a civilised and civilising society among the twelve hundred student members of the College. I try hard not to be judgemental and am conscious that I am expected to define the boundaries both to allow the students a sense of safety that there is good order and a sense of pleasure when the rules are transgressed. In some ways I am expected to be old-fashioned.

So the question will be – was I, am I restrictive? Only time will tell.

Kate Pretty November 2012

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Editorial Homertonians seem to be everywhere. In this edition of Roll News we hear from a group of former students who are thriving in Orange County, California, from a successful writer and from a Junior Year Abroad student who recently met Barack Obama as well as from many, many more alumni.

Among my own contemporaries there have been achievements ranging from being appointed as a high profile government adviser specialising in children’s behaviour to writing a successful musical about the banking crisis, with most points in between also covered.

As we are all aware, Homerton has moved on considerably since ‘our day’ (and having just celebrated twenty-five years in I feel that I can now use this expression), with a resulting shift in the expectations and career plans of graduates, some of which can be seen in the News section of this publication.

Roll News should reflect this, but we must also not lose sight of the fact that Homerton was for many years a highly successful teacher training institution. In amongst the more eye-catching achievements of our former students we must also remember and value the immense contribution that Homertonians have made to the education of our children for over a hundred years. The great pleasure of being editor is the opportunity to read the news from such a wide diversity of former students, but my own struggles with teaching have given me special respect for all of those who have made such successful careers from such a tough but vital job.

I am indebted to everyone who has contributed to this edition of Roll News, since it is your publication not mine. Special thanks go to those who have contributed longer articles, but every piece of news is greatly valued.

Finally, an apology. In the last edition I mistakenly referred to Clunis Porteous, who sadly died in 2010 having contributed a wonderful article about Homerton in wartime, as Clunny B. Her daughter Sarah Bullett contacted us to say that her mother was known as Cluny B with one n, an error which was entirely my own.

James Thomson November 2012

Contents Introduction

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Editorial

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Homerton Memories A Photograph from 1942 Homerton 1948-50 The Graduates of 1972

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After Homerton Jeanne Delcolle Tamar Hodes Miss Read A Letter from America

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The Boat Club

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Events Reunion 2011 Reunion 2012 Alumni Formal Hall Reunion 2013

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The Branches Oxford Branch News Wessex Branch News London Rollers Northumberland Branch News

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News Announcements Alumni News by Decades Deaths

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Homerton Memories A Photograph from 1942 Fiona Cook (1970-73) wrote to us last year with a photograph of her mother and friends at Homerton in 1942. Can anyone help to identify the mysterious fourth student?

At last I am forwarding you the photo that Janet Hallows, daughter of my mother's Homerton classmate, Marjorie Hallows, sent me late last year. I can confirm the identity of three of the students in the photo. From the left they are Margaret Ffrench (née Rendall, now living in Reigate, Surrey), my mother, Hilda Cook (née Todd, now living in a home in Cambridge), Marjorie Hallows (not sure of her maiden name, now living in a home near her daughter in Harrogate), and Janet had thought that the student on the right was a Mary something. They were all at Homerton from 1940-42.

I was hoping to meet up with the person I suspected might be the fourth person in the photo, Mary Watts, who lives in Longstanton these days, to find out if it was her or not. Mary was actually in the year below the other three, but they were all close friends because of their membership in the Christian Union.

We had hoped to see Mary in April when I was over briefly for my mother's birthday, but that didn't work out. However, we finally managed to get together last week and spent a lovely lunch and afternoon at the Dolphin in St Ives chatting away about old times.

I had taken my laptop so I could show Mary the photo but she said that the student on the right was not her after all, and she wasn't able to recognise who it might be. Anyway, I think we can assume it must be one of the students from the 1940-42 class.

Since the three people in the photo we can identify are all approaching ninety, I guess they are doing pretty well! My mother is still in touch with two more classmates who are also still going, Dorothy Hansford, also in Harrogate these days, and Doris Bannard-Smith who lives in Pavenham, Bedford.

Homerton 1948-50: Lost Years or a Bridging Time?

Brenda J Buchanan (née Wade) 1948-50 reflects on a forgotten time in Homerton’s history, but one which perhaps had greater significance in the college’s evolution than previously thought.

I have just returned from the 2012 Homerton Reunion weekend, encouraged once again by the general air of lively friendliness within the context of splendid buildings and beautiful grounds. With my husband Angus (St Catharine’s 1950-56, following military service 1948-50) I had enjoyed dinner by candlelight in the Great Hall, with food of such sophistication as the old Buttery could have no anticipation. After the AGM on the Saturday morning it was difficult to choose between the talk by Dr.Peter Warner on the conflict between the different strands of Nonconformity which had tested the college in its London days, the music that was to follow this, and the tours of the library and the grounds. In the midst of all these exciting choices, I managed to slip into the library with a small collection of books from my student days. These had all been bought second-hand from earlier students, who had wisely decided to sell rather than hold onto them for several decades as I had done. I hoped they would be acceptable because they had been re-discovered as we try to ‘down-size’ within our home of nearly fifty years, where we struggle to accommodate not only our own still-expanding library and runs of journals, but also books that had belonged to our parents and others that belong to our sons.

The question of the acceptability of these books to the Homerton we now celebrate as a college of Cambridge University had arisen in my mind, because of their substance. Coming back to them after so many years I had been disturbed by their content, which marked them out as coming from such a different age in the preparation of students for the teaching profession, especially in the understanding of educational psychology. Three were pre-war publications (1931, 1935 and 1936), re-published in 1945/6 but remaining voices from the past. Of the other two, that by J.H.Panton, Modern Teaching Practice and Technique, prepared for conditions in the postwar educational world (Longmans Green & Co, London 1945) was, as its title suggests, clearly making an attempt to look ahead to the future, although it is the other one that may have better withstood the passage of time.

This is The Psychology and Teaching of Reading by Frederick J. Schonell (Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh & London, 1946). But collectively these books, defining in one case the degrees of imbecility to be found in children, serve to suggest why the post-war world of 1945-50 may be regarded as ‘the lost years’, a thought confirmed for me when I returned from the 3

Homerton Roll News, 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----Reunion and looked again at the volume edited by Peter Raby and Peter Warner, Homerton. The Evolution of a Cambridge College (Homerton College, 2010).

The story of the evolution of Homerton in its Cambridge existence from a teacher training establishment to a college of the University is presented in the book detailed above. It is nicelyedited by ‘the two Peters’ and well-told by some twenty contributors, but between the chapter on ‘Homerton at War’ pp.203-218, finishing in 1945, and that on ‘The Alumni Perspective’, pp.219-251, beginning with ‘The Fifties’, there are the unrecorded ‘lost years’. This must have been a difficult halfdecade for the college to navigate. The whole teacher training system needed to recover from its wartime challenges, especially as much effort now had to be put into building up the numbers available to fill the teaching posts left depleted by natural ageing and the calls of war, a challenge which in many cases involved the ‘Emergency Training’ of ex-military students in one-year courses. In this context, two years at Homerton was a luxury – placed in perspective for me by the fact that the best teacher I was ever placed with, from whom I learnt most about the shaping of lessons, was a one-yeartrained former soldier. And just as the flow of new talent into schools and into the lecturing pool at Homerton and other colleges, halted in the war years, must be made good, so the natural progression of new books with new ideas had to be revived, and out-dated material abandoned, a difficult task as my examples show. There was thus a whole system that had to be re-started, and experiencing this, at the heart of the process, there were the students who came up between 1945 and 1950, whose voices are not heard in Homerton. The Evolution of a Cambridge College, and who may have a different story to tell from those experiencing the limitations imposed by war and those celebrating the so-called ‘Golden Era’ of the fifties.

What did we of the lost years bring with us to Homerton? I can only speak for myself, but those of us on D & E experienced a close companionship which suggests that my observations were not unique. We shared, by alphabetical determination, a small room (two narrow beds, two bureaux, and two chairs), and so we came to know our room-mates, and those in adjoining rooms, and across the narrow corridor, very well. And that was before we had begun to make friends through our choice of special subject. Most of us would have been tested by some dislocation in our school careers. Many experienced ‘Home Service’, spending a few hours a day in different homes, whilst efforts were made to work out how to prevent the unsafe congregation of children in schools. Evacuation provided one answer. This was not for me – “We’ll all go together” said my parents, and we very nearly did, emerging from our Anderson shelter after hours of heavy

bombing to find devastation all around us.

Separated from my family I spent several months with relatives on the edge of the city, roaming the rural valley until I was found by the school authorities and required to sit a previously unheard of examination, ‘the eleven-plus’. I learned that my Father, across the city and with very little contact with me, had made only one choice, that of an ‘intermediate’ school. We were about to move back into our patched-up home and this was the one school near enough for me to walk from should the bombers return. A mixed school, with a very hardworking atmosphere, this had the great disadvantage of teaching only up to the School Certificate, but after this level I was able to transfer in 1946 to a grammar school, across the city, a tram and bus ride away from home, through the stilldisrupted city centre, a journey which had given my Father so much concern when considering the safety of a ten-year old. So far, I had always been in mixed classes, and this was a girls’ grammar school, but we were not isolated for facilities were shared with the adjoining boys’ grammar school. We also had a shared Inter-Sixth Form Club, through which visits to the theatre and walks on the nearby moors were organised, along with after-school activities such as meetings of branches of the Council for Education in World Citizenship, and of the Student Christian Movement. And of course, we danced. I left school with a particular boy friend whom I have now known for sixty five years, and with several other friends coming up to Cambridge to study the sciences, for which there was no barrier to immediate entry as there was for students of the arts.

