RSMA Newsletter September 2017

rsma newsletter

newsletter of the retired senior members’ association of homerton college, cambridge september 2017

a Dewey for the 21stc.? meeting the Pope my extra career farewells to John and to Frances … and so much more …

a word from the editor

RSMA committee: chair: Peter Warner secretary: Trish Maude

Dear Readers, I had heard of how dangerous it can be to miss a meeting as there is always the possibility that the absentee may find they have a role that they had not exactly volunteered for. So when Peter Raby sent me an email four days after the last RSMA AGM starting with the words: “Dear Libby, I gather from Philip you are taking over as editor – good luck! Here is …”, I knew I was that absentee.

membership secretary: Anne Thwaites acting treasurer: Stephen Grounds

Nearly one year on all I can say is that I have the utmost admiration for the amazing job that Philip and Patti (Rundall) have quietly been doing for many, many years. They truly deserve our sincere gratitude for all their hard work and creativity in establishing the newsletter. In addition I need to say a big, personal thank you for all their help during this year – as computer, or rather software, drives the publication it should come as no surprise that the passing of the stylus has not been problem free.

events and visits coordinator: Carol Bennett almonry: Judy Barham

I hope you will enjoy reading the eclectic mix of articles. Christine Doddington presents a pressing educational debate in light of the times we are living in; Janet Scott writes about her visit to the Vatican and meeting the Pope, and we hear how Barbara Pointon is bringing order to Malcolm’s ‘unusual’ filing system to openly share his music for others to relish. There are several personal accounts of individual hobbies: music making; park running; painting; the Northumberland countryside (these latter two forming a northern theme) and John Gray’s account of being an Extra.

newsletter editor: Libby Jared

In keeping with the times, there is some ‘fakery’ in this newsletter. There never was any ‘Extra’ interview – it is all John’s work and so much the better for that!

A big thank you to all the contributors and to Anne Thwaites for her editorial assistance.

Happy Reading …

Libby

Cover photo: “We think we know who we are, but who is this?”: RSMs: Ian Morrison, Carole Bennett, Anne Thwaites, Libby Jared, Muriel Cordell (seated), John Axon and Trish Maude attempting to put names to faces from archived photographs.

CONTENTS

Chairman’s Letter Peter Warner

3

Being an Extra – my second career John Gray 9-10

Remembering Professor John Murrell, MBE

Principal’s Message Geoff Ward

4

Wimpole Runners Anne Thwaites

Remembering Frances Turner

10-11

14-16 17

Becoming educated … Do we need a Dewey for the 21st Century?

Christine Doddington 5-6

An American Odyssey: the Swannanoa Gathering Philip Rundall 11-13

RSMA Roundup: The RSMA year Carole Bennett

Meeting the Pope Janet Scott

6-7

Northern Light Richard Light

13

Emeritus Choir Patricia Cooper

18

A spider caught in the Web Barbara Pointon

7-8

Reflections from Northumberland Judith Hammond

14

Book Club Stephen Grounds

19

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18&20

Chairman’s Letter

S

Peter Warner

etting aside the John Murrell celebration event, this year the Committee has been moderately busy. Inclusivity and process have been our main concern, both at the level of general membership and with the composition of the Committee. It was pointed out at the last AGM that, like an ageing church community, we have a recruitment problem! As the employment cycle rises and falls in the College, so this impacts on the number of new members joining our happy band. We have trawled back to make contact with significant Homerton staff members who moved overseas, with some success. We have also established a new process of ‘inviting’ members to join with help from the Principal’s Personal Assistant. So far so good, but the long term problem does not entirely go away while the current Senior Members, Fellows and Heads of Departments remain relatively young and are certain to have long working careers into their seventies.

However, in the very long term the prospects are good in that the College is greatly expanded as the fellowship rises to over a hundred or more.

We had an unpleasant surprise when we asked College Council to update our standing list of ‘entitlements’ for RSMs. The College Bursar rounded on the issue of parking rights. Expansion has put a squeeze on this precious and highly contentions commodity. Not only are there more Fellows with cars and ever larger conferences, the additional graduate accommodation on site has not brought any additional parking spaces.

And graduates of course are allowed to have cars in Cambridge. This temporary embarrassment has been surmounted by the usual collegiate discussion and compromise. When we have one of our coffee mornings the Head Porter allows us to circulate the

number code for the car park in advance – assuming there is no massive conference that has beaten us to it.

A small set-back for us, but the success of the College is more important, and the Bursar must have her priorities. Eventually we got our list of remaining entitlements accepted by Council.

Recently we had some discussion about the composition of the Committee. Basically there are jobs that have to be done: register of members, taking the minutes, our finances, newsletter, the programme of events and lectures, not to mention our almonary function. Frankly, the more officers we have the merrier and less onerous the individual tasks. Pluralism is not to be encouraged either in work or in retirement!

However, our current constitution is quite restrictive in terms of the number of officers we can have. So at the AGM we may have a lively discussion about how many officers we should have or how flexible we can be in our interpretation of the current rules.

It was a great pleasure to invite RSMs to Warner’s Farm for the summer garden party on 30th June. We knew that not many would make the journey as we are some twenty miles out of Cambridge, and there was a ghastly moment when we thought nobody was going to come. Then to our great relief five intrepid souls appeared and we had a joyous time over lunch by the pool. Discussion ranged from American Presidents (of course), to gardens, quail’s eggs and the Caribbean.

There were some good reminiscences of long departed Homerton staff, but apart from that the College did not feature in our conversation; John Murrell’s ‘ching fund’ would not therefore have benefitted much. Oh how he would have enjoyed that day and how we missed him!

RSMA Summer Garden Party at Warner’s Farm 30th June 2017

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Principal’s Message

T

his time last year I wrote for the RSMs’ Newsletter about one of those ‘eureka’ moments when the unexpected comes together to the benefit of the College and without preamble: our Research Fellow Dr Beza Agley had just been interviewed on the Today programme for an item linking Homerton, AstraZeneca and the explosive growth of Biomedical Science in South Cambridge (where we are of course the only college). This year that growth remains explosive, has if anything gained in momentum, and continues to benefit us. However this year’s highlights seem less serendipitous and more the result of long and careful planning coming to fruition.

Professorial Fellow of the College, Mary Dixon-Woods, has been putting Homerton on the map and appearing just about everywhere else including BBC Television News.

Professor Dixon-Woods will be Director of the Improvement Research Institute, dedicated to sharing best practice around, and thereby helping to save, the NHS. I cannot conceive of a more worthwhile project with which to be associated as a college, or one which is more in keeping with our traditions, and mission to serve society’s needs. I am delighted to say that Homerton is to be the sole partner college on this exciting project, which will last ten years, bring NHS employees and academics from around the UK to the College and the Biomedical Campus, and which will receive £40 million funding from the Health Foundation. New ancillary research projects are bound to flow from this major investment, raising the profile of Homerton and its South Cambridge partners yet further.

There have been many successes this year. Our undergraduate Finalists did us proud last summer, with just under one in three attaining a First or a Distinction. I began by alluding to long and careful preparation that brings good results in the end, and this is certainly true for our hardworking students.

