ONLine 2016

ONLINE MAGAZINE FOR THE OLD NORTH LONDONERS’ ASSOCIATION | ISSUE 21 | 2016

INSPIRATIONAL WOMEN Peggy Angus Lucy Nganga Eleanor Rathbone Zelda West-Meads 2016 | ONLINE

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PLEASE CONTACT US POSTAL ADDRESS

ONLine, Alumnae and Development Office, Canons, Canons Drive, Edgware HA8 7RJ EMAIL

onla@nlcs.org.uk TELEPHONE

020 8951 6475

EDITORIAL TEAM PRODUCER

Carolina Jayson (ONL 1991), NLCS Alumnae and Development Officer ARTS COLUMNIST

Chloé Nelkin (ONL 2006) ARCHIVES COLUMNIST

Joelaine Fitch (ONL 2006) COVER Ramsay MacDonald with

members of his family by Peggy Angus

Dear Old North Londoner, Our new House Activity Programme, launched just last year, is now fully integrated into the life of the School, with many events in the calendar centred on the Houses such as Sports Day, InterHouse Chess and The Summer Charity Fête – these activities run alongside the existing layer forms, which remain unchanged. The Houses are named after inspirational ONLs, who achieved prominence in a variety of professions.

Through this House system, and together with the photos and stories of ONLs that line the corridors of the buildings here at Canons, we are hoping to excite and inspire the current generation of students through the many remarkable achievements of their predecessors.

Our theme in this issue of ONLine is Inspirational Women; we are very grateful for the thoughtful articles written by ONLs about women whose stories have inspired them in some way. I particularly enjoyed reading about two women, Lucy Nganga, who brought change through sheer determination and courage, to the people of Nakuru, Kenya and Eleanor Rathbone, a truly committed humanitarian.

As all ONLs know, in 1865 Frances Mary Buss, who remains the original inspiration for us all, appeared before the Schools Enquiry Commission (the Taunton Commission) to advocate secondary schooling for girls. It was thanks to her ambition to have ‘girls trained to match their brothers’’, that her pioneering School was founded and has long been seen as a model for girls’ schools across the country and indeed the world. And of course, since the opening of NLCS Jeju in 2011, a North London Collegiate education is 2

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now offered to South Korean boys as well (although boys and girls are taught separately from the ages of 11 to 16 in a ‘diamond’ structure). Meanwhile, other governments in the Middle and Far East are now seeking to offer their young people (boys as well as girls) the quality of education an NLCS student receives.

I know that many of our students and ONLs understand that a North London education is a privilege which brings with it a responsibility to give back to the wider community; I am continually impressed to hear about students and ONLs giving their time and enthusiasm to projects in countries where there is need, whether it be for education, medical care, food, shelter, or even clean water.

At Canons we want to encourage our students to see themselves as the leaders of tomorrow. We are very grateful to those ONLs who take time to help our students and each other, whether through offers of work experience or career advice in order to widen their horizons and be aware of the opportunities for their future working lives.

Finally, my thanks to ONLs across the world, for being a constant inspiration to us here at Canons. We want to develop in the girls at School today the skills, ambition and confidence that you have shown, to follow their own path in life and make the choices that are right for them. Everyone at Canons is conscious of the powerful role models in previous generations, whose stories inspire today’s students to aim high and make a difference to the world in which they live.

With warmest wishes, Bernice McCabe Headmistress

INSPIRATIONAL: A PERSON OR THING THAT INSPIRES. It takes only a short conversation with an ONL for them to mention a teacher from School that inspired them, a role model, or someone who they look up to. I have really enjoyed editing this issue, discovering who some of these amazing women are and learning along the way that we are a varied and eclectic group of women with many different interests and motivations.

What stands out for me is how wide a circle we draw our inspiration from, and it is really exciting to think about what current North Londoners will be inspired by in years to come.

Please do keep in touch with the Alumnae Office with your news, interests and thoughts.

We are keen for ONLs who are not in contact with the School to be brought back into the fold, so please inform us if you know of any. Our theme for the 2017 issue of ONLine will be ONLs around the World and we are always grateful for contributors so feel free to get in touch!

Best wishes,

Holly Levy (née O’Connell, 2003) ONLine Editor

ONLA AWARDS

ONLA Travel Award WRITTEN BY LAUREN O’DONNELL (2010)

This summer I had the opportunity to visit Jamaica with the charity Debate Mate, to teach young people in three deprived communities in Jamaica how to debate.

Debate Mate uses debating as a tool to improve students’ communication skills and build self-confidence. As a Debate Mate mentor, I had been running after-school debate clubs in schools in deprived areas of London prior to the trip. Debate Mate selected mentors for its international summer programme, which reached communities in countries as diverse as Jamaica, Mexico and Nepal.

We started the three-week programme in the inner-city of Jamaica’s vibrant capital, Kingston, in the community of Trench Town. This was where Bob Marley grew up and has high levels of crime and poverty. Despite a lack of facilities in the school here, and blistering heat, the children were very keen to learn and debate. We then spent our second week in the sunny beach town of Ocho Rios at a summer camp for behaviourally challenged youths. It was inspiring to see the transition of the students I coached here, who started off too shy to participate, but became able to deliver extremely articulate speeches consisting of well-reasoned arguments, backed up with evidence and delivered with conviction. We finished the trip with a week in the deprived com-

munity of Flanker, just outside the tourist area of Montego Bay, where we held a summer camp for younger children.

We taught debating through playing games and getting students to share their opinions on topics they felt passionate about, such as banning school homework, disarming the police force, and banning dancehall music.

Each week culminated in a debate competition between the groups, which the students were always extremely keen to do well in.

The UK mentors had the opportunity to work alongside Jamaican Debate Mate mentors. We learnt a lot from each other in and outside the classroom. After class we spent our days enjoying Jamaica’s stunning natural beauty, at beaches and waterfalls, including Dunns River. We then spent our evenings eating ice cream at the infamous Devon House, trying a variety of patties, jerk chicken and plantain, and dancing until the early hours at dancehall and reggae music concerts.

It was also really enjoyable to build relationships with the students and learn about Jamaican culture during our classes. Jamaicans’ happy and relaxed attitude to life is inspiring and something we can all learn from. I look forward to returning to the beautiful island next year and touching base with the Debate Mate team and students again.

ABOVE Lauren O’Donnell

in Jamaica with Debate Mate mentors and students.

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ONLA AWARDS

ONLA Academic Award WRITTEN BY VIDHI DOSHI (2009)

I had wanted to learn Arabic for a long time. After completing a degree in History at Oxford, I started working as a journalist and developed a strong interest in the Middle East and North Africa. Last Christmas, I travelled to the border of Syria to report from a refugee camp for the Guardian. I realised how heavily I was relying on translations from friends and colleagues for my work. I realised that I was missing out on small details of speech and how easily meaning could be lost or changed that way. I knew that if I wanted to build a career working in the Arab world, learning the language was a necessity.