We were welcomed to Homerton in 1948 by Miss Skillicorn, sitting on chairs and on the carpet of the Drawing Room as she talked to us about how privileged we were to be at the college as behind each of us there were nine students who would have loved to be in our place. She spoke also of the many opportunities that lay ahead, creating a mood of expansion rather than limitation. I was left with no sense of the restrictions that seemed so irksome to those recalling the Fifties. Indeed I am astonished to read on p.219 of Homerton, of the lecture delivered to students of this era in the first week of term by Miss Gage, then Deputy Principal – that they “were nothing to do with the university and if a young man invited us out we were to make him wait for several days before accompanying him”. I was very quickly into visiting old friends from the boys’ school, and the societies we joined were an excellent meeting ground for closer encounters. My room-mate became quickly attached to the Methodist Society, and my friends next door soon found their feet in CICCU and the Congregational Society. Some friends sang or made music with groups from other colleges. My own attachment to the SCM with its particular commitment to a social th Christianity, going back to my 6 form days, found a 4

Homerton Roll News, 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----home in an SCM group in Cambridge. This was great fun, laced with a maturity in the men that I knew had been born out of battlefield experience.

Only later did I learn that there were two Military Crosses in the group, but though on a lesser scale we young women had not been spared an experience of war; especially when this had meant the suspension of home-life, and the loss of pets and toys, perhaps even of childhood itself.

One of the students of the Fifties, quoted on the page just referred to, speaks of Miss Skillicorn as one of “the last generation of autocrats”. I think she was austere rather than autocratic, and being myself of a generation that grew up in conditions of austerity, that is a quality with which I have great sympathy. When we arrived in Cambridge in 1948, for example, our trunks had no great range of clothing within them. Used only to school navy gabardines, my mac for college had been dug out of the pre-war wardrobe by my uncle returning home after four years abroad in the RAF, and dyed by my Mother in what proved to be an unpleasant shade of brown. I avoided wearing this as much as possible.

Compared to later generations of students our possessions were sparse, but the spirit of ‘plain living and high thinking’ more than compensated.

I began this brief memoir by reflecting on the ‘lost years’ of 1945-50, which find no special place in the volume on the evolution of Homerton. Now I begin to think that it may be more proper to call these ‘the bridging years’, as the college began to emerge from its wartime trials. An example of this was the development of ‘Environment Studies’ in our professional course. This involved the integration of history, geography and natural history in a combined approach to localities, which found a practical expression in the study of villages around Cambridge. My group of five undertook what we called ‘A Survey of the Village of Barrington’, which we presented to the vicar of the parish after it had been marked. I went on to undertake a similar study of a Peak District village between my two college years, and then as part of my special subject, history, I wrote my dissertation on welfare conditions in the Sheffield cutlery industry, visiting and photographing old workshops, soon to be lost. This work was commended by Dr Kitson Clark in my subsequent interview with him. All these experiences were of great value to me when, after marrying in 1955, I came to teach at Garden Walk School in Royston, one of the splendid post-war schools built by the Hertfordshire County Council.

Here I was able to enliven local studies by the use of aerial photographs, to obtain which I had to persuade the headmaster that we should buy them, and Dr.J.K.St.Joseph that he should sell them to us.

I visited him in what I recall as little more than a cricket pavilion at Selwyn, and despite his protests that none of these had ever gone into a school before, he produced some that were particularly

appropriate and the deal was done. Moving on to East London I again found ‘environment studies’ a way of interesting pupils in the context of their own lives and history. I braved disaster by taking groups of Stepney children on expeditions in and around the city that they had never visited before. To some, even travelling by tube was a novelty and visits to the London Museum, then at Kensington Palace, were a special treat – especially when the Great Fire of London of 1666 could be started by the press of a button!

The Homerton experience was to influence not only my future teaching career, but also my continuing research and writing. 1945-50 were lost years perhaps, but also bridging years which deserve more study as the college began its long haul towards finding its proper place within the array of colleges of Cambridge University.

The Graduates of 1972 Marilyn Stansfield (née Miller) sent us a copy of the 1972 Graduation photograph. Does anyone recognise themselves? Marilyn is standing on the extreme right hand side.

We were actually at Newnham, but only on the proviso that Homerton did everything for us and I have never set foot inside Newnham! All of our main subject lectures were in Cambridge and we were also allowed to use the very new Graduate Centre. I lived at 2, Luard Road which is now, I believe, a college house. I wonder if Mrs Shrive, my landlady, gave it to Homerton when she died.

I taught in two Roman Catholic convent schools and then had a career change to become a Financial Advisor before retiring early at the age of fifty-one. I am enjoying retirement, although we travel rather less than we did when teaching.

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After Homerton Jeanne Delcolle Jeanne Delcolle 1992-93 was a Junior Year Abroad student who has gone on to have a remarkable teaching career in New Jersey. To see Jeanne in action, visit http://vimeo.com/38521943. At the time of writing, Jeanne had not yet met President Obama, but as can be seen from the photograph this happy event has now taken place.

Homerton proved to be one of those life changing times for me and I will always have fond memories of my time there. I was saddened to hear of John Hammond's passing, but glad that he was honoured so well by the college. He was the reason I was at Homerton in the first place: he literally handed me the application, and always made sure we JYA students were doing well. He will be missed.

Although I studied history at Homerton, my life took a series of turns when I came home. Evidently, I was meant to be a teacher. Perhaps it was fate that took me to Homerton, which at that time was mostly education students, because teaching as a career had been in the back of my mind for quite a while although I was doing my best to ignore it. I simply didn't want to admit my path, because teaching is a profession which does not receive the respect it deserves in the US.

I was recognised during Women's History Month for some environmental work I have done over the years. This began a snowball effect. Before I knew it, I was named Teacher of the Year for my school (1,200 students) which was a great honour. I think I was the youngest to be named. I also won the New Jersey Council for the Humanities Teacher of the Year, which was another great honour since the humanities have always been close to my heart and an integral part of my teaching. My principal then gave me the form to apply for county and state teacher of the year. I filled in the sixteen page monster and sent it off. I was then named the Teacher of the Year for my district, which comprised two schools, and then found out that I won my county (about forty-six districts), the largest geographically in New Jersey. There are twenty-one counties in New Jersey and we county winners were told that the next step was to record ourselves teaching a lesson, unedited, for ten minutes. The recording had to show not only us actively teaching, but also the students when we weren't standing next to them. It was nerve wracking, but I completed the task and sent in the video. From the twenty-one applications and DVDs, five finalists would be chosen. I found out in early August that I was one of the five finalists. The final step was an interview with a panel of eight people who were the heads of educational organisations all over the state. After the interview, the panellists unanimously decided that I would be the teacher of the year for the state of New Jersey representing 130,000 public school teachers. As the New Jersey Teacher of the Year I am now New Jersey's representative on the national level, and although I have not been named a national finalist (although according to the judges I was near the top), I have plenty of work to do here in New Jersey. The climate for education in my state has been...tense, and I find myself trying to bridge the gap between both sides.

I will be fortunate enough in three weeks to meet the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, and also President Obama in Washington, DC. We Teachers of the Year all get two minutes in the Oval Office and then we move to the Rose Garden for the naming of the National Teacher of the Year. I am honoured and humbled by this opportunity.

As you can see, I have been very busy, but I hope to be a good representative for the educators in New Jersey and have people be proud to say I was a part of their organisation.

I have been an incredibly happy high school (ages 14-18) history teacher for sixteen years now and, about two years ago, my life took a turn for the surreal. This is going to take a little bit of explaining.

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Tamar Hodes Tamar Hodes was born in Israel in 1961 and moved with her family to the UK when she was five. She attended Henrietta Barnett School in north London and then Homerton College from 1980-1984. Since then Tamar has married and raised her two children and taught English and creative writing in schools, universities and prisons.

Tamar tries, in each story, to create a plausible world where characters are convincing and details are appropriate. She is very interested in the minutiae of life and in detail. The wild flowers arranged in a jam jar; the colours of a stormy sky; the floor tiles catching the sun; the features of a doll’s house. These need to be well-described and convincing as the reader needs to trust the writer. If she cannot get the details right, how can she be trusted in terms of character?

Tamar does not go looking for inspiration. Like love, it eludes you when you seek it and can catch you unawares. She finds train journeys seem to lead to ideas and sudden moments can spark off a story: someone piles watercress on his plate; a man finds a wounded pigeon on a horse track; an embroidered quilt; a rusty nail in a garden wall; pastel-coloured houses framing a Suffolk beach; a butterfly house.

All of these have been triggers to stories but then, as Tamar writes, she finds that many influences come to bear so that the characters and events are mosaics. Some people are nervous of confiding in writers as they fear that they may be reproduced negatively in a story. It rarely happens that way.

Stories are not photographs; they are collages.

Photo: Emma Findley

Tamar’s own writing has remained very important to her. She has had ten stories broadcast on Radio 4 and in 2006 her novel, ‘Raffy’s Shapes’ was published by Accent Press. Her most recent publication was her book ‘The Watercress Wife and Other Stories’ which came out in 2011. The book contains thirty-five stories written over a twenty-two year period and is available in book form and as an e-book.

Tamar’s stories are sometimes located in the real world but at other times there is a fantastical element in them: a young boy becomes a bird; a wife and mother is a fish.

Certain strands run through her work: the way we deceive others and ourselves; creativity and how it can be both joyful and damaging; how children sometimes take on the role of parents; how a moment can alter our lives forever; our contradictory desires to be both sociable and private and the construction and destruction of dreams.

Contradiction and paradox are central to Tamar’s writing. Not only are the characters themselves complex but so is the writing process. Through invented and created people and situations, truth about life is hopefully revealed. Through concealment, then, there is a revealing. Through lying, we are led to truth. By standing back from life, we are in the centre of it. Detachment leads to involvement.

Symbolism is central to this. By using metaphors, we appear to move away from the person we are trying to portray but the device takes us closer. A failed actress is symbolised by a cracked lalique vase; a man is depicted through the barren land; a carpenter is as mysterious as the little boxes he carves; a child builds a sandcastle while his parents’ marriage collapses.

Tamar’s books can be ordered through Amazon, bookshops or from her at tamar.hodes@virgin.net .

The stories are set around the world: in South Africa, a painter takes comfort in the landscape; in Italy, a young man tries to restore his father’s ruined vineyard; in Lithuania, a childless couple struggle to save their marriage and in France, sisters use their religion as a weapon. Several of the stories explore Judaism.