©

In this unfolding situation where Medical and Biomedical Science are once more reinforcing the position of Cambridge University as the best in Europe, if not the world, it is important that as a College we do not neglect the excellent work that is done here in the Arts and Social Sciences. It has been pleasing to see (or rather hear) Music at Homerton scale new heights. Last summer I accompanied the Charter Choir to New York City, where they embarked on their first tour of the East Coast of the USA. The Charter Choir sang in the major Episcopalian churches on Manhattan, as well as in Boston and at Yale University. One event where they sang and I spoke, hosted by the University’s partner organisation Cambridge in America, drew a massive crowd to the Yale Club in midtown Manhattan – and in fact it was and remains the best-attended event that CAM have hosted.

Ligeti Quartet, our quartet in residence, who by the time you read this will have performed a concert of music by the late Peter Maxwell Davies, an Honorary Fellow of the College. While Sir Peter is, sadly, no longer with us, we are honoured to have elected four new Honorary Fellows in the last year. Meg Rosoff is a prize-winning novelist, who gave our annual Philippa Pearce Lecture on Children’s Literature not long ago. Dame Evelyn Glennie, named Companion of Honour in January this year, is the world’s pre-eminent solo percussionist and inspirational role model for young women and the deaf in particular. Sir David Harrison will be well known to many readers of this column, as he played a crucial role in leading the transition of Homerton from Teacher Training College to the gaining of the Charter in 2010.

Finally Dame Sally Davies is Chief Medical Officer for England. I am honoured and express gratitude on behalf of the College that such eminent individuals wish to have their names associated with ours.

Feilden Fowles

Professor Geoff Ward PhD FRSA

In addition to a growing reputation for choral music, Homerton now has a Composer-In-Residence, Dr John Hopkins, and is for one more year the base for the rsma newsletter september 2017 page 4

Another process which necessarily took a long time to reach a conclusion was the Architectural Competition we

held to identify the architects who will build our new Dining Hall and ancillary spaces. One hundred and fifty practices expressed interest. Working with Malcolm Reading Associates, who specialise in such competitions, we whittled that gratifyingly high number down to first twenty-five, then five, and then finally the winner.

Feilden Fowles were Young Architect of the Year a few years ago, and have risen at speed in their professional firmament. We feel confident that they will produce a beautiful and a smoothly functional building, with nods to the Arts and Crafts movement in its deployment of timber and cross-beams inside, and an ethereal and soaring concept for the butterfly-shaped roof. If this doesn’t sound like any of the mock-ups you may have seen in the MAB over Christmas, it’s because Feilden Fowles continued to work on new and improved ideas for their proposal right up to the finish. This willingness to

engage and think flexibly is one of the things we liked most.

Though we expect a beautiful new hall to be open early in 2019, there are absent friends who will not be there to share our pleasure in it. Professor John Murrell OBE was a loyal and stalwart friend to Homerton over many decades. We will all miss his hospitality, enthusiasm, passion for ideas and mischievous humour. I am sure he would have liked to join us in a glass of 1768 Homerton gin, which will be on sale in time for the beginning of our 250th Anniversary year, 2018. We go from strength to strength – I refer to the success of the College, not the potency of our gin – but it takes strong individuals, such as John, to help us. I have named a number of them in this column, but the list is long, and, I am pleased to say, growing.

April 2017

I

Becoming educated in a time of Trump Democracy and Referenda.

Do we need a Dewey for the 21st Century?

Christine Doddington

n May, I was asked to speak on the subject of John Dewey, at a meeting of the Primary Umbrella Group in Birkbeck, University of London. With all the current political activity that was happening at that time I decided to call the talk: “Becoming educated in a time of Trump Democracy and Referenda. Do we need a Dewey for the 21st Century?”

The talk was organized by NAPE (National Association of Primary Education) who facilitates partnership among those concerned and interested in Primary Education. The Primary Umbrella Group is designed to bring together all organisations working in the primary sector including subject associations and unions. I found myself facing a small roomful of attendees including members of the unions such as NUT and NAHT, as well as rather daunting figures such as Melian Mansfield who is the Chair of CASE, the Campaign for State Education.

I sketched my background as teacher, teacher educator and my research, including being an Associate Director of the Cambridge Primary Review, and my role in organizing the Faculty and Homerton based Conference in 2016, that celebrated the Centenary of John Dewey’s ‘Democracy and Education’. The September conference had been very successful with eminent keynote speakers who were leading international scholars from Canada, USA and the Netherlands as well as symposia panelists such as Professor Richard Pring and Melissa Benn. We attracted over 120 delegates with 25 different

nationalities including US, Europe, Africa, India, Japan, Russia, and China. If you are interested, more details of the conference are still available: www.Dewey2016.co.uk I felt the audience would be much more in touch with how policy was affecting schools currently, so I wanted to find ways in which they could share their perspectives in the light of what I was saying about John Dewey.

While I could not begin to do justice to Dewey’s extensive philosophical work in such a short session, I wanted to show how his notion of democracy and his ideas of what constitutes community and inclusion, are carefully interlaced with his ideas on human progress, communication, enquiry and the habits of tradition. I focused on Dewey’s central philosophical idea of what constituted ‘experience’ and gave a brief account that I hoped distinguished his subtle and complex ideas from the crude slogans and misinterpretations that had beset his work during the 60s and 70s.

Experience occurs within distinctive contexts and while a particular situation can be provocative, causing humans to think or enquire, Dewey claimed that the drive comes from within, in the sense that humans have a natural tendency when they encounter a new situation or occurrence to struggle to make it meaningful. He sought then, to distinguish what he called significant experience from the mundane, the rushed, and the chaotic experiences we have in life. Significant experience nourishes us intellectually, aesthetically, and emotionally rsma newsletter september 2017 page 5

and stimulates us both to think and to act. By communicating and expressing our sense of the experience we have, we actually help to encapsulate and form it, and most importantly, find meaning and significance for ourselves. For Dewey, encounters with others and encounters with the traditions of a culture that offered this quality of experience were supremely educational and our children deserved nothing less.

Importantly, wholehearted engagement with others including different cultures pointed the way to rich forms of associated living, which for Dewey, constituted democracy.

Always controversial in the influence he had on education, the present system seems to have drifted far away from the idea of giving children rich, significant experiences in the name of education. I asked everyone present if their perspectives suggested that Dewey’s ideas were long dead and whether they thought his progressive thinking contradicted the expectations embedded in current schooling. I wondered whether they felt there

were still echoes of practices or values that Dewey might recognize in early years or primary schools they were familiar with.

It was no great surprise to me that the consensus seemed to be that, while good practice could still be found in some schools, it was very patchy and the pressures against teachers having the time and the understanding to create rich, educative experiences for children were overwhelming. Even in Early Years Education, where some of Dewey’s influence could still be seen, pressures that mitigated against creating situations and educational experiences in the senses we discussed, had increased.

Sadly, even EY teachers were struggling to give time and space to experiential learning.

I really enjoyed meeting such a varied group who were so committed and involved in Primary Education. Their questions and comments were challenging and we had a thoroughly lively discussion which apparently continued into their agenda for the meeting even after I had left!

Meeting the Pope

L about?

Janet Scott

ast October I met Pope Francis. It was brief, in a short meeting for a group before the general audience on a Wednesday. How did this come

For many years I have been involved in ecumenical matters. I served for fourteen years on the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches. I am still a Trustee to Churches Together in England, and of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. At the same time I have been involved in world Quaker matters, visiting meetings and attending conferences and gatherings. This has given me the background to work on theological issues with the General Secretary of the Friends World Committee for Consultation.