‘Tasharafna!’ (‘Nice to meet you’) And so began my first Arabic lesson at the Bourgiba School of Languages in Tunis.

From 8am every morning, my classmates and I went through a rigorous education in literary Arabic. During the four-week course, we learned basic greetings, how to introduce ourselves and families, some grammar and verbs and some of the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of the Arabic language. My teachers Rida and Hayet taught us how to read and write the Arabic alphabet teaching us to distinguish sounds and alphabets that don’t exist in English.

The ONLA Academic Award helped me immensely. The grant I was given covered the cost of my Arabic course.

During the four-week period, I also got a chance to learn about culture and politics in Tunisia. By the end of the month, I was able to have basic conversations with locals in their own language, and read the script. I worked very hard for our final examinations, which included reading, writing, listening and conversation. At the end of the course, I realised I wanted to keep learning and improve my skills.

In October, I returned to Tunisia, to keep learning the language.

Inshallah (God willing), these early efforts will pay off as I keep working.

Even now, just being able to say some basic words in the language helps me build a relationship with Arabic-speaking interviewees. My time at the Bourgiba School will always be incredibly special to me, and I am so grateful to NLCS for facilitating my education, years after I finished school!

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ONLA Academic Award WRITTEN BY LILIA DIMITROV (2006)

TOP Vidi Doshi at the Bourgiba School of Languages in Tunis.

ABOVE Mural in Harlem

I spent four intensive weeks in the Department of Surgical Oncology at the New York Presbyterian Hospital where I learnt a great deal about the surgical management of breast cancer and melanoma, in addition to gaining an insight into a health service that differs considerably from our much-loved NHS. Highly specialised techniques in breast reconstruction post-mastectomy were carried out daily, as well as procedures such as targeted intra-operative radiotherapy to minimise side effects.

I came into this experience with preconceived ideas regarding the US healthcare system but I was pleasantly surprised to find that most of the patients seen at this prestigious centre received Medicare or Medicaid insurance and thus did not have to pay any out-of-pocket costs towards their care. Undoubtedly, there will be a large number of people who lack insurance or the sufficient cover who never made it to our clinic room in the first place, and I found this particularly challenging to accept.

On a walk around Harlem one Saturday morning, I came across a mural that carried an important public health message.

Worse outcomes in breast cancer are disproportionately represented in ethnic minorities, and this mural, in the middle of a busy shopping square, serves to encourage the local women to participate in selfexamination and screening programmes.

I would like to thank ONLA for their support. I came away with knowledge from the frontier of cancer treatment as well as new surgical skills that I will continue to develop back home.

ONLA AWARDS

ONLA Travel Award WRITTEN BY MIRA DESHMUKH (2009)

In April 2015 I travelled to the rural town of Raichur in Karnataka, India, to participate in a medical project called Lifeline Express (LLE), run by the charity Impact India. LLE is the world’s first hospital on a train and delivers healthcare to the most deprived areas in India via the country’s vast railway network. Equipped with two operating theatres, consultation rooms, dental rooms, offices, a kitchen and staff living quarters, all astoundingly organised to fit into just five train carriages, this medical service provides life-changing aid to thousands each year.

Despite the limited resources, the

system ran flawlessly and with impeccable efficiency with one ophthalmic surgeon completing nearly one hundred cataract operations in one day! I was touched to see a nine-year-old boy beaming with joy when he saw light for the first time after being treated for bilateral congenital cataracts. It was also amazing to watch the lives of entire families being transformed after children underwent corrective surgery for clubfoot and cleft lip – conditions that not only restrict patients physically but are also surrounded by huge social stigma in this part of the world.

Whilst watching the dedicated doctors

LEFT Operating tables on the LLE train BELOW Marine Biological Laboratory

and nurses working tirelessly in the sweltering 40°C temperatures, I felt humbled to think how privileged we are to have world-class healthcare only a short phone call away, even if it does mean a four-hour wait in an A&E waiting room! With all the criticisms of the NHS we hear in the media each day, the time I spent with LLE really helped me to put our problems into perspective. As I start my new job as a Foundation Year 1 doctor, I look back on this trip as a truly inspiring experience and I would like to thank the ONLA team for the kind help and support that went towards it.

ONLA Academic Award WRITTEN BY CLAIRE WU (2009)

I’m currently a PhD student at UCL, researching how information processing in the brain is disrupted in Alzheimer’s disease. Thanks to the financial help of the ONLA Academic Award, I attended the Neural Systems and Behaviour Course at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) this summer - an intensive eight-week course with lectures starting at 9am and lab work often running past midnight. I was able to gain hands-on experience with a huge range of experimental techniques that I would never have had the opportunity to try at home, ranging from single neuron recordings in the stomatogastric ganglion of the crab, to performing surgeries to record from the brains of fish. It was especially fascinating to see how much we could learn about the general principles of brain function from systems that have extremely specialised functions, such as the electrosensory system in the weakly electric fish, and from animals with ‘simple’ nervous systems like leeches or hydra (a tiny jellyfish-like organism). These newfound skills and knowledge have given me confidence in pursuing my own research as well as opening up many new areas of interest. I also got to go swimming in the sea near the MBL, which is filled with tiny bioluminescent marine organisms – overall a great experience!

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A writer and an academic have delighted Kay Moore WRITTEN BY KAY MOORE, ENGLISH TEACHER AT NLCS 1964-9, 1980-2001

When I was at primary school in the late 1940’s, the War had been won but the peace was austere and demanding: people chose (were encouraged) not to talk about their experiences.

Everything desirable: sweets, butter and even bread was rationed and the ethos was ‘Keep Quiet & Carry On.’ So a schoolgirl might admire someone – Elizabeth I or Florence Nightingale from history perhaps, but ‘Carry On’ was more prevalent than ‘look up’.

But of course books can change everything.

When I was eight or nine I read The Swish of the Curtain by Pamela Brown and was captivated.

It’s the true story of seven stage-struck young people who convert a church into the Blue Door Theatre and put on plays and revues. Its descriptions of painting scenery, designing costumes, writing sketches and dividing parts between the two girls, one blonde, one dark-haired and the boys who could dance or sing or make people laugh enthralled me. Essentially, there was also Maddy, only ten and with stubby yellow plaits like me whose frustration at being too young for key roles I wholly understood.

I read it over twenty times! Four sequels came from the library, written between 1945 and 1951. In 1952, I’ve discovered, Pamela Brown wrote The TV Twins. But we had no television and appearing on it perhaps simply didn’t chime with my daydreams...