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Miss Read Dora Saint MBE JP (née Shafe) 1931-33 wrote a series of novels centred on two fictional English villages, Fairacre and Thrush Green, from 1955 to 1996. The principal character, and in the Fairacre books is a Miss Read, an unmarried schoolteacher in a small village school and the novels were written th under her name. Dora died on 7 April 2012 and her daughter, Jill Saint, sent us this obituary.

Dora was born in London and started school there, but at heart was always a countrywoman. When she was seven, the family moved to Chelsfield in Kent, and she wrote of this in the second of her short autobiographies, Time Remembered. Probably better than any other piece of her writing it sums up her feelings about the countryside. She wrote of the first walk from Chelsfield station to their new home: Tiny plants, which I should recognise later as sheep’s-bit scabious and thyme, were being pressed under my legs. The larks were in joyous frenzy above. The sky was blue, the now distant wood misty with early buds, and the air was heady to a London child.

A great surge of happiness engulfed me. This is where I was going to live. I should learn all about birds and trees and flowers. This is where I belonged. Any qualms about a new school vanished in these surroundings.

This was the country, and I was at home there. It was a knowledge that was to stay throughout my life.

Before the war she had regular holidays in Salcombe with friends, and it was here that they witnessed the lifeboat crew turning out in a storm to rescue a boat in trouble. This impressed her very deeply and began her lifelong respect for the lifeboat crews and her support of the RNLI. In the early thirties, Dora went to Homerton, and fell in love with the city and the poetry of Rupert Brooke.

Both continued to give her great pleasure all her life.

Visits to the theatre were always important to Dora, and she had happy memories of London in the thirties, and rather less happy ones of the beginning of the war and the Blitz, but she always retained an

affection for London and visited regularly during her working years.

She stayed in London for the first year of the war and then moved to Witney in Oxfordshire, part of which, Wood Green, became the setting for the imaginary village of Thrush Green in her later novels. I was born there, and we continued to visit for many years.

She and Doug moved to Berkshire after the war and spent fifteen happy years at Chieveley before moving to Shefford Woodlands, where they spent the rest of their lives equally contentedly. Dora became a magistrate in Newbury, and after Doug’s retirement they enjoyed country life, long-standing friendships, visits to the theatre and travelling in Europe.

Dora had been writing light essays, book reviews and BBC scripts since just after the war, but in the mid-fifties she began the series of novels for which she became best known. The first of these, in 1955, was Village School, set in the imaginary village of Fairacre. After several books, she wanted a break from writing in the first person, and Thrush Green was born. Altogether she wrote some forty novels, as well as children’s books, and the two volumes of early autobiography.

Doug died at the end of 2004, and Dora was lucky enough to remain at home in their much-loved cottage, with wonderful carers, latterly full-time.

Last February, she was taken into Newbury Community Hospital for end-of-life care overnight.

When I rang the next morning to ask if she was still with us, a shocked voice said: ‘Certainly! She’s had her breakfast and is sitting up chatting.’ Dora was impressed with the caravan she was apparently staying in, and thought it was very well furnished.

She spent almost a month there, with superb care from the staff, and returned home for the final two weeks, with equally devoted carers. I can’t speak too highly of their dedication, kindness and professionalism. This magnificent support allowed her to stay in her own home, which meant so much to her.

A Letter from America Judy d’Albert has written from California to tell of a thriving group of Homertonians living close to each other in California. In Judy’s words “Homerton women have influenced the lives of many young people in Orange County, California”.

In 1964, Judy made a life-changing decision to leave England when she was recruited by an independent school in California. Six years later, she met her future husband, Pierre, on a winter Sierra Club hike 8

Homerton Roll News, 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----in Southern California, followed by a brief visit to Yosemite National Park, to celebrate her thirtieth birthday when spring was in the Valley, the falls were in full flow and the dogwood was blooming.

They would return to Yosemite every season for thirty years. They exchanged vows on the Swinging Bridge early one summer solstice, and trekked and slept under the stars and moon in the high country at every opportunity.

In memory of her beloved Renaissance man of full measure, who had passed away in her arms at home, at almost ninety-three years, in January 2010, Judy made a solo pilgrimage to Yosemite that summer to sing out a litany of remembrance and to scatter some of his ashes on favourite trails in the high country, in a high alp on Mt. Dana, near Tioga Pass, by the cascades in Tuolumne Meadows and above Tenaya Lake. Together they leave a legacy to the Yosemite Conservancy, to enhance the experience of this unique wilderness for future generations.

Stacking up memories on the John Muir Trail, a two hundred and ten mile trail that winds through spectacular alpine wilderness connecting Yosemite Valley and Mt Whitney (14,405 ft).

As a classroom teacher, at Harbor Day School, Corona del Mar, Judy was inspired to take her students outdoors, exploring tide pools and natural history. A former student wrote, “She infuses her teaching with such passionate energy that learning and textbooks come to life with vivacity and profundity.” She was often recognised as an outstanding educator by the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, thanks to nominations from her grateful students, now her friends, who heeded her advice to “shoot for the moon, for even if you miss you will land among the stars!”

In 2002, Judy donated a gift from grateful alumni to NatureBridge’s Armstrong Scholars Program, which brings twelve teenage girls to the Yosemite wilderness for a twelve-day backpacking journey each summer in memory of former educator Joie Ruth Armstrong. “What better gift can we give young

women to inspire them to become the next generation of stewards of the Earth?”

It was at Homerton in 1958-60, that Judy was introduced to Field Studies by Sheila Brazier on adventures to the Fens, the Brecklands, Grimes Graves and Therfield Heath. Sheila was invited to join the faculty of Golden West College, Huntington Beach, when it opened in 1966, teaching geography and ecology, after her Fulbright year, on leave from Homerton, at Orange Coast College. In 1987, she was appointed as Dean of Instruction, overseeing all programs and curriculum revisions as a key administrative link with Students and the Faculty Senate, and, until quite recently, still followed her passion for adventure travel trips around the globe.

She now enjoys active retirement in Huntington Beach, playing tennis until a couple of years ago and still goes to the gym!

Judy also sends news of Fiona Fraser, another Homertonian of more recent vintage, who has been chair of the English department at innovative Sage Hill School, Newport Coast, since 2003. Among Fiona’s distinctions are that she was named one of Orange County’s top educators in 2000, was awarded “Teacher of the Year” at Fairmont, and has been recognised for her dedication to her students at Dartmouth College, University of California, San Diego, University of Pennsylvania and Tufts University. In 2011 she was the inaugural recipient of Sage Hill’s Excellence in Teaching Award, awarded to a faculty member at the school who is a daily inspiration to his or her students, colleagues and to the school community.

Fiona is married to Alastair, a Chemical Engineer, whom she met at Cambridge, and has two children.

Her daughter, Kirsten, is a Forensic Scientist with the LA Sheriff’s Department (a real CSI) and her son, James, is currently training to be a pilot in the US Navy. In her precious free time she enjoys travelling and sailing in warm climes. Her stated intention is that she and her husband will sail around the world one day.

James, Kirsten, Fiona and Alastair Fraser

9

Homerton Roll News, 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----Judy and Fiona discovered they share a favourite tropical retreat destination with perfect empty beaches to recharge after a busy school year – the tiny British dependent territory of Anguilla, where Judy sent many books donated by her students, on slow boats when the island was not the high profile, affluent destination it is today.

Judy, Fiona and Sheila met at the lunch at the Island Hotel, Newport Beach, when Dr. Pretty was in town in her role as Vice Chancellor, and have stayed in touch with Angela, another Irvine Homertonian of still more recent vintage who is to be credited for initiating the outreach to California Homertonians of all generations! She has recently been in a car accident but is recovering at home, and Judy, showing true Homerton spirit, helped out with finding a nanny for Henry.

Photo: Eddie Tindall

Both Women’s VIIIs narrowly missed Blades with the 2nd VIII rowing two consecutive 'sandwich' races in a vain attempt to gain promotion to a higher division.

The club as a whole were awarded the Pegasus Cup as the best performing college in the Mays - this is ahead of all other University of Cambridge Colleges and Anglia Ruskin University. This would be a remarkable achievement under any circumstances, but is astonishing when you consider where we have come from.

Angela and Henry

The Orange County ladies would love to have lunch at Sherman Gardens in Corona del Mar next spring with other California based Homertonians (although, as Judy points out, it’s a big state). Judy extends an open invitation to anyone who might be planning a holiday in Southern California to be in touch because coastal Orange County is often overlooked as a destination and beats LA! She is also a fount of knowledge on the natural wonders of the Golden State, the Canyonlands and coastal treasures of the West, always happy to give tips to those planning a vacation. Anyone wanting to contact Judy, Fiona, Angela or Sheila can do so through the Roll Office.

Photo: Eddie Tindall

To cap it all, we had a club member rowing in the Blue Boat that successfully overcame Oxford in the Boat Race and who has also been elected to the position of Vice-President of Cambridge University Boat Club.

The dedication, endeavour and sportsmanship displayed by all club members has been a credit to our College.

For more information about Homerton College Boat Club, visit http://www.hcbc.org.uk/

The Boat Club 2012 was a spectacularly successful one for Homerton College Boat Club. Philip Stephenson, the Dean, elaborates.

In the 2012 May bumps, the Men’s 1st VIII were promoted to the First Division – something that was little more than a dream ten years ago. The Men’s 2nd VIII were promoted to Division Four, winning their Blades in doing so. The Men’s 3rd VIII also won Blades, ascending six places in their division and assuring themselves a place there next year.

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Homerton Roll News, 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------

Events Reunion 2011

of the college and seeing all the extensive changes.

Many of our intake who were still teaching would have liked to see inside the Education block as the outside looked so amazing but sadly that wasn’t possible on the day.

Forty Years In, 1971-74/5 Owing to a technical glitch, this report wasn’t received in time for the last edition of Roll News. th

The 40 Anniversary In 1971-74/75 cohort met up for the Alumni Reunion the weekend of 23–25 September, 2011.

The first surprise for all of us was the changes to the college. Where were the extensive grounds? (All now built on with several new accommodation blocks and conference and library facilities.) Where was the black and white drama studio? (long pulled down) and the 60s ‘modern’ library block? (ditto!)

Secondly, some of us had anticipated the fun of wandering along the corridor in just a towel to the communal showers and baths…no such luck, the student rooms all have their own en suite facilities nowadays….you don’t know what you are missing!