I go with our General Secretary to the annual meeting of the secretaries of Christian World Communions. This is a meeting of about twenty to thirty people, including theological advisors, who meet to share news about what their churches are doing and to discuss concerns which affect them all. David Thompson, who was a Trustee of Homerton, also has regularly attended this meeting and was present in Rome. The most frequent meeting place is Geneva, but when they can they accept invitations to meet in other places. In 2015 the meeting was in London hosted jointly by Quakers and the Salvation Army.

In 2016 we were invited to meet in Rome by the rsma newsletter september 2017 page 6

Pontifical Council for Promoting Church Unity. We met and stayed in a convent guesthouse close by St Peter's square. From the roof terrace we could look over the square and see the crowds. Our days were busy with meetings but we were able to have a private visit to the catacombs under St Peter's.

The meeting with the Pope was timed for 9am. We left the convent at half past eight, accompanied by a cardinal and a bishop, and were escorted through the crowds waiting to be admitted to the square for the general audience, through the gates of the Vatican, past the Swiss Guard, to a private building with an elegant meeting room. Officials made sure that there was a seat for each person. We were in a semicircle facing the chairs for the Pope and his small entourage. It was interesting to see something of how much work and preparation is done behind the scenes so that that the Pope's time is not wasted.

Pope Francis arrived exactly on time, with the cardinal and his interpreter. Our Chair spoke to him in Spanish, about the purpose of the group and about making the ecumenical journey together. The Pope replied in Spanish, with his interpreter speaking English.

Clearly he had some prepared remarks, these were the ones which appeared in the Vatican paper the next day, about what he called the 'ecumenism of blood', that is,

that those who set out to kill Christians do not ask what church they belong to. But before he said this, he paused, put his head in his hands, in what seemed to me a moment of prayer, and began his remarks by referring to the ecumenical journey, and saying, 'Jesus is with us.

Jesus walks with us.'

I know from what I have read that this is a regular theme of what the Pope says but it seemed to me to come fresh, straight from the heart, as the word needed for this occasion. After the speeches the Pope came round and shook everyone's hand and asked us to pray for him. We were not allowed to take in cameras, so a photographer from L'Osservatore Romano walked backwards in front of the Pope, taking lots of pictures. Behind the Pope came a man handing out Papal medallions as mementos; they commemorate the fourth year of the papacy, the Year of Mercy. Then we gathered for a group photograph with the Pope. Next day we were all given copies of one of our own pictures and the group photograph.

The whole thing lasted about twenty minutes, after which the Pope left. He would have had time for another similar meeting in another room before he went to the square. By the time we left the square was full and buzzing with excitement, quite a contrast from the quiet inside the Vatican.

We caught a glimpse of the huge demands made on the Pope, so many people wanting to see and hear him. In it all, he seems to be able to stay humble and prayerful.

A spider caught in the Web

W

Barbara Pointon

e ought to make Malcolm’s music better known, announced Graham (his brother) during Christmas Day’s dinner in 2015. He convinced our motley musical family that we could construct a Website. His son, Keith, is a web designer and our two sons are senior software developers. As for ignorant me, I’ve been wary of the internet ever since confronting my first computer at Homerton. It asked me to type in my name. I duly did. And the computer’s reply? ‘ERROR’!

and poetic settings), Solo piano, Solo instrument with piano accompaniment, Chamber music and ensembles, Choral pieces, Orchestral scores, Jazz, and flagged each piece as being easy, moderately difficult or requiring an accomplished performer. The piles soon covered half of the music room floor, so I migrated with the compositions to the dining room with its larger floor and better table space for sorting. I haven’t been able to host a dinner party since.

Smiling benignly at the family, I promised to find possible scores and recordings, and to write the narratives behind the music. As Malcolm had been very methodical concerning his compositions and tape recordings, (still lining the shelves of two walls in his music room), I thought it would be a relatively straightforward task, probably completed in about six months at most. Think again….

There are nearly five hundred compositions and, luckily, Malcolm’s musical calligraphy was impeccable. Having gone through all the manuscripts, I divided them into separate piles of musical genres, namely: Song (both folk

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Next off was to find the cassette or CD recordings to match the most likely manuscripts. Malcolm stacked up over a thousand cassettes dating from 1960, all carefully numbered and their contents labelled in their cases.

About a hundred of the cassettes contained Malcolm’s music; he had thoughtfully put his ‘logo’ – mjp – in red on them.

recorded in Trumpington House with its excellent piano, an ideal room for chamber music – and for staff summer parties.

So what will the Website provide? We are now working on a ‘Taster’ using some of the chosen pieces and will gradually add more pieces over time. Visitors to the site could just listen to the music or download it; download sheet music for their own performance or multiple copies for school and community groups; use the orchestral and ensemble pieces for dance, drama, or background music for videos or films. Graham has patiently copied all the manuscripts into ‘Sibelius’ which makes the music look exactly like printed scores. It can be transposed up or down if singers find the key too high or too low. Any soloists can extract a recording of just the accompaniment with which to practise.

I was going along splendidly until I found several cassettes where the labels did not match the contents on the tape (familiar?). Some empty cases too. It was frustrating, but then I remembered that just after he retired (1992), he spent hours in his music room “sorting out” his music, including the tapes. Given that this was the onset of his Alzheimer’s, no wonder he became confused, as any kind of sorting or ordering becomes difficult in dementia. Thus began my labour of love – listening to every tape, checking its identity and quality of recording or re-recording after fifty years, if it could be paired up with a manuscript and disgusted to find that my Sony CD player only accepts their brand of CDs. Three or four pieces were chosen for each genre, with different styles, ranging from easy to difficult, and suitable for amateur to professional of any age, including music for schools. There are still a few gaps in the recordings, so I’m now searching for likely performers. Sometimes, surrounded by piles of music and recordings, I feel like a spider caught up in its own web of nostalgia, trying to catch elusive bluebottles.

All is free for non-commercial use, providing that Malcolm’s authorship is acknowledged by the user.

On the bright side, I’m enjoying wallowing in our salad days at Homerton in the Sixties and Seventies. For my first Christmas Gathering in 1963, Malcolm arranged a jazz piano version of Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel for Jill Barstow, a first-year music student with a voice to match her sister’s – Dame Josephine Barstow. She sang it superbly, leaning against the curve in the piano in true club style. The next day, Dame Beryl took me aside to say that jazz was not appropriate for Christmas in a ‘Kembridge’ College. Oops. Several recitals were

But, seriously, we hope to get the Website up and running by autumn and I will let you know when it’s finished.

Martin is ‘digitalising’ all the recordings and photos, Chris is in charge of user-friendly directions, Graham and his partner will record some of the missing piano pieces and songs and Keith is designing the pages – a real family effort. Well… at least it will keep us all out of mischief for a bit.

Just now I’m writing the back stories behind the music.

My sons tell me that most people don’t like reading a lot of words on the screen so I have to compress everything and use more visuals. And I’m having to learn a new language: Web-speak. For me, ‘download’ means taking the supermarket shopping from the car to the kitchen; a tab is my slate in the local pub or washing instructions attached to clothing. A button fastens my cardigan; portals are doors to posh buildings. Twitter is what birds do and port is a harbour or a nice drink with cheese.

Missed the deadline?