Maybe one reason that Swish delighted me so much was that the writer was also very young: she began it at fourteen! Born in Colchester in 1924, she put on plays with her school friends; evacuated to Wales in the War, after starting the book, she sent subsequent chapters back to them in Essex. Most remarkably of all, she found a publisher in 1941.

Her earnings from Swish enabled her to go to RADA and she acted for several years; then she moved to the BBC and worked as a producer on children’s programmes.

The BBC serialised Swish of the Curtains in 1980 and she appeared on Blue Peter with the cast. She wrote 24 novels, writing until she was 60. Five years later she died. Her novels and TV programmes entertained children for decades, I like to think, in the years before Judy Blume and Katniss. I indulged my love of am-dram through university, early motherhood and part-time teaching 6

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TOP Pamela Brown’s Swish of the Curtain ABOVE Sophie Bryant

in 1895

and then, on returning to Canons in the 1980s, got involved in Canons Follies and the new Founder’s Day concert, writing short plays on the topic of that year’s speech. And that is when, burrowing in the Archives, I found two genuinely inspiring women, Miss Buss and Dr. Bryant. Frances Mary’s vision and dedication are more often rehearsed; Sophie Bryant was dazzling. She joined NLCS in 1875 as a young widow and brilliant mathematician and was put in charge of the Sixth Form. She was lively, witty and charismatic and encouraged the girls to be more relaxed in class and to relish their learning. Like Miss Buss she had formidable energy and was very fit, having run, climbed and swum as a child in Ireland; she now rode the new-fangled bicycle, loved mountain walking, and twice climbed the Matterhorn. She detested corsets, urging girls not to wear them: she set up a tug-of-war in the gym at Sandall Road, 16 corseted v 16 Free, which gratifyingly proved her point. She rode her bike round the same gym to encourage girls to take up cycling. She wrote and spoke in favour of votes for women, she called herself a ‘suffragist’ because she disliked violence and started a Debating Society at school, tackling women’s suffrage and Home Rule, another subject she felt strongly about.

She went on studying: in 1881 she was one of the first two women to get a London BSc (both got Firsts) and in 1884, a Doctorate. In her portrait at Canons she is wearing scarlet and gold doctors’ robes; the story is that staff and girls made them for her because no women’s sizes were available.

She gave speeches, wrote pamphlets and many books; the one I enjoyed was a three-volume novel which I read at the British Library before dramatising it for Founder’s Day. It is a wish fulfilment story. The lead character’s young husband has died after only a year of marriage: in the novel the heroine’s fiancé is wrongly banished to New Zealand but comes back, clears his name and they have their happy ending. I found this genuinely moving.

At 68, energy unabated, Sophie Bryant retired, four years later she became lost on a walking holiday near Chamonix and was later found dead.

The London headlines read ‘Great Headmistress...

Missing In The Alps’. She whirls through the archives like a warm, vigorous wind; it’s impossible not to like and admire her.

INSPIRATIONAL WOMEN

‘Change the sign and invert’. Five words that I learnt at the tender age of ten, and which will stay with me for the rest of my life. This, together with the image of the smallest girl in the class being helped into a handstand to explain the meaning of the word ‘invert’, was how we were taught how to divide fractions.

Dorothy Jones from fractions to Judy Blume WRITTEN BY POORVI SMITH (NÉE PATEL, 1991)

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orothy Jones was a teacher at North London from 1972 to 1988 and for many years taught the third form, the equivalent to today’s Year Six. I’m sure she won’t mind me saying that she was a formidable figure – tall and matronly with a piercing glare that would turn even the most pesky third former into an (albeit short-term) little angel.

Those that were lucky enough to be in her form, knew that there was so much more to her than that. She had an incredible ability to put anyone at ease, especially when last minute nerves cropped up just before a performance or when things just weren’t going right with an artwork or, in my case especially, a needlework project. I will always remember her telling me, ‘Don’t worry dear, what’s the worst that can happen? Maybe you won’t be a seamstress when you grow up, is that so bad?’

In an environment where high standards were a given, she would remind us that it was ok not to be perfect all the time.

As with all teachers at School at the time, Mrs Jones seemed to me to be a relatively old lady. We thought she was like a favourite grandmother – one that you looked forward to seeing every day but one that you’d do well not to get on the wrong side of too often. She was kind and fair but could turn thunderous when the need arose, especially when it came to any form of dishonesty. She taught us that whilst doing something naughty could be forgiven, not owning up to it was far worse than the act itself: words that I say to my daughter on a fairly regular basis.

With hindsight, I realise now that Mrs Jones really wasn’t that old when she taught us and I apologise to her, and all my other teachers (who at the time were significantly younger than I am now), for prematurely ageing them so excessively in my mind.

She turned a tactful blind eye to the slightly inappropriate books that were being brought

into School (Judy Blume, for those ONLs of my generation) and being surreptitiously read, shared and sniggered over in the cloakroom, out of sight from any teachers. Or so we thought. She dealt with the topics of adolescence and puberty with the professionalism of a teacher but with the sensitivity and compassion of a parent – no mean feat when discussing delicate matters with 30 10 and 11 year-olds daring each other to ask inappropriate questions to see who could embarrass their teacher the most.

She was understanding of childhood politics – the upset caused when a best friend didn’t want to be best friends any more or when the girl you wanted to sit next to wanted to sit with someone else. She didn’t belittle the worries but instead treated them with kindness and empathy, always finding a solution to what had then seemed like the end of the world.

I had the immense pleasure of meeting Mrs Jones at Founder’s Day two years ago. Now considerably smaller, and a lot less scary if truth be told, she had lost none of her warmth and sparkle. She mentioned a card that I had written to her several months before and commented that despite her considerable efforts all those years ago, I had still not mastered the art of joined-up writing. She was of course, absolutely right.

I am sure that ONLs will describe many of their teachers in a similar sort of way, but Mrs Jones was unique. I used to think of her from time to time, but recently, my eight-year-old daughter has begun learning fractions at school and Mrs Jones is in my thoughts almost every day when there is maths homework to be done. I hear myself saying those very same words that have been with me for the last 30 years, ‘change the sign and invert’. Mrs Jones, you taught me many things, some of which I have sadly forgotten but many of which I will remember forever.

I still can’t sew, or do joined-up handwriting, but thanks to Dorothy Jones, I will always remember how to divide a fraction!

TOP Dorothy Jones with her class photo from 1979 BELOW Dorothy Jones and colleagues in 1990

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INSPIRATIONAL WOMEN

Inspirational: A person or thing that inspires WRITTEN BY HOLLY LEVY (NÉE O’CONNELL, 2003)

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et with the task of writing about an inspirational woman, I admit I thought it was going to be a breeze.