However the College is now mixed so I guess the communal showers had to go once boys arrived!

Left to right: Julia Olisa (née Sherwood), Denise Few (née Wilson),Sally Wilkinson (née Meredith), Helen Sandle-Baker and Rachel Bampfylde (née Scorer).

By Saturday afternoon, we felt quite at home and some of us were even ready, as we had forty years ago, to jump on our bikes and cycle over the railway bridge to go into Cambridge (using, of course, the new cycle lanes!) A few of us were even mad enough to go punting late afternoon, thanks to the absolutely beautiful weather which we were lucky enough to enjoy all weekend. A Wiv reunion dinner happened in one house on the Saturday evening (Wiv having long ago been sold). Others went out to dinner in the City. th

We talked about coming back to the 50 In Anniversary Reunion in 10 years’ time but would like far more of our intake to turn up for that, we were disappointed that not more of us were there, it was such fun.

Ginny Spittle 1971-74 On the left, working from the bottom upwards: Ginny Spittle, Chris Wilcock, Felicity Crowe (née Lambert), Mary McCosh (née Wiltshire) On the right, working from the bottom of the photo upwards: Ros Dobbin (née Woodsend), Elizabeth Le Voi (née Manley), Rosemary Smyth (née Sutcliffe) and Elizabeth Atkinson (née Lewis)

Eleven of us turned up to the Friday Night Formal Hall and we appeared to have organised ourselves to have booked in as two sub groups. On the Saturday, we met for coffee before the business part of the day in the lecture theatre and by lunch our numbers had swelled to 22. Jeane Gruchy (née Sibbit) had bought photocopies of our 1974 exit College Photo and over morning coffee we all attempted to put full names to everyone in the photo.

The agreed highlights of the Reunion for those attending were catching up with old friends, the tour

Reunion 2012 Sixty-Five Years In, 1947-49 The sun always seems to be shining when we meet up at Homerton in September and the Reunion in 2012 was no exception. Thanks to Mavis Smith (née Roberts) our co-ordinator, eight sprightly ex students from the 1947/49 intake arrived for the special gathering.

It was sixty-five years ago that we all first met up, but as we shared similar memories, we were soon well into our reminiscences as well as the coffee and biscuits. College was a very cloistered community in the days just after the war and our futures stretched 11

Homerton Roll News, 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----way into the distance. It was wonderful to hear what interesting paths our lives were destined to take.

As well as Mavis, who married and went out to Botswana and Rhodesia to teach Maths, there was Ada Fordham (née Reid) who among other things became National Chairman of the Action for Governor Training in Africa. Others taught in army schools abroad and Christine Andrews (née Harbottle) is still working in education and counts her work in the Psychiatric Department in the Westminster Children’s Hospital as her most memorable time. We all seem to have memories of rewarding times. My high spots were of the operas I produced in the mixed Secondary Modern School I taught in after leaving Homerton. We did Hansel and Gretel and Il Trovatory!

Our non stop chat continued through a very good lunch and by the time we departed, those who I have mentioned, plus Debbie Brewer(née Hibbered), Daphne Orton (née Ridley), Diana Griffiths (née Richey), and Daphne Shercliff (née Llewellyn) and I, were back in our twenties and felt so much better!

We plan to meet again in the September sunshine in 2014

It was lovely to see her again after sixty years and to learn her exploits both during and after the Second World War She remembered with affection her training and being interviewed by Miss Skillicorn and going to lectures by Miss Whitley and Miss Bradley.

We both remembered with great pleasure suppers in Hall and listening to the piano being played and a hymn being sung before supper.

After enjoying coffee together, we listened to Dr Pretty’s address in the Auditorium and other speeches, by the President of the HUS and Dr Morrison, with interest. Then it was time for drinks and conversation and lunch in Hall. Maria and I walked in the sunshine around the grounds and were making our way to West house, after lunch, where Maria stayed overnight, when we met up with her son Richard and her granddaughter who had come to drive her home to Purley.

I then returned to listen to Dr Warner’s talk about Homerton and its history in the Auditorium.

Both Maria and I were delighted with our Special Reunion Day and by and the kindness of everyone we met.

Dorothy Elven

Celia Clement Smith (née Hessian)

Golden Girls In, 1962-65 Diamond Girls Going, 1950-52 I arrived early for this year’s reunion in hazy sunshine having driven over from Newnham where I live. I was anxious to see how many of our year would be able to come. I remember only about ten had been able to attend our Golden Girls’ Reunion.

In fact there were just two of us at this Diamond Reunion, Helena Maria Tobiasiewicz (née Pukowska) and I. She had been one of three Polish students who came to Homerton in 1950 for teacher training.

We travelled from far and wide to meet in st Cambridge at the college on Friday 21 September.

It was to be a weekend of nostalgia and reminiscences. Fifity years had elapsed since our first arrival at Homerton. There was a small intake in 1962 because the Cert Ed had been extended to a three year course. We discussed how we’d become the chosen few from the many that had applied for places, but agreed how lucky we were and that it had given us a great start in life.

Three members of the Student Executive. Left to right: Jackie Lawn (née Webb), Jean Salt (née Whitman) and Chris O’Neill (née Scard)

The reunion weekend is an opportunity for all exHomertonians to revisit the college, but for us it was a very special occasion with thirty-seven of us celebrating our ‘Golden Girls In’. It was an amazing turnout, with many returning for the first time since leaving the gates in 1965. Some had been back for 12

Homerton Roll News, 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----th

the 40 Anniversary Year and were more familiar with the married names and faces.

Saturday morning the hubbub of voices around the coffee table rose as we greeted further long lost friends. Then current Principal, Kate Pretty, gave a talk on the college developments. Homerton is now the second largest college of the University, with land acquired for further expansion. Greg Hill, President of the Students Union then gave us an overview of student activities and sporting success.

It was good to hear that the Homerton team had done so well in University Challenge and would field a strong team for the next series. From the wide range of students interests, some had their feet firmly on the ground as members of the Allotment Society.

Left to right: Lynn Dowson (née Dothie), Marion Thorpe (née Hudson) and Esme Partridge.

The reunion started with pre-dinner drinks in the Combination Room, where we started our recollections. This was followed by dinner in the Great Hall, where we were pleased to see that the tradition of roast potatoes on a Friday is still maintained. We heard that the Hall has only recently been returned to its former use for dining, after years of use as a badminton court.

Left to right: Jane McRitchie Pratt (née Rowell), ‘Polly’ Valerie Thompson (née Pollock) and Priscilla Fleetwood (née Roosmalecocq)

Ian Morrison, Keeper of the Roll, underlined the importance of preserving and updating the college roll. There are now 14,000 members on the database and a further 2,000 that have lost contact.

Entry to the roll has now been made free for those that attended prior to 1980.

Left to right: Sue Cunningham (née Martin), Jan Ryan (née Brown), Ann Clews (née Banfield), Priscilla Alexander (née Crump) and Jackie Lawn (née Webb)

Looking to see where our pigeonholes had been, we stumbled upon the Griffin Bar which was an unheard of facility in our era. Sitting there at the end of the evening, we remembered our hockey prowess, floats on Poppy Day, the first ladies Rugby team and the queuing for telephone calls from home. No mobile phones then.

Left to right: Bridget Hewitt (Mason), Janet Lewison (Richards), Carol Bowen (Hughes), Claire Stableford and Maureen Frost (Stevens)

Left to right: Carolyn Hood-Cree (née Robins), Pam Sutcliffe (née Maltby), and Gwen Williams (née Bradshaw)

Saturday remained a glorious day with blue skies and lovely sunshine. It could not have been a better day to look around the college and grounds. After lunch guided tours had been arranged for us. Some of the many changes over the fifty years were mentioned, principally the conversion to a full Cambridge University college. Also the admission of men is allowed, without the need to sign in or be entertained in the drawing room. In the grounds, smart new building blocks have sprung up and beautiful gardens and water features add to the ambience. It was sad to realise that many of the 13

Homerton Roll News, 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----houses that provided student accommodation such as 187,189 and Wivlingham have been sold.

However, despite the developments in the grounds, a conservation area keeps the precious Bee Orchids safe. Didn’t we do well!

Chris O’Neill (née Scard)

training and educating excellent teachers. We all felt that college’s involvement in education was continuing and acknowledged that Homerton had survived in the best way possible for which we were very thankful. I was also glad to see that musical excellence is returning to Homerton.

Forty Years Out, 1968-71/2 Forty years out from graduation, (forty-one years since departing for three of us). How would we feel and how would we look? Would Homerton feel too distant and too different? Would we recognise each other if we hadn’t met since 1972?

The first shock for me was a gentleman approaching me in the combination room before drinks at the Friday dinner to say ‘you’re Anne Sparrowe aren’t you?’ He had the advantage of knowing I was on the guest list. I hadn’t seen him for forty years! Assured again the next day I had hardly changed (I beg to differ about that), my optimism for the success of the weekend increased.

On Saturday seven of us, plus a brave husband and sister, joined together for coffee. Conversation was easy and we were all recognisable. It was sad there were so few of us but we agreed that for the Homerton generations that had both three year and four year students, the number of years ‘In’ reunions work much better then the ‘Out’ and we will make a special effort for fifty years in. (Oh dear!) A positive side of the small group was that at the Friday dinner the two of us from 1968 ‘In’ were sat next to a similar number from the two years directly below us and I really enjoyed talking to them and finding lives in common.

We all agreed how well Homerton had settled into its new skin as a university college and how superb the buildings and gardens looked. The grounds were particularly beautiful on a fine autumn day and the college feels a complete whole. It was reassuring to feel that although Homerton is now a different place from our day, the ethos of friendliness and community has continued from the past. From Dr Pretty’s talk, that of the President of the Students’ Union and the talk given by Dr Warner, Homerton seems to be proud and not ashamed of its past of

Of the seven of us who attended from 1968, everyone had taught initially. Three were still teaching. Those who left without a degree had studied for them later. Three had gone to different careers – financial adviser for teachers’ pensions, leading tour groups and in therapeutic counselling.