Why not write an article for the next RSMA Newsletter? rsma newsletter september 2017 page 8

Being an Extra – my second career

E

John Gray

ditor Libby Jared interviews former Vice Principal John Gray about his experiences as a ‘supporting artist’ (extra) on the set of Grantchester, the murder mystery series currently showing on ITV. Libby Jared: I understand that you last performed on stage some fifty years ago. What prompted your return to the boards?

John Gray: Two things really. The offer was too good to miss. Hobnobbing with ‘real’ actors, free food for the day, and a small but useful fee. Plus peer pressure – there was a period when you couldn’t show your face in Grantchester society unless you were participating.

EJ: You weren’t in the first series. Why was that?

JG: I would have had to seek the permission of both the Vice Chancellor and Homerton’s Governing Body. To be frank, I was reluctant to ask and I don’t think either would have spared me for what they would have seen as a bit of moonlighting!

EJ: What would you say were the highlights of your involvement?

JG: First, my performance in the Christmas special.

Second, my appearance on The One Show. And third, having my photo in a celebrity magazine. All right, I would have preferred to be in Hello, but OK! magazine, I must stress, is a very respectable publication.

EJ: I watched the Christmas special but didn’t spot you.

JG: I’m not altogether surprised – my sister couldn’t spot me either. I featured halfway through walking along the pavement outside Caius; I was wearing a trilby and a brown overcoat and clutching a Christmas parcel under my left arm. James Norton, who plays the Grantchester vicar, was walking with a young girl towards me. At the last moment I stepped off the pavement to let them pass and, for a split second, filled the screen. It’s unfortunate that at no time did they show my face which may explain why friends and relatives have had trouble identifying me.

EJ: Were there any other of your performances you would like to mention?

JG: One in particular. During filming for the second series I was walking along the pavement outside the Senate House. They had created some fake rain and we were getting quite wet. An assistant producer took me aside and asked me to introduce what he termed a

moment of ‘dramatic tension’. James Norton would be walking in the opposite direction making his way through the crowd. When he reached me I was to stop for a moment and then step off the pavement to allow him to pass. (Stepping off the pavement became one of my signature contributions to the filming.) This ‘incident’ was reset (a technical term) half a dozen times before the director was satisfied they had got it right.

EJ: And did it make the final cut?

JG: It’s a long story but sadly no. The writer of the series promised me faithfully it would feature in Episode 5 of the second series. My wife and I watched the programme twice over just to be sure. A problem about having to fit in too many ad breaks apparently. My agent has subsequently suggested that we write something firmer into the next contract about minimum time on screen.

EJ: It sounds a bit frustrating. Were there any other occasions when things didn’t quite go as you expected?

JG: Unfortunately there were. I was involved in a scene on Peas Hill outside the entrance to the Arts Theatre; Jamie’s pizzeria had been turned into a bank and there were a lot of us walking or standing around. After a few takes I was asked by an assistant producer to stand down – apparently there were too many of us in the scene. Then there was the occasion when I and another gent were specially selected for a blizzard scene on Queen’s Lane – quite an opportunity to showcase our talents. We both hung around with our umbrellas waiting for our moment.

After two hours, covered in foul-smelling but very convincing artificial snow, we still hadn’t been called before filming moved on to Mill Lane. And another time I spent an hour in the Blue Ball pub in Grantchester sipping watered down beer before I was asked to go and sit in the back garden – apparently the pub was also too full and my back was ruining the shot! I do understand that the creative process requires some experimentation but it can be a bit demoralising when you put in so much effort.

EJ: Did you meet anyone interesting apart from the stars James Norton and Robson Green?

JG: Quite a few actually. One day I had to walk arm in arm outside the entrance to Great St. Mary’s with a woman who introduced herself as ‘Carol from Stowmarket’. Getting into role I asked her if she thought we were supposed to be a married couple. She replied in the affirmative before adding that I was her third partner that morning! I learnt a lot about the furniture removals business in Ipswich whilst hanging around for the rsma newsletter september 2017 page 9

blizzard scene that didn’t happen. And, on another occasion, I got talking to a woman who was also in a scene outside the Copper Kettle on King’s Parade, which had been turned into a religious outfitters for the day. She was what you might term a full-time extra. She had come up from London and hadn’t got a clue what was going on (although to be frank neither did most of the rest of us).

The previous day she had been involved in a different programme and had been sent home on full pay after a very short day. All she had had to do was lie naked on a stone slab for a couple of hours pretending to be dead!

EJ: Has any of your previous experience as Vice Principal proved useful in your new career?

JG: Quite a bit actually. First, there’s the requirement from time to time to dress up in clothes from a previous era. Then there’s the need to attend events where you don’t have much clue what is going on. And finally, coming to terms with the fact that you will probably have

no idea what your eventual contribution will be to the finished product. In short I felt very well prepared.

EJ: I heard a rumour that you are thinking of retiring from your second career. If there is a fourth series of Grantchester, will you be taking part?

JG: Technically, I am ‘resting between assignments’. A friend, building on his Grantchester experiences, has since taken roles as a storm trooper in yet another Star Wars movie and a part in the remake of Winnie the Pooh.

But there are definitely some downsides – you have to get up ridiculously early; there is a lot of hanging around waiting for something to happen; and, if you are doing a thirteen-hour day, the hourly pay falls well below the minimum wage. The endless ‘resetting’ can also get on your nerves – whilst I have tried to vary my performances, there are only so many ways in which you can inject ‘passion’ into walking the streets of Cambridge. But never say never – it’s amazing what a bit of stardust can do for your self-esteem!

Wimpole Runners

S

Anne Thwaites

wimming has been my thing from a very young age right through to adulthood. However I never ran – so when I hit the first step of retirement and felt in need of a physical challenge, I resolved I would try to run. Our local school gym offers membership to the community and I found this an unthreatening and very inclusive place to start using a treadmill. I gradually built up from a few hundred metres to doing 2 or even 3k. In the summer of 2015, I ventured outside – the commons near the river in Cambridge are close. I felt I could risk being seen!

By last spring (2016), I was thinking that I needed something to keep me going and hopefully improve. I spotted the Introduction to Running course on the National Trust Wimpole Estate website and wondered if I might manage to cope. With some trepidation, I went to the start of the summer course – was I too old, could I cope at all? Why did I worry? Everyone was welcoming, Beth and Mark (as course leaders) were incredibly reassuring and supportive. That was the start and once I discovered that others were in exactly the same situation as I was, I felt relieved. And that was one of the pluses, sometimes I could talk while I ran and that companionship has been crucial to keep going. Some of the others were going to the cafe and, relatively early on, one of the other new people suggested that we have a

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coffee. That was it – the trip to the cafe is now an integral part of the run.

This running group was set up by the National Trust Sport Development Programme – a partnership between the National Trust and Sport England. The programme trains volunteers to lead the group of people wanting to start, or return to, running. At Wimpole it began about three years ago with a small number of participants; currently there are about 40 people coming each week of the course and there are now four leaders. One thing that has become clear is that people come for a huge range of reasons – people with younger families wanting to do something for themselves, some recovering from illness

(both physical and mental), others simply wanting to enjoy the fabulous countryside at Wimpole – but each is gaining a huge amount. One mark of the success of the group is the number of people who stay.