Living in 2016, we are blessed with a plethora of strong, confident women who are setting a marvellous example of ‘leaning in’, ‘checking out’ at the right time, ‘having it all’ – and then some. Women are working their way up the career ladder, breaking into male-dominated industries, founding their own companies, writing blogs alongside full-time jobs, having families, pursuing their dreams and living them, setting trends, pushing boundaries, breaking those glass ceilings and setting/ building higher floors. Today women are breaking with tradition, challenging and satisfying themselves in both their working and personal lives. You only need a cursory search to find a few such names – Natalie Massanet (Net-a-Porter), Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook), Marissa Meyer (Yahoo), Malala Yousafzai (Education Activist), Jessica Ennis (Olympic Heptathlon Champion), Caeli Quinn (Climate Ride), Caroline Lucas (Green Party MP)… You get the picture.

Being a History teacher, I find comfort and inspiration in the past. Particularly because of being an ONL, I am acutely aware of the precedent set by our foremothers in transcending gender stereotypes and forging their own path, whatever it may be; Ada Lovelace, Marie Stopes, Coco Chanel, Rosa Parks and Amelia Earhart to name a few. They exemplify the prized traits of ambition, perseverance and originality – they forced themselves to be taken seriously in their chosen field and can now be considered 8

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to be experts or pioneers. They continue to be role models for women today. To choose one from any of the lists above is too restricting. Typical of a twenty-first century girl, I want a bit of them all.

I turn to my default position to help find inspiration around me – I look to my friends and my family. I am looking for someone who is taken seriously, handles their many jobs simultaneously with grace, wit, style and fierce determination, is confident and creative – a role model in fact. I consider myself to be extremely privileged; I have had the fortune to be taught by some inspirational women in my time at NLCS: Sue Gilbert, Kay Moore, Margaret Davies, and Jennifer Locke. It is by no accident that I continue to have biscuit rotas in my Sixth Form lessons, and I try to show my excitement for History (as hard as it may be sometimes) in my teaching. I was and still am inspired by their enthusiasm, sense of humour, work ethic and legacy.

They taught me to try my best, be persistent and ambitious, to recognise praise and be confident. They made me ready to face challenges and to succeed.

I am blessed with a family full of role models; three sisters, a mother, cousins, sisters-in-law, and a mother-in-law!

In their chosen pursuits, these women inspire others to achieve, they set and lead by example and they are excellent wives, mothers and career women. Unfailingly supportive, they are a network of security, love and encouragement, but they push, test and challenge as well. Families are demanding of one’s time and attention, and in so doing, force us, certainly force

me, to be a better teacher, daughter, sister and friend.

My final ‘go-to’ group of inspiration are my friends. Some of our relationships scarily span decades now; great times and tough ones, and all of the women I hold dear offer a little something to inspire me. Having the confidence to leave secure jobs and ‘go it alone’, forging the tricky path of being one’s own boss, recruiting others whilst having a life outside of their 9 to 5, is really quite a feat and worthy of much praise. Watching my friends survive adversity and emerge stronger, tougher, more demanding and ambitious has also been inspiring – here are some formidable women who are unashamed of their talents and use them unapologetically. The women in my life work hard, play hard and make the most of every day. They are all unbelievably modest and make juggling a career/husband/children and their own lives and jobs look easy. They are taken seriously at work and at home, and inspire me to do the same; they are talented and humble and we as friends encourage, motivate, reassure, console and inspire each other.

Apologies if I have gushed, but in looking for an inspiring woman, I have found many! These women, no matter to what century they belong, believe in themselves and are unapologetic for how competent they are and how much they have to offer.

They have become role models and have built on what other women have achieved to perpetuate a legacy of inspiration. I’m looking forward to seeing who they can inspire next!

INSPIRATIONAL WOMEN

Eleanor Rathbone 1872-1946 an unsung heroine WRITTEN BY JANE WORSNOP (1972)

TOP Eleanor Rathbone speeking in 1943 ABOVE Eleanor

Rathbone circa 1930

I

first heard the name Eleanor Rathbone when I began work for the Department of Health and Social Security. I was asked to conduct an interview to assess the strength of a claim for Family Allowance (the precursor of Child Benefit) by a divorced father. I was mystified but my Supervisor explained that, uniquely, Family Allowance was paid to mothers, thanks to Eleanor Rathbone. I became intrigued.

Eleanor is an unsung heroine of the twentieth century. Born in Liverpool into a wealthy Quaker, merchant family, her father, William, had a strong sense of civic duty and a moral conscience; Eleanor inherited both. She strove always to be useful to others, particularly those less fortunate than herself, regardless of race, gender or religion.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, William was in favour of educating his daughters and Eleanor attended high school and Somerville College. On leaving, she worked with her father, researching social and industrial conditions in Liverpool. Faced with evidence of extreme poverty amongst working class families, Eleanor concluded that poverty had the worst effects on women and children – even when a working man headed the household, there was no guarantee his wages would reach his dependants and, if there was no man, women were unable to earn a sufficient wage to support a family.

Eleanor was clear that there should be equal pay for women and there should be a family benefit, paid to mothers. She began campaigning.

An early campaigner for women’s suffrage, in 1896 Eleanor joined the Liverpool Women’s Suffrage Society.

The following year she was elected to the national executive of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies. She did not support the militant tactics of

the Women’s Social and Political Union, which she believed were counter-productive. She was also party neutral and resigned from the NUWSS in protest against its affiliation to the Labour party, although she re-joined in 1915 when it became the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship.

In 1905, she assisted in establishing the School of Social Science at the University of Liverpool and became a lecturer in public administration. In 1909, she published her first book (How the Casual Labourer Lives) and became an elected independent member of Liverpool City Council, a position in which she served until 1934.

Eleanor believed that women should be equipped to use their vote wisely when they became enfranchised. She was a co-founder of the Liverpool Women Citizen’s Association (which existed to promote women’s involvement in politics) and of the Liverpool 1918 Club (a women’s club to enable political discussion which still exists today).

In 1929, Eleanor was elected Independent MP for the Combined English Universities (a constituency which ceased to exist in 1950). She became a skilful activist on a range of issues apart from family allowances – feminism, equal pay for women, family planning and the plight of colonial women amongst many others. She was also far-sighted in her assessment of the effects of the Nazi regime in Germany and ferociously anti-appeasement; Eleanor set up a Parliamentary Committee on Refugees and became known as ‘the MP for refugees’.

Eleanor Rathbone’s moral and political instincts were those of a truly committed humanitarian woman. That she never sought fame, nor was affiliated to any political party or ideology is perhaps why she is so little remembered, and why we are the poorer for it.