Talking to my neighbours at the Friday dinner, it was obvious that a significant number of us who took the Cambridge B.Ed went on to higher degrees and working in higher education or have completed research.

Overall, the weekend was extremely well organised and we felt very welcome. The garden tours were particularly enjoyable. At the smaller Saturday dinner I had the immense pleasure of being able to talk to Barbara Pointon for the whole evening. In spite of not knowing many people, I think this was the reunion I have enjoyed the most.

Anne Martin (née Sparrowe)

Twenty-five Years In, 1987-91 Seventeen of our cohort made it to the 2012 reunion, although we were never all in the same place at the same time! A few of us met up for the dinner on Friday night, including Liesel Welland and Libby Bruges. I hadn’t seen them since 1991 and they didn’t seem to have aged much in the intervening years!

On the Saturday we were blessed with beautiful weather and, while some of us were on our own informal tour of the grounds, we accosted an unsuspecting student to take our picture (with five different cameras!) Ruth Wills and I attended the excellent music recital, where we were treated to an eclectic programme from a vocal quartet, ranging 14

Homerton Roll News, 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----from William Byrd to Batman, via Abba (I kid you not!)

Left to right: Kate Motyer-Lowndes, Chis Jackson, Ruth Wills, Kerry Merriam, Barbara Pointon, Michaela Khatib Left to right: Ruth Wills, Dave Crome, Kerry Merriam, Chris Jackson, Carolyn Pollard, Kate Motyer-Lowndes, Alan MotyerLowndes, Claire Rennie

We were joined by Vicky Riddell, Cate Cooper (Pepper), Sarah Baker (Merry) and Ruth Flanagan (Harley) for afternoon tea and were very pleased to get a group photo with nearly all seventeen of us in (thank you Alan!)

HEAD TEACHER’S AWARD Although he didn’t make it into the main group photo, ‘Head Teacher’s Award’ goes to Dave Crome for endeavouring to ensure that our alcohol intake over the weekend matched the level of our undergraduate days.

STAR: A great weekend spent reminiscing and catching up with news.

NEXT STEPS: Let’s do it again and each bring a friend!

Alumni Formal Hall March 2012 Once a term, alumni may attend a Formal Hall.

Details are circulated in the e-newsletter and on the college Facebook page or can be obtained from the Roll Office. Isobelle Hasleham attended in March,

Back row left to right: Ruth Flanagan (Harley), Claire Rennie (Booth), James Thomson, Chris Jackson (Pocock),Cate Cooper (Pepper), Caroline Hulme-McKibben (Hulme), Sarah Baker (Merry), Vicky Riddell, Hayley Henderson (Briggs) Front row left to right: Michaela Khatib (Burbanks), Kate MotyerLowndes (Motyer), Ruth Wills, Kerry Merriam (Proffitt), Carolyn Pollard (Burgess)

Several of us ex-music students took the opportunity to have our picture taken with Barbara Pointon.

Some of us were able to chat with her over afternoon tea when she filled us in on her work in raising awareness of Alzheimer’s and how best to support and care for those suffering from the disease. We have very fond memories of Malcolm (I only wish that I’d paid more attention in his keyboard harmony tutorials!) and welcomed the chance to catch up with Barbara.

Before Formal hall we attended a seminar by Dr Melanie Keene, a Research fellow studying the History of Science and Education. She explained how scientific discoveries were captured in books in the form of fairy tales. Victorian children’s books were designed to introduce children to science by bringing together fact and fantasy. Melanie showed some illustrations from books at that time which showed a 'soup of monsters', a water droplet containing imaginative creatures.

Following the seminar we had sherry in the Combination Room followed by dinner in the Great Hall. Sitting on the High Table, the excellent food was complimented by the atmosphere in the hall. It was a lovely candlelit dinner, attended by a large number of students.

After dinner, we returned to the Combination room for coffee and chocolates to finish a very enjoyable evening.

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Homerton Roll News, 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------

2013 Reunion 2013 Golden Girls In Reunion Remember our golden days in Cambridge fifty years ago? Come and relive some of them!

I am co-ordinating the Golden Girls’ In reunion for those of who trained at Homerton between 1963-66.

I am hoping as many of you as possible will be able to attend all or part of the reunion weekend which is being held between Friday September 27th and Sunday September 29th 2013.

I would love to hear from our year group and if you know of anybody who will not know about the Reunion through the Homerton Roll but would like to come, please let the Roll Office know at roll@homerton.cam.ac.uk (01223 747280).

Hoping to hear from many of you and that lots of Golden Girls can come to the reunion in September next year.

Margot Jacob (née Coverdale)

Anyone wishing to attend either the November or Spring meeting, please email Lucy Barnett at glebecottage@gmail.com.

Wessex Branch News The highlight of our year 2011 – 2012 was of course when Dr Kate Pretty came to join us for lunch last October 2011. Since then the Wessex group have th met up again at Bowlish House on 24 March for a most enjoyable lunch. Slightly fewer members were able to join us this time as sadly health problems are starting to affect our older members making it more difficult to travel. Nevertheless the staff at Bowlish House always look after us very well.

We are planning our next lunch at The Kings Arms in East Stour (on the A30 near Shaftesbury) on th Saturday 10 November; so are looking forward to meeting both new and old friends there. Dr Ian Morrison will be joining us for lunch to update us on the college news.

Coral Harrow (née Hemsley 1949-51)

News from the Branches Oxford Branch News The Oxford Homerton Group meets twice yearly. In November 2011, we met for a Christmas tea at the Randolph Hotel, Oxford which was a very festive occasion. The Randolph is opposite the recently refurbished Ashmolean Museum, so several of us also took the opportunity to visit the museum.

In April 1012, we met for a guided tour of the Bodleian complex and were given the ‘Upstairs, Downstairs Tour’ by Peter Jackson, the husband of Christine Jackson, (1957-59). Peter is an official guide and the visit to the Divinity School, Convocation House, Arts End, Duke Humphrey’s Library, the Old School Quadrangle, Radcliffe Camera and the new Gladstone link was absolutely fascinating. This visit was followed by a splendid lunch at The Turl Kitchen in nearby Turl Street, where fifteen of us sat at a long table.

London Rollers Last December we enjoyed tea and pastries at the University Women’s Club in Mayfair, a place with a fascinating heritage, founded by a member of Girton College over 100 years ago, followed by a stimulating talk by Christine Andrews, a fellow Roller. Christine has done a huge amount of research into the importance of play for young children, and has been involved as an advisor at local government level and with the prison service.

She continues to provide suitable play experiences for the children of long term female prisoners during prison visits.

th

Our next meeting is on Tuesday 20 November at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), Oxford, where there is a buffet café. I have again booked a long table for us at 12 pm. There will be an opportunity to visit the gallery there after lunch, where there will be an exhibition by Jean Luc Moulene.

Next Spring 2013, we are delighted that Dr Pretty will visit us. The details of this visit will be finalised later.

Tea in the UWC library

The elegant but cosy UWC library (familiar to some from BBC’s Newsnight) turned out to be a perfect venue for Christine’s talk, which prompted much 16

Homerton Roll News, 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----interesting discussion on the effects of the changing nature of play. Rollers from several generations attended and we appreciated the experiences, and sometimes frustrations, described by teachers with regard to the current nature of play activities in primary schools.

Our April event was a Verger Tour of Westminster Abbey during which we were able to admire the beauty and magnificence of the building and become better aware of its amazing past. Our guide greatly enhanced the knowledge of English history of many of us in a way that brought the centuries to life. We were pleased that several alumni from outside London joined us for this meeting and that many were able to stay for coffee, lunch and plenty of chat in a local pub afterwards.

The Rollers outside Westminster Abbey

We are making a return visit to the Oxford and Cambridge Club in Pall Mall in November after the success of the Charter event held two years ago.

This time we are having a formal dinner, in the stylish Princess Marie Louise Room, to which we are delighted to welcome Dr Kate Pretty for her last autumn event with us as principal of Homerton College. Following the dinner Erica and Jean will handover the leadership of the London Rollers to Stephanie Beardsworth and Stephanie Rogers who are already busy with exciting plans for next year.

The Stephanies prepare to take over

Erica Hirsch and Jean Carnall

Northumberland Branch News The branch continues to meet twice yearly in the Spring and Autumn at different venues. We try to vary these as much as possible.

In March we met at the Literary and Philosophical Library, Westgate Road for a guided tour of this remarkable establishment which was founded as"a conversation club" in 1793. Women were admitted in1803 but were not allowed to read novels in case they were overset. Later, we lunched in the refectory of the cathedral church of St. Nicholas Newcastle upon Tyne.

In September we met at St. Peter's church Monkwearmouth, a world heritage site. Initially we met for coffee in Bede's Bakehouse and wi-fi cafe before enjoying a guided tour of the one of the oldest churches in Britain, founded in 674 by Benedict Biscop as a monastery chapel.

There are about sixteen members in the branch but rarely are we all able to attend meetings. We would warmly welcome new members or those who would enjoy attending specific events.

In 2013 there will be a guided tour of Trinity House, Broad Chare, Newcastle upon Tyne. The organisation was founded in 1505 by and for mariners. Later we will lunch at one of the many restaurants/ cafes on the Quayside.

17

Homerton Roll News, 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----If you would like to attend an event or find out more about the branch, please contact Elise Wylie on 0191 488 5106 or at elise.wylie@gmail.com

News Announcements Homerton now has an Official Alumni Facebook group at www.facebook.com/pages/CambridgeUnited-Kingdom/Homerton-College-CambridgeAlumni/38635419944 which contains information about all Roll news and events and is well worth joining.

The Roll Office also send out emails about forthcoming events, so if you would like to receive those please make sure that the Roll Office have your up to date details.

Alternatively, for more information about events, please contact the Roll Office at roll@homerton.cam.ac.uk The Roll Committee regularly consider how we can make events more accessible to members and in the last couple of years have run successful Family Days and a dinner for more recent leavers, as well as termly formal halls at which Roll members are welcome.

The Archives I would be grateful for copies or actual graduand student photographs for the years 1941-44, 19451946, 1951-1954, 1959-1970, 1972-1987, and any other photographs of life in college for Homerton College's Archive.