As part of the running group, we were encouraged to prepare for a parkrun. Parkrun is an amazing organisation, run by volunteers who organise a weekly 5k run at different places throughout the world. It is free to take part, you simply turn up at 9am on any Saturday and after a short briefing off you all go. The range of ages and abilities is huge but everyone is welcomed and encouraged particularly by the volunteer marshalls around the course. The Wimpole Estate is home to one of these events and it is the most glorious place to run – varied landscape, the house, the lake, the folly and one horribly, steep hill.

In the summer (2016), I did my first parkrun – what a buzz! There were other Wimpolers there and again the

R

group support was part of that rush. Finding that I could get round the 5k – OK I walked 'the hill' and a couple of other parts – gave me such a sense of achievement.

Having all the results available brought out my competitive streak: where was I in my age group, could I better my personal best and what targets should I set? I go up an age group in 2017, need I say more. Later in the year, I arrived one Saturday and to my surprise found my 'old' colleague and friend Cathy Smith in the car two along – she and I ran together for most of that morning's run, what a treat.

Now I go out on my own, relishing that I can go at any time of day, and head off on lots of different circular routes near the river – a whole new world is opening up and I am doing it for myself. But all of this has only come about because of the support of the group (we call ourselves the Wimpole runners) and its brilliant leaders.

There is no direct pressure, just encouragement and celebration of achievement, what could be better.

An American Odyssey: the Swannanoa Gathering

Philip Rundall

eaders of past issues of the RSMA newsletters will have become aware of my mandolin adventures over the Atlantic ocean. You may recall that my first experience of a US music camp was the 12th (and final) Mandolin Symposium, held at Santa Cruz in California. It was headed by David Grisman and Mike Marshall, (Mike is the person with me in the picture above), both giants on the American acoustic string music scene. This was an inspiring experience and I was left wanting more. Many American players often speak of the Swannanoa Gathering with great enthusiasm, so I began to find out more about it.

Essentially, the Swannanoa Gathering, held at Warren Wilson College, near Asheville in North Carolina, each year offers folk arts workshops under the headings: Traditional Song Week, Celtic Week, Old-Time Music and Dance week, Guitar Week, Contemporary Folk Week and Mandolin, Banjo and Fiddle Week. Another reason for going was that my ArtistWorks guitar teacher, Bryan Sutton, happened to be brought up in Asheville. So I signed up for the Mandolin, Banjo and Fiddle Week (31 July - 6 August 2016).

I arrived in Asheville on a very warm Saturday 29th July.

The following day I made my way to Warren Wilson College which is set in a lovely rural landscape with the Blue Ridge Mountains as a backdrop. The college is the only liberal arts college in the US with a national student

body and an integrated work and service programme. As well as their academic work, students take part in running the college farm, work in the dining hall and other jobs connected with the campus. The college fosters a strong belief in caring for the environment and I found it an exhilarating place to be with its impressive values. The college itself is small with, I think, around 800 students.

The attractive buildings are set among trees on a hillside.

There are informal gardens, a lake and other places to sit quietly, away from people, if one so wishes. The entire estate is made up of many acres, with walking trails, none of which I had time to explore given the packed timetable. Arriving just before lunch I went straight to the dining hall and was impressed by the range of food on offer. As a non-meat eater I was struck, during the week, by how many fellow students and instructors avoided meat. When I mentioned this to someone, he laughed and replied, "sign up for a similar course in Texas and it would be a different story!"

Sunday was a day for relaxation with people arriving, settling into rooms and sitting under the various 'jamming' gazebos, where we began to play in earnest in an informal atmosphere. In the evening there was a 'welcome' event held in an open-sided performance building. This included the various instructors who had already arrived, playing music in various combinations.

All this took place during a torrential downpour with

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lightening flashing around the circular structure. It was the most dramatic evening of music I've ever attended!

In terms of classes I preferred my experience at Swannanoa over the discrete one-off sessions of the Mandolin Symposium. At Swannanoa, I attended one class per day with Mike Marshall and two per day with Emory Lester, a player I have long admired. I could have signed up for four a day but I felt that three would leave me exhausted, never mind four! This meant that I had a sequence of five sessions with Mike and ten with Emory.

It allowed for continuity and development to take place over the week and everyone got to know each other well.

The quality of the teaching was excellent. The other factor that I felt made Swannanoa so special was the range of musical instruments being played. In addition to the ones already mentioned, there were also some guitar and double bass players. As well as the classes and jam sessions, we had daily rehearsals with the band we were assigned to, preparing a single piece for the student concert on the final night. In addition to all this there were three fantastic evening concerts featuring all the instructors. There also was a dance evening. Given that all this took place during the presidential election, it was interesting that not a single person I met was a Trump supporter.

Backstage with Jerry (left) and Bryan (centre)

One of the biggest and most unexpected pleasures was to meet Bryan Sutton's father and mother, Jerry and Carol.

Their grand daughter was one of the two young fiddle players in the student band I played with and they were acting as chaperones throughout the week. I spent quite a bit of time with Jerry and liked him enormously. He is a very fine guitar player and he recommended that I buy tickets for the final concert of the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, held at the Diana Wortham Theatre in Asheville. It's the oldest such festival in the US, and the show took place on the Saturday night, after I'd left Warren Wilson College. What made it so special was that both Jerry and Bryan were performing (Bryan playing solo). I was sitting before the show in the second row chatting with all the friendly folk around me, when Jerry suddenly rushes in and tells me go back with him so that I could have a chat with Bryan. It was so nice to meet up with him again, back stage. Patti had arrived from London just as the show was close to ending. We headed off to our attractive B&B, run by a nice yoga teacher. Her rsma newsletter september 2017 page 12

yoga hall was a large space within her attractive home.

We spent a couple of days in Asheville. We hired a car and made our way up the Blue Ridge Parkway, said to be one of the finest scenic routes in the US. It was indeed a wonderful route to follow with many fine views but also some non-views when up in the mist and clouds. Driving was a great pleasure with next to no traffic.

We eventually arrived in Virginia, the landscape changing with alp-like meadows and white board farms with their attractive traditional barns. We were struck by how spread out properties were. We passed through Bedford, a name we were drawn to as both Patti and I have connections with Bedford, back home. The greatest number of US troops killed from a single town on D-Day came from Bedford. We next went to Appomatox Courthouse where Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. This was a most moving experience. Having read a good deal about the Civil War, it was quite something to be visiting Virginia for the first time. Now we were down from the mountains, the heat was intense.

We kept moving and by 7pm we arrived at the home of our friend and former Homerton colleague, Patrick Heffernan. Patrick now lives on the banks of the Corrotoman River (eastern branch), a branch of the Rappahannock River. The nearest small towns are Weems and Kilmarnock. Sadly Karin, Patrick's dear wife, passed away on New Year's Day 2016, so being with Patrick and his three sons at this time was a moving and special experience.

Due to the very hot weather we ended up not going to Jamestown as originally planned. We spent some time in the nearby 18th century Christ Church that was built by the original owner of the Corotoman Plantation. The latter was one of the largest and most significant plantations during the US war with Great Britain that began in 1812. Up to around 5,000 slaves escaped to British ships during this war and Patrick has being doing some excellent research at the research centre attached to the church, a building of great importance in US history.

With Patrick and his son Tim we visited Richmond and enjoyed lunch followed by a visit to its splendid art museum. After supper one evening, all the 'guys' leapt into the warm waters of the river. It was one of the best

swims of my life, the sun slowly setting with pink clouds radiating like ribbons against the darkening blue sky.