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INSPIRATIONAL WOMEN

There was a time, not so long ago, when intimacy, infidelity and sexuality would not be part of daily discussion, when no newspaper would mention depression or mental illness, when anyone even thinking of therapy or counselling to help them deal with painful experiences would most likely have told no one.

Zelda West-Meads A pioneer in making the personal public WRITTEN BY MARGARET ROOKE (1979)

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elda West-Meads brought these subjects to newspapers, magazines, TV and radio, helping to loosen our lips and ease our isolation. For more than 20 years she has been the ‘agony aunt’ for The Mail on Sunday’s YOU magazine. Every week she strives to fit letters from her readers, which can run to reams of tightly written A4, into the small section of a page apportioned for each, and to present a few sentences of wisdom in response in the space left underneath.

She also personally answers as many readers’ letters as she can - not bad for someone whose dyslexia was so severe that, despite being incredibly bright and perceptive, she left school with no qualifications and the fear that she would never be good enough to succeed in her working life.

But Zelda’s truly revolutionary work happened several decades earlier when she was a pioneer in making the personal public. She helped free up how we speak and allowed us to see that we didn’t have to keep our pain locked away.

In the 1970s, Zelda worked for the Marriage Guidance Council in Oxford, as both counsellor and fundraiser, raising the money for the organisation to buy its own premises. She was then asked by the Chief Executive of the National Marriage Guidance Council, later renamed Relate, to raise money for them. At work there, she noticed what would happen when a member of the press rang up – one phone after another would ring; no one wanted to take the call.

Zelda had always wanted to be a writer, so she suggested that she should become 10

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Press Officer for the organisation. She Zelda did huge amounts of prep to give passionately believed in the work of Relate herself confidence. and wanted to make it much more widely ‘One of the reasons I believed so much in known. The charity’s boss agreed – and the publicity work was that people were gave her complete freedom to pursue terribly embarrassed to seek help,’ Zelda her work. With that decision she made it remembers. ‘I felt that reading about these her mission to help the world issues would help people come ZELDA WEST-MEADS’ STORY grasp the importance of issues forward and communicate in IS TOLD IN MARGARET that cause so many of us deep their own relationships. I ROOKE’S BOOK CREATIVE, SUCCESSFUL, DYSLEXIC: distress. thought they would read an 23 HIGH ACHIEVERS SHARE Until then the news article and think: ‘That’s me.

THEIR STORIES and features sections of Maybe my partner does love newspapers were full of me, maybe we can work this information deemed ‘much more out,’ or ‘Maybe I have been in this important’ than the everyday mundanity relationship too long, I need to leave.’ of life’s problems. She believes it was the There were, of course, other shifts in British so-called ‘stiff upper lip’ that had society too, including changes in divorce held the newspaper world back. laws and the availability of contraception.

‘Personal subjects did not really cross More and more, people learned to let their radar,’ she told me when we met down their guard. ‘Not talking makes us recently. ‘They were seen as too intimate. depressed or angry and makes problems I think newspapers and magazines didn’t worse. It means that the people we are realise how much people wanted to read in relationships with, don’t have the about issues that make and break lives.’ opportunity to learn what is wrong.’

‘I still get so many letters from people Zelda was given the freedom to write about in turmoil,’ she adds. ‘The Internet has whatever she wanted and, because she brought new problems, with infidelity was also a counsellor, she felt she was in websites, girls under pressure to send touch enough with people’s problems to know what mattered. From her office came nude photos, boys watching porn, which brings unrealistic expectations… press releases on why people have affairs, Academic pressures can also be damaging, on the mismatch of sexual desire within leading to anorexia and self-harm.’ a relationship, on teenage children not Perhaps the world is particularly talking to parents and on people feeling difficult now for the young. By making unloved by their partner. it seem natural to talk about problems The success of her work can be summed both in private and in public, Zelda up with a fact that would astonish has been instrumental in reducing the anyone working in PR today. Journalists stigma once attached to counselling - and would ring Zelda to ask when her next in encouraging people to seek help when press release was coming out. The press they most need it. coverage led to TV and radio interviews Thank goodness we have learned to talk. tough for someone who is hugely shy, but

INSPIRATIONAL WOMEN

An extraordinary life WRITTEN BY CHAYA RAY (1950)

M

AYA RAY (née Bhattacharyya, ONL 1944) had an extraordinary, active and eventful life.

She was born in 1927 in her surgeon grandfather’s home in Assam, India. She came to England with her mother when she was three to join her father, a doctor of medicine, who had come earlier to study for postgraduate qualifications.

He settled permanently with his family in London in 1930. Her ability to be a trail blazer in spite of ever-changing circumstances serves as an inspiration to us all.

Maya was brought up and educated in England until she returned to India on her marriage in 1947. Her schooling started at the local state school, and then she won a scholarship to South Hampstead High School. On the outbreak of World War II, she was evacuated to Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, taking charge of her younger sister, Chaya. During the war, their parents moved to north London and the girls joined NLCS, which had returned to Canons from Luton. Maya then joined the London School of Medicine for Women and passed her First MB. In the meantime, she met her future husband, Siddhartha Shankar Ray, who had come from Calcutta to read for the Bar at the Inner Temple in London, and became engaged to him.

Maya married into a well-known family of barristers. Siddhartha was the eldest grandson of Chittaranjan Das, a barrister and an influential nationalist politician of Bengal in the struggle for Indian independence. Maya’s married life was shaped largely by her husband’s career which throughout was concentrated on the law and politics. Not being able to continue with medical studies in Calcutta, Maya was encouraged to become a barrister

which required her to study in London for six months to complete the Bar Final examinations, with the intention of practising at the High Court of Calcutta where her husband was successfully establishing his legal practice. Maya was among the first group of Indian women in the 1950s who qualified at the English Bar. Maya qualified in 1956 and may have been one of the first ONLs to become a practising barrister. She quickly made her mark in a male-dominated profession and would have had a promising future, had she continued living in Calcutta.

In the following year Siddhartha entered politics as a member of the Congress Party, contesting his first election and becoming a cabinet minister in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.

Maya became an energetic and effective campaigner and helped to organise party workers. She continued her close involvement with electioneering, sometimes under difficult conditions in rural areas, throughout her husband’s political career and also her own.

In 1966 Maya welcomed Dame Kitty Anderson in Calcutta when she visited India as part of her world tour after retiring as Headmistress of NLCS. Maya gave a reception in her honour in her home to meet leaders in education, law and government. Dame Kitty wrote from Simla that, ‘One of the high spots of this tour [of India] was seeing Maya and being entertained by her in Calcutta.’