I would like to thank past College members very much for the photographs they have sent me this year.

Rosemary Boaz, Archivist (rmb55@cam.ac.uk)

News by Decades News of individuals that have been received since the last issue of Roll News. We are always delighted to hear your news, whether you’re in the running for a Nobel Prize or enjoying a well earned retirement.

The news is ordered by year of arrival at Homerton.

1930s Margaret Kent (née Barry) 1937-39 I should be happy to hear from Mildred Lipman (1937-39) if she’s still around.

1940s Anne Haworth (née Marriott) 1940-42 I was pleased to see a picture of Dr Eileen Alexander in the last Homertonian. She taught me Physical Education when I first arrived as a student at Homerton in 1940. Congratulations to her! I have th just celebrated my 90 birthday and I still greatly appreciate my college training long ago.

Margaret Stevenson 1943-45 I am always pleased to receive and read the Homerton Roll News. Fortunately, I am still in contact with a few former students from my years.

As I am not very mobile I cannot travel far but my good friend Margaret Campbell-Smith (née Greenhalgh) came north to see me last year. I also keep in touch with one of the students from Sierra Leone, Revd Mrs Alice Fitzjohn (née Cole). At present she is living in the USA with a daughter, Amelia. Alice leads a full and useful life and I have enjoyed and valued her friendship over many years.

In 1944 she stayed with my parents during the Easter vacation with Florence Thomas (née Davies), also from Freetown. Later when Alice’s husband, William, became High Commissioner for Sierra Leone, Alice invited me to stay in the Embassy. It was a pleasure and a privilege to meet friends and her family (of seven!) there. To take a son to the dentist we went in the official car, driven by a chauffeur! Happy memories, thanks to Homerton.

Freda Lee (née Alton) 1944-46 We celebrated our 60th Wedding Anniversary on August 2nd 2012. As our family were all on holiday in different places in August we are taking them away for the Weekend in October. There will be twenty-four of us including our six month old twin great grandchildren - a boy and a girl. We are still busy with all our folk activities and our Sheffield choir which keeps us active with events throughout the year, culminating in our Christmas Concert in Sheffield Cathedral.

Mavis Smith (née Roberts) 1947-49 In September 2012 years 1947-1949 celebrated sixty-five years since we arrived at College in September 1947. We have had some good gatherings over many years - recent ones mainly of the 'do you remember' variety and just being happy to see how Homerton has grown and developed.

18

Homerton Roll News, 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----Was our era the best I wonder? So many of our years are now finding that we must slow down and may not have another 'special' reunion - or what about a seventy year meeting in 2017? With remembrance of all friends and staff members.

Brenda Buchanan (née Wade) 1948-50 My interest in historical research continues and July saw the publication of an article in the Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research. It concerns Charles Palmer (1777-1851) who was a solider, politician, vineyard owner and theatre proprietor. On his way home to Bath after the Peninsular War, he bought a vineyard in Bordeaux which was soon producing fine Claret for the London clubs. Still known as Chateaux Palmer, it continues to flourish.

My interest in the subject developed after I was approached by a French writer, following up a contribution to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography I had made on Charles and his father John Palmer.

Coral Harrow (née Hemsley) 1949-51 The years are going too quickly for me and old age is causing problems! This year my mobility has slowed up and I'm having to use a walking stick. I gave up being Chair of Governors after ten years as a school governor. It was an interesting job but at times rather frustrating with the changes in local government rules and policies... and changing Ofsted stipulations. However we've been greatly entertained by our three youngest grandchildren.

Rosie & Ruby, both now four years old, have started at primary school this term (Rosie's mother Marietta was at Homerton from 1980-84). They love it but get very tired by the end of the day.

I was extremely sorry that my "second year" Mary Gadsby (1948-50) died in July. We had been friends for many years and I used to visit her whenever I came to the Cambridge area. Sadly also this September was the first College Reunion when there was no one else from my year also attending.

Fortunately Brenda Buchanan (Wade 1948-50) was there too and was great company. On the Saturday we were entertained by a wonderful impromptu group of four musicians... mainly singing in madrigal style.

Sylvia Saul (née Ward) 1949-51 Geoff and I press on with our usual activities although rather more slowly nowadays! No family at Homerton now, but a couple of young friends, so College news creeps out via a sort of ‘Grandma mafia’! Our own extended family keeps in touch with a wider world from academia (Professor daughter Jo at Essex University) to marathons, travels in S.E. Asia, and Olympic sailing, to say nothing of various careers. We share the sadness of Brenda

Underwood (Cole 1947-1949) at the recent loss of husband Roy, much loved by all.

Earlier in the year I enjoyed a Jubilee Tea at K.C.C’s Valence School (physical and allied disabilities) where I taught before our marriage. I rejoiced at the changes and improvements of the past sixty years and the opportunities now available to the young people - the happy, relaxed atmosphere is unchanged!

1950s Ann Leah Jones (née Isaac) 1950-52 I have lived in Australia since 1958 in Sydney, Perth and Melbourne. Married to Emeritus Professor Trevor Alan Jones (Kings as a postgrad) who died in April 2012.

I have four children- two sons and two daughtersand four grandchildren. Returned to the UK many times and still in contact with Shirley Phillips (now in Melbourne).

Juliet Dyer (née Cheadle) 1951-53 Now nearly eighty years old, I’ve had to give up my clay work because my back can no longer stand the stress. However, over the years, I’ve loved teaching all ages from infants to OAPs – latterly running many classes from home. This has been most successful.

My pupils have become life-long friends – I have shown my work in London, Bath and Bristol. Now I am in decline. Happily, my husband (from Christ’s College) is still with me and our two children are doing well. Our son works for English Heritage in Cambridge and our daughter works in Africa with Oxfam associates. Our eldest grand-daughter has just gone up to Newnham this year, so the tradition carries on.

Pam Lewis (née Walker) 1951-53 After nearly two years of caring for my husband continually, with the great help of friends, I was able to spend Christmas 2011 in Hong Kong to attend my son’s wedding to Angela, a beautiful Chinese girl.

There were Chinese ceremonies with her father in her home and then in my hotel room. She looked lovely in her red Chinese wedding dress and red and gold head dress.

After lunch in my hotel we went to St Andrew’s church in Kowloom for the wedding service, followed by conversation, drinks, snacks and photographs in the church garden. Then we went to the Aberdeen Boat Club where Kevin and Angela work and where we boarded a small cruiser for their reception. We travelled round the coast of Hong Kong island where the lights on shore sparkled and were reflected in the water. We landed in Central where crowds were 19

Homerton Roll News, 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----gathering to celebrate the coming of the New Year, 2012 and commandeered a fleet of taxis to take us to ‘Mes Amis’, a bar cum restaurant where we celebrated yet again and welcomed the New Year with music, ballroom, toasts and dancing. A long and joyous day that will remain with me forever.

Shirley Haslam (née Jefferies) 1952-54 My eldest grandson is about to teach - this is a fifth generation!

Norma Blamey (née Kelly) 1953-55 Married Roger Blamey (Downing College) in 1959.

Have three children: Eleanor (1963) who has had three daughters, Sarah (1964) who has had two daughters and Edmund who has had one daughter.

Hope to reinstate my painting activity which has been on hold because of my husband’s illness. He is on the road to recovery from brain surgery. Love the reunion: there are so many kind, friendly people, it makes me realise why we all enjoyed our time here so much and it goes on!

Patricia Green (née Filer) 1953-55 I have had a long and varied teaching career, including posts in Bristol, Berkhamsted, Vietnam and Chester.

I have been fortunate enough to be able to serve as a Magistrate on the Chester Bench for nearly thirty years, at the same time as teaching in Further Education. Walking the Inca Trail in June 2011 was quite an achievement, given that I was the oldest girl on the Trail, at least for the four days when I was there!

News of Homerton Friends: I met Mary Seckleman, Mercer at College, just after Christmas this year while in London. We hadn't met, but had kept in touch, since we left Homerton fifty-six years ago. We recognised each other immediately! She is very well and like me, has had a long career in teaching.

Diane Bilson (née English) 1954-56 Enjoying retirement!

Patricia Clarke (née Aclen) 1957- 59 Now living in Toronto Canada and have four children and eight grandchildren. I volunteered with VSOVoluntary Service Overseas- for two years in Yulin China when I was sixty. Was in charge of one of the Boarding Houses from 2000-2004 at Winchester College, Winchester, Hampshire with sixty-eight teenage boys and twenty-five staff.

general and my husband in particular, that my teaching days were over; I was going to be a fulltime mum! Probably not what the taxpayers, who’d paid for my training, or my tutors would have wanted to hear! However, one’s youthful pronouncements have a habit of coming back to haunt one and mine were no exception! Six years and three children later, with a two year old in tow, I found myself running a large playgroup five mornings a week in the local Community Centre. The playgroup had been threatened with closure, as the leader was emigrating and local parents persuaded me that it was no more than my civic duty to take it on! From there it was but a small step to returning to the classroom, albeit in a part-time capacity, as a “remedial teacher”. I’d discovered that I positively enjoyed the juggling necessary to balance home and work. However, there was a lot of soul-searching when the part-time post ended and I had to choose between a full-time job or no job at all. Luckily, I was blessed with healthy children and a supportive husband which made life, as a class teacher in a large primary school, much easier than it might have been. Although I’d trained as a Junior teacher, my time running a pre-school playgroup opened my eyes to the delights of the under-sevens and, after a year, I asked to transfer to the Infant department.

This caused some consternation to the school caretaker, who thought I’d blotted my copy book and was being demoted!

Eventually, after a brief period as the deputy head to a man who made the headship role seem deceptively easy, I decided that I’d apply for a headship myself. Halfway through the interview I vowed that, if I wasn’t successful, I would never apply for anything again but, to my amazement, I was offered the post and found myself the head teacher - designate of an infant school with one hundred and fifty pupils and six teaching staff!

I quickly discovered that being a head is not quite as easy as it sometimes looks from the other side of the staffroom door but, nevertheless, the next eleven years were some of the happiest and most fulfilling of my career. During that time the school acquired a purpose-built nursery department and almost doubled in size. It became one of the few Grant Maintained infant schools which brought added responsibilities, which I relished.