It was a great pleasure being with Patrick again and one of the things that struck me during our five days together was his affection for Homerton and the UK. He still listens to the BBC everyday. Each day we found time to play music together, Patrick on his keyboard and me on my mandolin.

Leaving Patrick’s we drove north, stopping first at Stratford Hall where Robert E. Lee was born. We stayed overnight in Fredericksburg, famous for being at the centre of major Civil War battles. It's a very attractive town, much of it having been restored after the devastation caused by the Union troops crossing the river and passing through the town only to be driven back by the Confederates at The Sunken Road, which has its visitors' centre close by. Seeing the site of this battle was very moving. Again, the heat stopped us from doing all we wished to do, but our final destination was to see the small farm office, now standing all alone in the middle of a field, where Gen. 'Stonewall' Jackson died. He was

accidentally shot by a rebel soldier at Chancellorsville which resulted in an arm being amputated. Eight days later he died of complications from pneumonia.

In Washington we met up with a friend and colleague of Patti's, Larry Cohen, who heads The Prevention Institute in San Francisco. We had a nice meal in a lovely old hotel called The Tabard, apparently a place where past US Presidents used to meet their lovers. Despite the heat we really enjoyed the city. The museums and galleries are superb. We visited Ford's Theatre and the room across the street where Lincoln died. We walked to the Lincoln Memorial and we stared at the White House where, in August, the notion that Trump might end up in it was inconceivable. In all we spent three days in Washington.

I left Swannanoa determined to return in 2017 but with the change in exchange rate and having spent some money on a couple more instruments, I attended a UK equivalent called Sore Fingers over the Easter week instead. It's housed in a Cotswold boarding school near Chipping Norton. Perhaps I'll write about this next year!

Northern Light

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Richard Light

was very pleased to be invited to join Homerton RSM as I have many happy memories of Homerton. I taught in the mathematics department at Homerton from ’78 to ’89. For me Homerton felt progressive, full of stimulating ideas, great colleagues and encouraged cooperation across subject boundaries which I valued because I have always enjoyed and practiced both Maths and Art. When I retired from teaching in Cumbria I joined Green Door Studios in Kendal where I live. It is an artists cooperative and I have been an active member ever since.

I have often used ideas from mathematics, most recently

in making geometric sculptures. Situating these sculptures in the Lake District landscape I paint them, mainly using watercolour.

In the spirit of ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ I have put a few pictures below to give you an idea of the landscape here and what can be ‘seen’ when looking at it with ‘maths/art’ eyes. When not painting the hills I walk them, revisiting many times when Philip Rundall, Bob Hall and myself would drive the Homerton Climbing Club up here for weekends walking, climbing.....and occasionally getting very wet.

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Reflections from Northumberland

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Judith Hammond

feel almost apologetic to say I enjoyed John Murrell’s recent memorial event – it was wonderful seeing so many friends from the past.

My move to Northumberland took place four years ago.

Miserable years without my John, (whenever the other John is mentioned I feel the need to identify which John), but being miserable wasn’t going to change the situation.

So I kept the promise to myself of not taking major decisions close to John’s death and then moved to Northumberland just under four years later. The main reason was our two daughters and their wonderful families live here. (How did two girls born, schooled, University and back to Cambridge then end up in a small village in Northumberland? – but perhaps that is another story).

This is a wonderful county – so very beautiful and full of castles and moors and spectacular scenery. I live 5 miles from Bamburgh Castle where the beach is really great and for me reminiscence of north Norfolk beaches without the rock pools The sky at night is almost unbelievable. When I first saw it I was immediately transported back to being a Girl Guide. It gave me enormous joy to think of those times (patrol leader for

The Robins, laying and following tracks in the woods, star watching, camping and endless other things). I doubt I ever told our Guide Captain how much I got out of all these activities that meant so much to that shy girl, sorry....... The folk here are very friendly, as was Cambridge. Perhaps it is because I spent so much time in the Homerton community that I found Cambridge a friendly place, but I think it was more than that.

So my reflections are just that or perhaps they are ‘Rambling on in the North East’.

Professor John Murrell, MBE

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12th December 1933 – 3rd August 2016

ohn Murrell died at home on August 3rd, 2016. John was born in Rugby on December 12th, 1933. His mother Annie Murrell, a domestic servant, died in childbirth and he was raised by his maternal grandmother Martha Frances Rock, also a domestic servant, until he left Rugby for his National Service as a pilot in the Royal Air Force. After this, he trained as a teacher at the College of St. Mark and St. John which at that time, to his delight, was in the Kings Road, Chelsea. Decades later, in 2013, John was granted an honorary degree by the university of St. Mark and St. John for his outstanding contribution to education. rsma newsletter september 2017 page 14

He met the love of his life, Anne Prees in London, and they married in 1960 and soon had two children, Rick and Laura. Anne had finished her schooling at the age of 14 to live with her parents in Liberia, Africa, but with John’s support went on to achieve her O and A levels, followed by a degree and MA, a career in teaching, as a headmistress and finally finishing her career as an HMI Schools Inspector.

Whilst teaching mathematics full-time in a variety of secondary schools, he also studied in the evenings for a degree in Psychology at Birkbeck College, London.

In September 1968 he joined the Education Department at Homerton College, Cambridge, where he taught psychology and research methods, progressing to Principal Lecturer in 1975, and in 1976 he became the Director of Postgraduate Studies, with responsibility for the training programmes of both secondary and primary postgraduate students. He was highly respected and warmly regarded by his students, on both the postgraduate and B.Ed programmes.

John was intensely loyal towards Homerton, and valued its long history as one of the country’s leading teacher training institutions, remaining there until his retirement in 2004. He was adamant that the contributions of everyone who worked there should be recognized and respected, always encouraging interaction across all levels of staff and students; always persuasively, often using his own special, cheeky and rebellious streak to find innovative and fun ways to bring about his aims. In the 1980s, after many formal college dinners at the top table, John established the ‘Bottom Table Club’ to mix staff, students and other guests for after dinner ‘entertainment and conviviality’. The club became a much-sought-after invitation for many years and created friendships for John and Anne that have lasted a lifetime.

He also set up a college golf competition, open to all staff, and donated a small trophy which has been passed on year to year. He loved golf, playing regularly with other staff at the Gogs, where he recorded a hole in one in 1988 – an achievement that delighted him, apart from the fact that it helped to reduce his handicap.

Since the early 1970s he was involved in the design and teaching of a wide range of training courses, both local and national, for members of the legal, medical and nursing professions. His publications include a book (coedited with Hazel Allen) on Nurse Training (1978), the Tribunals Training Handbook (2005), and numerous articles and research papers on teaching and his research specialist topic, the assessment of professional competence. John’s main interest and talent lay in putting into practice what he knew about helping individuals to develop, and applying this well beyond the field of education, into the wider world of work and community.

For twenty-one years John directed an Advanced Diploma course on training methods and professional development for Justices’ Clerks and Legal Advisors – a course recognised as an essential qualification for those involved in the training of Magistrates in England and Wales. He was a member of the Lord Chancellor’s Office Working Party which was the first to introduce appraisal into the Magistracy and, together with a legal colleague, designed, directed and taught the first national course on selection procedures for members of the Advisory Committees responsible for selecting Justices of the Peace. He also designed and directed a course for judges on the use of small group work in legal training.