Maya moved to Delhi with Siddhartha when he was elected an MP and was appointed a Union cabinet minister.

However, he later returned to Calcutta as Chief Minster for five years to quell insurrections in West Bengal. During this

period, Maya herself was elected an MP for a north Bengal constituency for five years.

Following an official visit to Iraq with other MPs, she was selected as a member of the Indian delegation to the United Nations in New York. She was regarded as an able parliamentarian who was a member of joint committees on various parliamentary bills.

In the 1980s, Siddhartha was appointed Governor of Punjab, a politically sensitive post during the emerging Sikh terrorist uprising. Maya spent almost four years in Chandigarh, which proved to be a happy time for her: the Governor’s residence was set in extensive parkland within sight of the Sivalik foothills of the Himalayas. The couple soon became popular in the community. They did not confine themselves to ceremonial appearances and speeches but took part enthusiastically in cultural and social activities. On one such occasion, Maya was photographed joining in with the Punjabi ladies in their dances! As their residence was government property Maya was expected to receive and entertain official guests. Among them was Lady Patricia Mountbatten, who stayed a few days at the Raj Bhavan during a private visit to India with her family. The Punjab Government arranged a boat trip for them and the Governor’s party to cross a lake to see the Bhakra Nangal Dam, the largest in India.

Siddhartha’s final post was a diplomatic one as Indian Ambassador to the United States in Washington. This involved Maya in continual large-scale entertaining at the Ambassador’s residence. She had an interesting and busy social life for three-and-ahalf years. Siddhartha and Maya became close to the Clintons – also both lawyers.

When Hillary Clinton visited India and Pakistan, Maya accompanied her to India.

Some ONL contacts emerged at Washington: Pat Phillips, a former diplomat, was at the British Embassy and was a frequent guest at Maya’s parties.

At a dinner Maya was seated next to Lady Greenstock, Sir Jeremy’s wife and a family connection unravelled itself. At that time Hester Greenstock, sister-in-law to Sir Jeremy, was Head of Physics at NLCS and some years earlier had taught Maya’s niece, Marisha!

After Washington, Siddhartha retired from active political life. He died at 90, three years before Maya; they had been married for 68 years. Her death on 11 March 2013 in Calcutta, India aged 86, was recorded in the proceedings of the Lower House of Parliament (Lok Sabha, India).

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INSPIRATIONAL WOMEN

On 20 December 1915, a retired British headmaster was summoned to the German headquarters in occupied Brussels to explain where his teenage son was. His son had been missing since February. Ernest Hodson decided to take his fourteen-year-old daughter with him. My great-aunt Amy Hodson wrote in her diary that day: We had to go in an awful room. The Germ said: ‘Where’s Charlie?’

Daddy said he did not know. ‘You do know,’ said the Germ, ‘for here is a letter which I have received to say that Charlie has been seen, and you will just stop here till he has been found.’ I was shaking with fury. Then I spoke up: ‘Do you think that Mother would cry so often if Charlie were here? Besides Daddy is not responsible for his son when he is in a school.’

He got calmer at that. But all the time he was talking sneerely. At last he said: ‘Well, it is a pity to keep you in when it is such weather (it rained two minutes after), and I suppose you would rather spend your Christmas at home than here. Scootum.’ I could have shot him.

ABOVE Amy in 1921 shortly before emigrating to Canada

Amy Hodson: schoolgirl at war WRITTEN BY MONICA KENDALL (1972)

I

think my great-grandfather made the right choice. I never met Amy; she emigrated to Canada in 1921 and died in 1967. But some years ago her widowed son-in-law gave me her surviving diaries.

I was fascinated but I didn’t know what to do with them until I contacted the Imperial War Museum about her account of being trapped on the Belgian seacoast in 1914 when the war started. I was told that her account was exceptionally interesting because there was so little written by children about the First World War. I decided to transcribe the diaries and I published them in May 2015. Because Amy knew Edith Cavell, who was a family friend, and her shock at Nurse Cavell’s execution in 1915 was so evident, I took a quote from Amy herself to title the book: ‘Miss Cavell Was Shot’: The Diaries of Amy Hodson, 1914–1920.

There is much more to Amy’s diaries than a day-by-day account of people being shot, no potatoes, windmills burning and zeppelins setting out to bomb London; it shows a young girl growing up, often so 12

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unhappy that you want to reach out and hug her – but at the same time she has such resilience, and such stubbornness, that you know it won’t be long before, yet again, she will laugh in church, climb on the roof and disrupt the lesson.

She can write in 1917 that ‘Denise (a school friend) and I are separated during recreation because the prof. imagines we plot scrapes’ – probably a sound strategy by the teachers based on past scrapes! Yet in 1915 we know she is trusted by one of those extraordinary people who sheltered Allied soldiers and helped get them over the frontier to safety – Mme Bodart. Irishborn Ada Bodart was a friend of Edith Cavell. She helped over 800 men escape, until she was put on trial alongside her friend and sent to prison. Amy takes letters to her; she visits English soldiers in hiding in Bodart’s house and even has her handkerchief signed by them.

In my book, I present my new research on Ada Bodart – who is mostly forgotten now. There is an intriguing note in Amy’s diary on 13 April 1917: ‘Took a letter to Von

Bissing this morning.’ Von Bissing was the German Governor General. It is possibly unconnected that he died a few days later.

But what is interesting is that in a newspaper article, Ada Bodart describes how the resistance used to enjoy enflaming Von Bissing by sending him a copy of the clandestine newspaper, La Libre Belgique, and that one day her daughter was the carrier.

Maybe the fearless Amy did the same.

In 1917, Amy’s mother began to beat her and confine her to her bedroom. Amy was rescued by family friends and sent to a nearby Catholic boarding school. Unhappy though Amy was at times, she had a generous heart. She writes: ‘Poor Mother.

I suppose it was not her fault that she was not good to me.’ And she can still laugh: Had such a ridiculous fall; I’d just finished accompanying Adrienne at the piano, when, in getting out of the little room, I tumbled head over heels, knocked several things over. Instead of helping me up the girls all burst with laughter; what could I do but laugh with them?

Resilience indeed.

INSPIRATIONAL WOMEN

In 2015, I lost both of my ONL sisters.

They were bright, kind, loving women with the ability to smile through the many challenges life threw at them.

Right up to the end of their lives, they remained passionate about causes at home and abroad, motivated by the wish they shared of bringing peace to the world.

ABOVE Hilary with her

good friend Gabriele

LEFT Barbara Ann Barrett

My Sisters Ordinary Women with Extraordinary Lives WRITTEN BY ISOBEL FORD (NÉE PRESSWOOD, 1961)

HILARY KATHARINE KING (NÉE PRESSWOOD) 5 October 1946 – 25 June 2015 Hilary attended NLCS from 1958 - 64 and then went on to read Modern Languages at Somerville College, Oxford, followed by a Postgraduate Certificate in Education at York University.