For the last sixteen years I’ve been actively involved with our local Fashion Museum both as a trustee and as the display co-ordinator. The classroom organisational and display skills, learnt so long ago at Homerton, are still very much in evidence!

Isobel Gilpin (née Michael) 1958-60 In 1963, after three years of teaching since leaving Homerton, I cashed in my pension contributions, bought a pram and announced, to the world in 20

Homerton Roll News, 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------

1960s

- member of a choral society - musical director at local Anglican church

Margaret Christine Barrow (née Donson) 1962-65 At a time when most sensible people were taking their well-earned retirement, I entered Westcott House Cambridge to train for ordination in the Church of England. I found returning to studies and writing essays surprisingly enjoyable, but being in college just after 7am every day for Morning Prayer was a bit of a challenge! Since completing my studies there and being ordained, I have served as Assistant Curate at St Andrew's Church Girton.

Erica Burt (née Robertson) 1962-65 I am separated and living in Stamford. I have two children, Hannah and James, both married and each with two children. They live in Beverley and Leamington. The creative juices are being kept alive – I have just completed some large mosaic panels at my granddaughter's school. Enjoy making cut letter cards for special occasions - births, marriages etc.

In touch with Lynn Dothie, Hilary Moss, Jean Wightman, Jacqueline Taylor, Valerie Pollock and Vivienne(Offer) as well as others through Lynn's annual reunions.

Lynn Dowson (née Dothie) 1962-65 I have three children and four grandchildren and am interested in arts lectures, walking, reading and foreign travel.

I am in touch with many of the year Group and we meet up annually.

Valerie Thompson (née Pollock) 1962-65 Sing with London Chorus, retired as accompanist for choirs, master classes and soloists. Composer (Ave Verum sung at Sunday service at Westminster Abbey). Part of Requiem sung twice in London concerts. Book, I am the author of 'The Hidden Triangle' about a house and interests in France published about 2006. Silversmith and jeweller for six years in the nineties. Granny to four little ones and still travelling all over the globe.

- married thirty-six years with three children in their thirties, two of whom are teachers!

Avril Growcott (née Kemp) 1967- 71 We moved to France in September 2011 and have so far not been disappointed. The Brenne is a little known area (except to birdwatchers) in the centre of France with over two thousand lakes with abundant wildlife. We have seen both birds and mammals that we have never seen before. Our house (formally a coaching inn) has history going back more than three centuries and parts of the cellars are medieval.

We are getting plenty of exercise with gardening, vegetable growing, walking every week with a local group and swimming. Our many visitors, including Homertonians, and Skype help keep us in touch and even our new baby grand-daughter has been here twice already!

Anne Martin (née Sparrowe) 1968-72 Am still teaching as an instrumental teacher in three schools, recorder up to Grade 8 and conducting the London Recorder Orchestra and other amateur recorder groups. Have had quite a few arrangements and compositions published recently.

I am also still on the General Synod of the Church of England. No plans to retire. Our daughter is married and living in Edinburgh, where we have a small second home.

1970s Hilary Cairns (née Wright) 1970-74 After teaching from Manchester to Mexico, Rugby to rural Essex, I am now beginning to think about retirement! I have two daughters, who are both very much into their careers in London. I still play a lot of tennis, and also have an interest in archaeology.

I am looking for a publisher/agent for my new book ‘From Source to Sea’, the complete book about the River Dordogne - anyone out there?

After many years of Christmas letters with my good friend Judith (Lacey) saying "we must meet up", we finally managed to do so recently as we both volunteered for the Olympics. This has spurred me on to try to contact other "lost" friends.

Judith Queripel (née Naldrett) 1966-70 Retired in July 2009 after more than thirty-five years teaching and twenty-one years in Special Education as a music specialist and deputy headteacher.

Judith Knowles (née Lacey) 1970-73 I am enjoying my retirement walking, doing pilates, line dancing, singing and was a Games Maker (volunteer) at the Olympics, which was very exciting!

- writer of published songs and musicals for children with learning disabilities and children of primary school age.

- violinist in a symphony orchestra

Denise Moore (née Ryan) 1972-75 Married Paul Moore 1976. Two children, Christopher and Rebecca. Now divorced and living with partner, James. Chris working in London and 21

Homerton Roll News, 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----Becky in Cardiff. I am presently Head of Drama at Rougemont School. Have worked in Nottingham, London, Bangkok and now Newport!

Deborah Walker 1972-76 Have lived in Belgium since 1981, will be returning to the UK in 2013.

Sarah Maxwell 1973-77 After eight years of part time study, I was thrilled to be awarded my PhD this year.

Jane Deborah Shepard 1974-75 Was a mature student whilst at Homerton. Have enjoyed teaching Sociology and Politics A Level (only) in Cambridge and Huntingdon and am still teaching English using CELTA/DELTA qualification.

Jane Gray 1975-78 My news is that I took early retirement in April (as early as possible) and my feet have not touched the ground since! I have travelled to France and had a long holiday in USA visiting friends and family in Virginia, New Jersey and on Cape Cod. Have done lots of decorating, cleared out huge piles of teaching materials I no longer need, work in the local Oxfam bookshop once a week, have started to learn Italian and am now supply teaching.

Arlene Pryce (née Jones) 1975-79 After leaving Homerton, Arlene taught briefly at Hitchin Girls School and then returned to Wales where she taught in a range of Secondary schools for twenty-eight years in a range of roles as head of department and later as pastoral head of years 9-11.

Forever indebted to Peter Raby, as Head of Drama, she directed thirty school productions, many of them to audiences of over eight hundred each night.

Arlene also toured many of these productions to schools in the United States, where she kept in close contact with friends from Cambridge college days.

Since entering teacher education in Cardiff School of Education, she has led the training of five cohorts of PGCE Secondary English students and many more Humanities undergraduate students in English and Drama. She is external examiner for PGCE English teacher education at Anglia Ruskin University and has examined for a range of assessment organisations beginning with the Cambridge Examinations Syndicate in 1979. She has worked as a consultant to United States educational training organisations for many years and is currently interested in the establishment of the Schools for the Future Program in Massachusetts. She is also proactive in a range of Literacy Projects in Wales and in her free time is still immersed in theatre.

Arlene has two daughters and a stepson. Her husband is a post graduate fine artist from Chelsea School of Art Design who grew up in Baldock and so also has close links with Cambridge. They visit often as a family and in a professional capacity." As soon as the bulbs push through in the Spring, my instincts lead me to a train - so we can return to Cambridge..."

Arlene keeps in touch with Caroline Spain who also joined Homerton in 1975 and Sue Swaffield via links to the Cambridge LfL network. Her next- door neighbour in Brecon, Amanda Renwick is coincidentally also a Homertonian and is a dear friend and valued colleague, as Head of the Department of Professional Development at Cardiff School of Education.

Angela Margaret Wimbush (née Nayler) 1977-81 Angela is now Assistant Head, Wakefield Girls' High School, Junior School.

Alison Knights (née Greenough) 1979-83 After nearly half a century as an Essex blonde I have now moved to Cambridgeshire! I’m still working as a primary music specialist in Herts and Essex and have the great joy of teaching two of my three grandchildren. I am very happily re-married after losing Carmine in 1995 and have been able to wear big hats at two of my children’s weddings! Life is good!

Dr Anthony Mills 1979-83 Recent early retirement and move from Cambridge to Penzance. Now embarking on making a second career out of my art photography hobby.

1980s Sarah Bird 1981-1982 I am still loving teaching English and now as an Assistant Head, developing teaching and learning at my school. I have two boys and am married. I have a busy life but enjoy living in Dorset and now facing the challenges of a seventeen year old learning to drive and applying for University! I have kept in contact with some of our English and Drama PGCE group but would love to hear from people who were at Homerton at that time. It was visiting Universities for our son’s application which made me contact Homerton again and wonder what had happened to us all. We were a great group.

My career has really followed a path with responsibilities in English then whole school always working with new teaching and learning ideas. I run inset and have done this in different authorities. I am still fascinated by how children learn and 22

Homerton Roll News, 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----remember John Murrell, Tony Crowe and John Robertson with great affection. I was sad to read Tony Crowe died but remember being part of that innovative interview process in 1981 – when it was very hard to get a job in secondary teaching but with Homerton I found I was lucky and got my first job quite quickly.

Deborah Dismore (née Muir) 1985-89 I am very happily married with three wonderful boys, the eldest of whom hopes to come to study in Cambridge next year. I still enjoy badminton when I have the time.

James Thomson 1987-94 I celebrated my twenty-five years in this year which was faintly alarming. I’m still actively involved in the college as a member of the Roll Committee and editor of this publication as well as occasionally turning up at dinners and other social events of varying levels of salubriousness. I work for Pearson Education developing a digital publishing strategy for the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean, am Vice Chair of Governors at the local primary school and coach my son’s under 9s rugby team, while also occasionally contributing to football magazine When Saturday Comes. All this means that I’ve now given up playing cricket, but I’ve turned my attention (rather sadly) to collecting copies of Wisden and am a member of MCC. Jenni French (née Eyre) 1988-92 After eighteen years together, Martyn and I finally married in Sri Lanka in 2007. We’ve never had children, but in March 2011 took on Master Patch, an eight week old red/white border collie puppy.

Have enjoyed many holidays abroad and now spend holidays touring UK and Europe in our motor home.

Still enjoying amateur dramatics, playing a zebra in ‘Just So’ the musical in January 2012. Still find time to work full-time, though, and thoroughly enjoy the variety of being a teaching deputy.

I see Alastair Hume who, as well as teaching at a local Middle School, is the Musical Director for the amateur dramatics I belong to, as well as many other local societies.

Sarah Lewis (née Laidle) 1988-92 During the last twenty years I have worked as a KS2 and 3 teacher teaching the National Curriculum in the UK, Cairo, Kuwait, Uganda, Portugal, Sri Lanka and Dubai. I am starting a new job here in Dubai in August, working for a GEMS primary school, teaching Year 6. My husband has had three international primary headships and has just qualified as an inspector with PENTA - he is looking for an inspection job if anyone is interested out there! He's the best there is!