He was the Educational Consultant to the Nightingale School of Nursing at St. Thomas’ Hospital, London, and was involved in the King’s Fund Project 2000, which changed the role of trainee nurses to that of student, as he strongly believed in the importance of encouraging and supporting development for all levels of staff. For three

years he was a Training Advisor to the General Medical Board and for a decade chaired the Nurse Education Committee of Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge.

In 1992 he was very proud to be appointed the first ever George Peabody Professor of Education and Human Development at Homerton College; a personal Chair created jointly with George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. His pioneering work with Vanderbilt’s Department of Human and Organizational Development, which included setting up an internship programme for American undergraduates and graduates to live, work and study in Cambridge, played a key role in making this the University’s largest undergraduate programme.

From 1992 until 2003 John was also a member of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Regional Council, and from 1996 to 1998 he was consultant to the Industrial Society’s 2020 Vision Project Advisory Council.

In the Honours List of 2004 he was awarded an MBE for services to higher education and he was thrilled to receive his honour from Her Majesty the Queen, with his proud wife, sister and daughter in tow. In 2010 he was elected to an Emeritus Fellowship of Homerton College and he was a very active and committed member of the college’s Retired Senior Members Association, including several years as Chair.

The Murrells have lived in the same house in central Cambridge since the 1970s, and developed lasting friendships with several people working locally, from visiting professors to local restauranteurs. John loved to ‘wander round the corner’ to chat and ‘put the world to rights’ with his friends in the paper shop, the farm shop, the charity shop and the local bakery. Through the nearby Arts Theatre many performers have come to stay for the duration of their Cambridge run. Over the years many of these have become firm friends, and John enjoyed recounting watching a well-known actress scaling the high gates late one night, having forgotten that she could simply push the side gate open. Their home’s proximity to Downing College also led to John and Anne enjoying dining rights at the college along with invitations to the Fellows’ wine tasting club, where again, more friendships blossomed. rsma newsletter september 2017 page 15

John remained active and sociable after retirement. He maintained his close contact with Homerton by regularly dining in hall, singing in the Emeritus choir, and as a member of a monthly book club – but most of all through his many lasting friendships formed over the years with staff and students, including past interns living in the States. He was a warm, clever, funny and sociable man who loved people from all walks of life and had a wonderful way of developing and maintaining friendships.

Through his Peabody Professorship, John’s links and friendships with Americans were an important part of his life, and in his final years he was working on a book about the historical links between Cambridge and the USA. On hearing of his cancer, four separate former

students made trips from the States especially to see him, and he was overwhelmed by the number of cards, emails and phone messages he received from friends ‘across the pond’. In addition, he was always greatly interested in politics and society, and regularly had his letters published in the Times Letters Page, often in the soughtafter bottom right hand corner. He also loved to travel, to fly fish, to watch the birds from his conservatory, and to spend time with family and friends.

Homerton paid tribute the day after John died – by flying the flag at half-mast, a very touching tribute much appreciated by his family. There will be a celebration of John’s life in College on Sunday, March 26th 2017.

Anne Murrell, the family, and Peter Raby

March 26th 2017: A Celebration of John’s Life

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his year was dominated by the untimely loss of Professor John Murrell, my predecessor as Chair of the RSMA. We celebrated his life in a major event at Homerton on 26th March 2017. More than 200 people attended and we saw old friends and colleagues of John drawn back to Homerton after many years.

John teaching Psychology to PGCE students at Homerton College c.1980

It was so difficult to represent in the space of two hours all the many different aspects of John’s life, but we managed to include most of them. Professor Geoff Ward, our current Principal introduced the event and welcomed back many former students and staff. Maureen Mangnall spoke brilliantly on behalf of the family illustrated by projected images of John that Anne had collected from all stages of his life. She was followed by Dr Kate Pretty, (Principal 1991-2013), who reflected on his extraordinary contribution to College life. Dr Peter Raby, who had written John’s obituary with him, added some entertaining anecdotes, particularly his passion for golf and fishing.

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Bob Innes represented Vanderbilt University and John’s long-standing work for them over the ‘pond’ that had resulted in his title of ‘Professor’. Homerton Jazz Band provided background music that would have satisfied another of his passions. His former students, with whom he always maintained enduring friendship, were well represented. The actress Sherry Baines, spoke as a former PGCE student, a course which John had directed for many years. Edward Boydell, now a QC, remembered the Bottom Table Club in his days as an undergraduate and how John had made young male students feel welcome in an otherwise all-female college. Bill Dod, recalled his experience as a ‘Blaggard’ with many other stories about John’s fishing expeditions, not to mention his work with the training of Magistrates Clerks, for which in part he was honoured with an MBE for services to Education.

Nor was it possible to read out all the contributions made by those unable to attend, so many starting, ‘My beloved Professor... ’ Throughout this celebration of John’s life we all felt the great warmth of his friendship expressed in so many different ways. At the end, there was time for guests to mingle and share reminiscences on the contribution John had made to our individual lives and careers. A significant sum of money was also raised and pledged for Student Hardship, and particularly for mature students at Homerton. Sadly, we will not see his like again.

Peter Warner

Some of the RSMs at the Celebration: Kathleen Brown & Rex Watson; Margaret Whitehead & Alison Wood

Frances Turner

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1928 – 2017

rances Weddell was born in Tillicoutry, a small town east of Stirling. Early in her life the family moved to Trowbridge in Wiltshire where her father, Beaumont Weddell, continued to work in the textile industry.

An ancestor of hers, one James Weddell , an intrepid Scottish sailor, discovered the Weddell Sea in 1823 and named it after George IV. In 1900 it was renamed in Weddell’s honour. Frances had every reason to be secretly proud of this fact. She obviously inherited something of his spirit and courage.

As a child of eleven at the outbreak of the Second World War and during the height of the blitz, she went to Selkirk in the Scottish Borders to stay with her grandparents.

Soon after the end of the war she lived with a French family as part of her studies. She saw at first hand the devastation and hardship the country was suffering and this must have had a bearing on her future attitude to world problems.

Frances lectured at Homerton College from 1966 to 1984.

To her students in the French Department, ‘Ma’mselle’, as she was affectionately known, was an inspiring and encouraging teacher: nurturing, self-giving and as one student described her, ‘generous in hospitality’ and ‘motherly’ too.

Frances and her husband Philip delighted in entertaining at their home, Cedar Cottage in Cabbage Moor. Their beloved boat ‘Morning Mist’ hosted many gentle excursions on the river out of Ely. The Visitors’ Book records every one of the hundreds of guests who came aboard who included past and present students, overseas students, colleagues and their many friends from all over the world: happy memories. As one student said, “There was always good food, good conversation, music and laughter.”

Her nephew, Dr. Ian Lyall, recalled how Frances “used to billow into their lives….with happiness, music and what can only be described as ‘joie de vivre’. She never walked – she skipped! She was always game for a challenge, she made friends instantly – often for life – and would be the first to offer help if it was required.”

Frances had a deep spiritual faith and a strong inner spirit. She was a regular churchgoer and attended St. Andrew’s Church in Histon after she moved to her

retirement flat in Windmill Grange. The Vicar described her as ‘a vicar’s dream’ because, true to form, she joined everything wholeheartedly, including the weekly meeting of the young mothers. She lived a life of continual growth and always gave generously of her time and commitment.

She loved life and she loved people.