After qualifying as a teacher Hilary went via Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) to the West Indies to teach French and Spanish at a secondary school in Montserrat. During her second year there she met Chris, whom she married in 1971.

They had two children and five grandchildren who were her pride and joy.

She continued to teach back in England, including IT skills.

Hilary had a very strong service ethic, influenced strongly by her parents (her father was a committed Rotarian). She joined the Rotary Club of Norwich in 2002 and quickly became involved in many fundraising and service activities.

She believed passionately in Rotary as a powerful force for peace, and so participated eagerly in the Club’s visits abroad, working with Rotary Mission Challenge in Sierra Leone. Her chosen charity in her year as President of the Rotary Club of Norwich was Leonard Cheshire Disability, raising funds both for that organisation’s home for disabled people near Norwich, and for a project to make remote schools in Sierra Leone accessible to disabled children.

Outside of Rotary, Hilary was involved in several other local organisations and in

particular served as Chair of the Fundraising Committee for The Grove, which is the local Leonard Cheshire Disability home near Norwich.

Hilary had strong ideals, and was committed to the causes that were dear to her, particularly that of world peace. Her family are deeply touched and honoured by the proposal to add her name to that of the Yeato School, for which she inspired the students of Norwich School to raise the funds to provide a water pump.

BARBARA ANN BARRETT (NÉE PRESSWOOD) 10 April 1938 – 3 July 2015 Barbara attended NLCS from 1949 - 56, and was awarded a Senior Scholarship to read Physics at Somerville College, Oxford (1957- 60). Before she went up to Oxford, Barbara worked at the Royal Institution, assisting Dorothy Hodgkin with X-ray crystallography under the leadership of Sir Lawrence Bragg.

Barbara impressed her tutors at Oxford, including Nobel Laureate Willis Lamb, who considered her to be the best final-year undergraduate he had ever taught. Barbara stayed on to do postgraduate research in particle physics, initially supervised by her tutor Roger Blin-Stoyle.

From 1961 to 1963 Barbara was a Mary Ewart Research Fellow at Somerville and with her supervisor, Gabriel Barton, worked on the decay of eta particles.

Somerville kept a Fellowship open for Barbara for several years while she and her husband, Roger Barrett, became post-docs

at Columbia University, where she worked closely with Tran Truong. They then moved to Berkeley where Barbara was a professor at San Francisco State College.

Barbara left academia in 1968 to start a family and had three children. She did various jobs in order to provide a home for the children as they grew up, including working with children with autism in a pre-school setting. Barbara was passionate about bringing peace into the world and found a new role for herself as a campaigner, being part of the human chain of Jubilee 2000, and following various other causes in later years.

Dame Kitty Anderson wrote of Barbara, ‘She has the kind of mind which delights in probing and searching; she was never content with superficial knowledge but enjoyed exploring for herself and then in a scholarly way she set about to apply her knowledge with point and precision. As a person, Barbara is modest, kind, tolerant, cheerful, absolutely reliable, and she has an unsuspected sense of fun which reveals itself the more one knows her. She was always so willing and eager to learn and had the makings of a true scholar as she had a humble attitude and an unusual awareness that truth is elusive and requires deep mental research.’ This is a lovely summary of Barbara which was true throughout her life.

We have compiled booklets of tributes to both Hilary and Barbara. If anyone would like copies then please contact Isobel Ford (sister) on vernissy@care4free.net 2016 | ONLINE

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INSPIRATIONAL WOMEN

Aung San Suu Kyi led the National League for Democracy party (NLD) to election victory in Myanmar in November 2015.

Aung San Suu Kyi The long game WRITTEN BY ROMA S PATEL (NÉE SHAH 1996)

L

ike many people who have achieved great things, she was troubled with adversity early in her life when her father, General Aung San, Myanmar’s independence hero, was assassinated in 1947.

She has been adorned with much-deserved praise and earned a plethora of awards for her commitment to society, the highlights of which are the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honour in the US, in 2012.

Together with her longstanding political imprisonment and willingness to set aside bygones, reverberating the historical tread and steely resolve of Nelson Mandela, she has the unparalleled kind and contributing nature, shown to the Burmese people, of Mother Teresa.

She has been imprisoned countless times from 1989 to 2010, standing up to and speaking out against the iron-fisted rule of the military commander’s rule at the time. She had been promised her freedom in exchange for her agreeing to leave the country but refused this, knowing that she would be bowing out in the fight against the Junta. In a sense her imprisonment was a reflection of the military’s rule of the Burmese people and society at the time.

One thing I drew from this is the impor14

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tance of perseverance and that success and change are rarely results that are seen overnight. The long game’s been a perilously hard fight in the short term but one that Aung San Suu Kyi has played to perfection. It always takes an extremely measured and faithful person to play the long game – to maintain the belief in their cause for such a length of time and over so many hurdles that would make the less conscientious of us turn away.

She moved Myanmar into a ‘Dawn of a New Era’ by leading the NLD to a landslide victory in the first free election in Myanmar in 25 years. Before that it was under military control since a 1962 coup and had been marred by persistent human rights violations, ethnic strife, cronyism and failed Soviet-style economic management that had resulted in widespread poverty. The victory is a vindication of Miss Suu Kyi’s policy of compromise with the military factions and a repudiation of the decades of military rule. She has set a democratic example to an ever more autocratic neighbourhood – Thailand, China and Vietnam and potentially Malaysia. In Myanmar, the GDP per capita is $4,800 and the population 55 million (cf. UK – $40,000 and 65 million). These statistics alone are enough to instil doubt in anybody’s resolve over their capacity to affect change but

Aung Sun has risen to this challenge.

Inspiration as defined in the Oxford Dictionary means, ‘The process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative’. I believe Aung San Suu Kyi strikes a chord in each and every one of us who reads her profile and knows her story to achieve more and do our part for the betterment of society.

I have merely scraped the surface of her multitude of achievements. But then the ‘magic’ of inspiration is that an ‘inspiree’ can be born from a seemingly inconsequential event or experience.

Furthermore, as with all great leaders and inspirers, Miss Suu Kyi has positioned herself in a situation where her greatest tests still lie ahead so this article may be a touch premature.

An article like this would be pitifully mismanaged if it were completely divorced from any element of advice on pragmatic implementation and so, to my readers or listeners, no matter what, or whomever your inspiration may be, ensure to incorporate that into your work flow so that you develop some measure of control over your inspired state and perhaps in turn inspire others. After all, ‘If you’re lucky enough to do well, it’s your responsibility to send the elevator back down.’