1990s David Cooksey 1990-92 Due to become Deputy Head (Secondary), New English School, Amman, Jordan in August 2012.

Claire Mullin (née Duckers) 1990-94 Two children - Nathan and Annabel Helen Price 1990-91 I became a Headteacher in September 2011 and am currently finishing my M.Ed in Educational Leadership and School Improvement 'next door' at the Faculty.

Ruth Eastham 1991-95 My debut novel, The Memory Cage, has been shortlisted for the 2012 UK Literacy Association Book Awards and my second book, The Messenger Bird, is just out.

Lots more details about my writing are on my website: www.rutheastham.com Anne Maguire 1996-97 I moved back to Northern Ireland two years ago having lived in Asia for several years. I am currently writing a book on…teaching! I intend to dedicate my book to one of my former tutors at Homerton, Mr Barry Jones.

Peter Fisher 1997-98 Deputy Head, Beechwood Sacred Heart; Two boys Josiah (four) and Tobias (three)

2000s Christopher and Rachel Axten-Higgs 1999-02 , 2001-04 Rachel and I have recently moved to Street, in Somerset. In November 2011 Rachel gave birth to our first child, Feya Eliza Axten-Higgs. I have recently been promoted to the position of Deputy Headteacher at Puriton Primary School, Bridgwater, which I will be starting in September 2012.

Donna Carol Gerry 2001-2004 Just returned to UK after living in Holland for five years.

Sarah Percival (née Adams) 2001-04 My husband John is ordained to be curate at the end of June. We are moving to Eastbourne to serve at All Souls church with our children. By November we will have a four year old, two year old and new born 23

Homerton Roll News, 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----baby. It’s amazing how helpful the education Tripos is for parenting!

(Sabine) Kornelia Hathaway 2002-05 Founded UK Clinical Research Facilities Network Education & Training Group in 2008.

Chaired UKCRF Network Education Group 200820012 Publication of the UKCRF Network Education Groups “Induction Framework for Clinical Research Staff-2011” (Chaired and led this project at national level).

Lucy Turner-Yeates (née Turner) 2002-05 th I married Matthew Yeates on 17 September 2011 in Fordham, Cambridgeshire. Other Homertonians who attended the wedding were Victoria Stone, Lyn Thurston, Clare Cooke (née Verney), Jennifer (Kate) Wilson and Gemma Titchener.

played in 2006. Joanne was a member of the CU Opera Society whilst in College.

Deaths The following are former Homerton students whose deaths have been reported to the Keeper of the Roll since the publication of the Newsletter in November 2011.

Betty Barford 1934-36 Betty’s niece notified us that Betty sadly died on 4th July 2012

__________ Margaret Bragg (née Thomas) known as Peggy 1963-66 We are sorry to say that we were notified of the death of Peggy on 25th Jan 2012.

__________ Gregor Riddell 2003-06 Musician - Gregor is a cellist with The Solstice String Quartet who made their debut in 2009 and have performed at Wigmore Hall, Purcell Rooms and other locations. The Quartet, who met while studying at Cambridge, currently hold the Richard Carne Chamber Music Fellowship at Trinity College of Music. Other members are Jamie Campbell, Helena Nicholls and Meghan Cassidy. More information can be found at http://www.solsticestringquartet.com/ Susana Velez-Castrillon 2003-04 I have finished my PhD in management at the University of Houston. I will be graduating on May 12, 2012. I am now an Assistant Professor of Management at the University of West Georgia.

Anna O’Grady 2004-07 Stand up comedian and actress, Anna was a member of Footlights and the ADC Theatre whilst in College.

Paul Anthony Bushell 2007-08 Paul’s father Tony contacted us with the tragic news that Paul died suddenly on 30th July 2012.

__________ Constance Catteau (née White) 1942-44 Constance’s partner has informed us of the sad news of her death in April 2012.

__________ Marjorie Patricia Corless (née Stephen) 1954-56

__________ Barbara Deans 1948-50 Barbara’s brother has sadly informed us of her death in May 2012.

__________ Diana Dallyn (née Pritchard) 1961-64.

Diana’s husband informed us of the sad news that she died at the end of October 2011.

__________

Jill Pollock 2005-08 I have been admitted as a Solicitor of the Courts of th England and Wales and am currently writing the 4 edition of Gringras: The Laws of the Internet (Bloomsbury, 2013).

Marjorie Rose Darby 1933-35 Marjorie’s solicitors informed us that sadly she st passed away on 21 January 2012.

Di Wu 2005-08 Now working as an Auditor with Deloitte in London.

Mary Patricia Florence Gadsby 1948-50 Coral Harrow writes:

Joanne Songi 2007-10 Actress and Opera Singer who performed in Turn of the Screw at Glyndebourne Festival Opera Summer 2011 reviving the role of Flora that was originally

__________

I have heard from Mrs Doreen Gadsby, the sister-inlaw of Mary Gadsby, to tell me that Mary died of pneumonia on Thursday 9th August. Sadly she had been suffering from dementia for some years, but was being very kindly looked after in Paxton Hall in St Neots. I think you know that Johnny and I have 24

Homerton Roll News, 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----always gone over to visit her whenever we come up to Cambridge. She was my very kind "2nd Year" who looked after me when I first came to Homerton.

She was usually rather quiet & retiring, but I believe her last teaching job was as Deputy at a school in Wimbledon.

Mary’s brother Fred Gadsby writes: Mary was a school teacher all her life, over 40 years, attaining Assistant Headmistress. When she lived in Godmanchester she did some voluntary work at a school teaching some children to read. Mary, together with Ruth Pearson, was an exchange teacher to Vancouver, Canada, in about 1960. Later they were exchange teachers to New Zealand, one in the North Island and one in the South.

__________ Elizabeth Mary Horry (née Burkinshaw) 1953-55 We are sorry to report that Mary died on 26th September 2011.

__________ Jane Last (née Cook) 1954-56 We are sorry to say that Jane’s daughter informed us that Jane died in February 2012.

__________ Dr Marjorie Dawn Lewcock (née de Fraine) 197882 Beloved wife of John and mother of Caroline and Peter, died peacefully in Princess of Wales hospital Ely, on Thursday 27th October 2011.

__________ Winifred Matthews (née Coe) 1934-36 Winifred’s daughter, Vivien Ainley, wrote to inform us of the death of her mother in July 2011. She notes that “My mother’s memories of Cambridge, where she met my father, were always sunny and ever-youthful.”

__________ Kathleen Josephine (Jose) Morgan (née Hall) 1948-50 Jose’s daughter Kate Morgan notified us of the sad news of her mother’s death on 7th August 2011.

__________ The Rev’d Canon Audrey May Palmer (née Legg) 1955-57 Coral Harrow, the Branch Secretary of the Wessex Branch, has informed us of the sad news that Audrey died on 26th December 2011.

__________ Phillida Gabrielle Prosser (née Francis) 19581960

We are sad to report that Phillida’s daughter, Alison, informed us of her death on 16th September 2011.

__________ Vivienne Refoy (née Fazey) 1946-48 Vivienne’s husband, Major Gerald Refoy, passed on th the sad news that she died on 14 December 2011.

Her son, Gavin Refoy, writes: Teaching was literally in her blood coming from a family of teachers. She was truly dedicated to her profession and gave all of herself to ensure that every child made the most of their potential. Much loved by her pupils, many continued to write to her expressing their gratitude and keeping her updated as to their progress, long after leaving her care.

Whether it was on board a troop ship bound for Singapore and Malaya giving impromptu lessons or whilst stationed in Munster, Germany where she liaised closely with the army schools or during twenty-five years of devoted service in a rural primary school in the Cotswolds, her passion for teaching shone through.

A remarkable teacher, wife and mother, she is greatly missed.

__________ Dora Saint (née Shafe) 1931-33 Dora, who died on 5th April 2012, aged ninety-eight, found fame under the pen name of Miss Read. Her career is covered in more detail elsewhere in the After Homerton section of Roll News.

__________ Janet Elizabeth Smith (née Figures) 1956-58 Gillian Figures, Janet’s sister in law, contacted us th with the sad news that Janet died on 5 September 2011 in Bolton.

At Homerton Janet specialised in Music and PE. She led the College orchestra and played the violin in CUMS 2nd Orchestra. She was a keen hockey player, and played regularly for the college.

She was brought up a Congregationalist and while she was a student at Homerton she was a member of Cong. Soc. and attended Emmanuel Church. Her social life was mainly within that group together with those Homertonians who were also Congregationalists. The society had a great formative influence on them all in Bible study, attendance at worship and being hosted by church members on Sunday afternoons.

After a year at the Royal Academy of Music in London she returned home to Bolton to teach. For the last fifteen years of her career she was head of strings for Bolton Music Services and taught in thirteen schools in the Horwich area.

25

Homerton Roll News, 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----Janet’s main leisure activity was making music. She led the Bolton Chamber Orchestra for many years and latterly enjoyed playing the viola in the Bolton Symphony Orchestra. Apart from music-making her many interests included archery, calligraphy, cooking, several forms of needlework, and painstakingly decorating cakes for special occasions.

Janet had a strong sense of the importance of family and her support to younger and older generations was generously given. Her considerable organising abilities were responsible for many memorable family celebrations and other occasions.

Janet did everything with enthusiasm and attention to detail and her kindness and practical support endeared her to all. She is greatly missed by all her family and friends.

__________ Katherine Townson 1930-32 Kathie’s nephew contacted the College earlier this year, prior to her 100th Birthday on 29th July. The family wished to organise a framed photograph of her matriculation year group, and were assisted by Rosemary Boaz, College Archivist. Kathie had an enjoyable pre-birthday party at her nursing home on the 28th, followed the next day by her real birthday, surrounded by twenty-four close relatives, including nephews and nieces, three great nephews and nieces and a sister-in-law. Sadly Kathie had a fall not long after and never fully recovered. She died on 24th September.

__________ Mark Whittaker 1991-92

__________

26

1894

2012

Cover photographs taken at the Homerton Roll Family Day held on 24 June 2012.