Her flat at Windmill Grange reflected her wide interests and her outgoing nature: full of books, photographs, pictures, letters by the score and always, her beloved cello. She enjoyed having visitors and remembered everyone, keeping in touch with her many friends by telephone and correspondence. She described her years at her retirement home as some of the happiest of her life.

When life in the flat became too difficult and she required nursing care, her nephew, Ian, who had always faithfully visited her, arranged for her to move to Hilton Care Home in Bottisham where she spent her last few months, ever appreciative and mentally active, still cherishing visits from friends and Retired Senior Members.

Frances served as Secretary on the Foundation Committee of the Retired Senior Members’ Association (RSMs), founded by David Male in the mid -1970s. She remained a faithful member throughout, keenly interested in all its activities, including hosting ‘ Gatherings’ at her home.

‘Bon courage’ was a favourite wish to parting guests.

Frances had an abundance of that quality.

Think of Frances and you remember her radiant smile, her soft voice, her generosity of spirit and the warmth of her personality.

She will live on in the memories of all who knew her.

Compiled by Patricia Cooper with acknowledgements to Dr Ian Lyall, Keith Heywood, Trish Maude, Muriel Cordell and former students for their contributions.

Postscript: The sharp-eyed observer may espy a sundial beside the path to the main door of Homerton. It was designed by Frances’ husband, Philip Turner, who was a distinguished engineer in the University Department of Engineering and a clever inventor.

The inscription reads: ‘Time the Destroyer is Time the Preserver’, a quotation from T. S. Eliot’s ‘Four Quartets’.

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RSMA Roundup

The RSMA Year Annual General Meeting This takes place each September and coincides with the Homerton Alumni Weekend. It is an excellent time to catch up with the RSMA news and to share ideas for future get together.

Regular Coffee Mornings These generally take place on the third Friday of each month. We meet at 10.30 in the Combination Room.

On some days we have a visiting speaker and have the opportunity to stay for a college lunch after the meeting. Many members take this opportunity to have their allocated free lunch for the term.

Christmas Gathering This replaces the December Coffee Morning. We enjoy Christmas fayre, carols from the Emeritus Choir and occasional contributions from John Ball, Patricia Cooper or other home grown bards. Details will be circulated later in the year.

Summer Picnic This is the opportunity to bring a picnic and enjoy company at a specially chosen venue. The event replaces the July coffee morning. Details will be announced later in the year.

Group Visits and Visiting Speakers Plans are already afoot to visit local gardens, museums or exhibitions and to invite speakers with particular Homerton or Cambridge links to address our group.

Almonry The RSMA is keen to ensure that members who are unwell or who are experiencing difficulties know the support of their Homerton colleagues. Please do contact Judy Barham if you feel a colleague would benefit from our contact in any way.

Archives RSMs are working with the College archivist, to maintain a photographic record of special events at Homerton. It is important that identification of previous college staff and events is not lost forever!

Newsletter RSMs receive this newsletter in addition to the Homertonian.

Special Interest Groups There are currently two of these, the Emertus Choir and the Book Club. Both always welcome new members and have produced their own separate reports below.

Carole Bennett

Emeritus Choir

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he Emeritus Choir, founded in 2010 by Barbara Pointon and Jane Edden, continues to flourish under the guidance of Sue Pinner, a Homerton Alumna and former student of Barbara P.

We are ever grateful to Barbara and Jane for their inspired leadership and to Sue who nobly took over the baton in January 2016.

We continue to meet regularly during term time and have performed, as customary, at the RSMA Christmas Gathering hosted by Pauline and Godfrey Curtis whose generous hospitality is always greatly appreciated.

We also entertained at Sue’s Special Birthday Celebration Garden Party in July.

Sadly, we have lost two of our most stalwart members: Barry Jones and John Murrell who are sorely missed, not only for their fine voices but for their humour and good fellowship.

Emeritus was honoured to be invited to sing at John’s Memorial at Homerton on 26th March this year. It was a most memorable occasion.

Please join us if you would like to sing with us. We promise you enjoyment. Singing is a tonic!

Patricia Cooper

[The flower that is blooming in the picture at the top of the page is from the rose that Emeritus presented to Barbara – five years on]

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Book Club We are a small group of bibliophiles meeting regularly to share thoughts on selected books. I was asked to contribute a little piece on the Book Club. Anne Murrell has kindly sent me a list of what is probably a complete version of what we have read – in season and

out. Not everyone has read all the books in the list, of course, but I think the list tells its own story in terms of range, epoch and style.

If you would like to join us please get in touch.

Stephen Grounds

The Music Room William Fiennes

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel The Hare With Amber Eyes Edmund De Waal The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald Lucky Jim Kingsley Amis Birdsong Sebastian Faulks The Man in The Wooden Hat Jane Gardam The Heat Of The Day Elizabeth Bowen Black Diamonds: The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty Catherine Bailey One Day David Nicholls Nicholas Nickleby Charles Dickens Unreliable Memoirs Clive James According To Queeney Beryl Bainbridge

Hearts and Minds Rosy Thornton The Uncommon Reader

Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?

James Shapiro Lost Horizon

Alan Bennett Brideshead Revisited

James Hilton Mrs Robinsons Disgrace

Evelyn Waugh The Piano Tuner

Kate Summerscale A Whispered Name

Daniel Mason The Masters

William Brodrick Porterhouse Blue

C.P. Snow Merivel: A Man of His Time

Tom Sharpe Goodbye To All That

Rose Tremain Lost In Translation: A Life in a New Language

Robert Graves Old Filth Jane Gardam

Eva Hoffman The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Burial Rites

Douglas Adams The Missing Shade Of Blue

Hannah Kent Deaf Sentence

Jennie Erdal Regeneration

David Lodge A Week In December

Pat Barker Half of a Yellow Sun

Sebastian Faulkes Silas Marner

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie The Misogynist Piers Paul Read All the Light We Cannot See

George Eliot The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History Boris Johnson For Whom The Bell Tolls

Anthony Doerr His Bloody Project Graeme Macrae Burnet

Ernest Hemingway

rsma newsletter september 2017 page 19

The Emeritus Choir in full voice - with a back and front view of Philip

Dorothy, Carole & Margaret – amazingly colour co-ordinated

Godfrey brings welcomed Mulled Wine as Sue [Pinner] makes her final ‘notes’

Christmas Gathering 14th December 2016 kindly hosted by Pauline & Godfrey Curtis

John & George – two very wise men

RSMA Summer Garden Party at Homerton 15th July 2016 Pimms & Cherries for all …

Pat entertaining us well with her ‘northern’ rendition of ‘The Yorkshire Messiah’ [Anon] (wearing John B’s flat cap)

Babara & Sue - with John the ‘Extra’

… & a ‘thank you Orchid’ for Pauline as out-going Events co-ordinator

Photo credits: Front Page & p.2 Homerton Development Office; p.3 Patti Rundall; p.4 © Feilden Fowles; p.7 Janet Scott; p.7 & p.8 Barbara Pointon; p.10 Anne Thwaites; p.11 & 12 Philip Rundall; p.13 Richard Light; p.14 Judith Hammond; p.15 the Murrell family; p.16 Homerton Archive & Homerton Development Office; p.18 Patricia Cooper; p.20 Christine Holroyd, Libby Jared, Anne Thwaites; Muriel Cordell & Patti Rundall

rsma newsletter september 2017 page 20