INSPIRATIONAL WOMEN

Lucy Nganga bringing change through determination and courage

D

uring the summer of 2015, I worked in Kenya for six weeks on the Balloon Kenya entrepreneurship programme.

This is an organisation that connects students from around the world with Kenyan entrepreneurs. We worked to develop business plans for start-ups and existing businesses to present to a panel of investors for an interest-free loan. This is how I came to meet Lucy. Softly spoken, always with a smile on her face, she is a mother of two and an aspiring interior designer from Nakuru, Kenya.

Nakuru, located in the Rift Valley, is developing a reputation as a start-up hub in Kenya. However, this was not always the case. Throughout the six weeks spent with Lucy, I learnt that the now-bustling town of Nakuru was one of the worst affected areas during the post-election violence in 2007-8. Ethnic cleansing of the Kikuyus (the largest ethnic group in Kenya) was carried out by other groups in Nakuru, who feared for their lives. However, arriving in Nakuru now, it is very hard to imagine that it was the same town that was subject to heartless massacres just eight years ago. Walking through the streets and talking to the locals, there was no mention of this earlier violence.

I only learnt of the massacre through a business meeting with an interior designer, Ruth, who had moved to Nakuru only a few years ago. A meeting was set up in the hope that Ruth, as an established designer, could offer Lucy work and the necessary experience to launch her own business.

Ruth struggled to understand why the locals were not as friendly, trustworthy, and welcoming as those in Nairobi, where she previously lived. At this point Lucy pointed out that Nakuru was not always as hostile: ‘Before the violence/killings of 2007-8, the community was so vibrant; the sense of community was so strong and everyone was willing to help each other.’ However, with the massacre, there was no longer

Lucy told me of several instances when she’d hidden her Kikuyu neighbours in her house whilst fending off attackers.

a unifying identity among Kenyans - but rather, you were now a Kikuyu or a non-Kikuyu. Lucy told me of several instances when she’d hidden her Kikuyu neighbours in her house whilst fending off attackers.

Astonishingly, Lucy was heavily pregnant at the time and terrified for her baby’s life. The courage required to shelter people, at the risk of her own life, is unimaginable. Saving her neighbours’ lives not only conveys Lucy’s compassion, but it also displays the societal impact of individuals’ actions. Despite the trauma of the events, which led to complications during her baby’s birth soon after, she does not regret her actions. Nakuru, she pointed out, slowly healed over time and is beginning to regain the sense of a lively community, eight long years later. The strength of the people in Nakuru, especially of women like Lucy, is an inspiration. It is through them that we learn that we are capable of bringing about change through determination and courage.

I would have never guessed that behind her gentle smile, and with the enthusiasm she has every day to design patterns for her clients, Lucy had endured such an atrocious period in Kenya’s history. Her quiet resilience and the compassion she has for others should be noted and passed on; future generations must not forget the heroic actions that previous generations have taken time and time again in order for the world to be as it is today. It is of particular importance now, with terrorism and violence erupting all over the world, that we look to inspirational figures who have dared to step out and make a change.

I am unreservedly thankful for the opportunities I had in Kenya that allowed me to meet Lucy and so many others who have inspired me; changes that seemed impossible were proven to be possible countless times during my time in Kenya.

As Nelson Mandela said, ‘It only seems impossible until it is done’. Start making your change today.

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IMAGE: Solo 7–Kibera

WRITTEN BY ROSA JUNG (2009)

INSPIRATIONAL WOMEN

At different points in our lives we come across people who inspire us in a way that is particular to our current situation; whether it’s the doctor that takes our tonsils out in childhood, the teacher who shows us a path for which we never thought we’d have the stamina, or the best friend who moves across the world to follow their ideological dream.

Edith Flagg, the self-declared ‘simple girl’ WRITTEN BY SHARON LAIFER (NÉE KRANTZ, 1994)

I

stumbled across Edith Flagg’s story quite recently. My own family background, as well as the documenting of life stories as a profession, attracts me to the stunning stories of survival during the Holocaust. But Edith’s story struck a more poignant chord with me, and I’m hoping that writing this article will help me understand why.

Edith was born into a very middle-class family in Romania, where both education and family life were paramount. By the time she was fourteen, this headstrong young lady knew that she was going to work in fashion and, with the encouragement of her parents, moved to Vienna to attend the finest fashion design school in the world. Her evenings were filled with ballet, opera and socialising with a group of young, Jewish, socialist-leaning Zionists, all keen to make their lives in a new Jewish homeland. Life couldn’t have been going better really. Until, of course, overnight, the world as she knew it came tumbling down. And the Jewish population was gradually no longer allowed to go to the opera and ballet, or to attend universities, or even, eventually, to live.

In that moment, Edith made a decision. She saw the options laid out before her, and chose to fight. Too many people stayed. Too many people said that it couldn’t get any worse and they just need to keep their heads down. Too many people couldn’t bring themselves to leave their old, their sick, and to run for their lives. Edith ran to Holland, with Hans, the 16

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man she loved, and trained to be a farmer and a fighter, with the aim of moving to Mandate Palestine to help set up a Jewish homeland. She walked away from her promising career in fashion, and from her beloved parents, still in Romania (eventually reuniting with them after 23 years apart).

When Holland was eventually occupied, Edith and Hans initially went into hiding with various kind families in the Dutch countryside. But passing the days stuck in a small cupboard with her new husband became too much to bear (although her son, Michael, was conceived during this time as, in her words, what else was she going to do with her lover for six months locked in a closet?) and together they joined a Dutch Resistance group, led by Kurt Reilinger and funded by the British Secret Service. Armed with false papers, they now hid in plain sight.

The baby was placed in a children’s home, with his personal history in a sealed envelope only to be opened if he was unclaimed at the end of the war. Tragically, Hans was captured and died in Auschwitz in 1944.

To pass the time in Holland, Edith studied to be a nurse. The uniform of the German Red Cross gave Edith (or Lydia, as she was known) a further layer of camouflage and she infiltrated Nazi social gatherings, reporting information back to the Resistance network. She worked tirelessly to feed the people around her, cooking dogs and cats, and creating

dishes from the placentas collected in the hospital. She experienced hunger that made her hallucinate, that broke her body down. But she carried on, and survived the deprivation of wartime Amsterdam and, more importantly, avoided deportation to the camps.

As soon as the war was over, she took her son and travelled to Mandate Palestine with Eric, another member of the Resistance, with whom she eventually enjoyed a long and happy marriage in California.

Together they set up a fashion empire utilising Crimplene, a new polyester material she exclusively imported from Europe. Eventually her company grossed over $100 million, making her one of the wealthiest women in the USA. And whilst being fabulously rich and very successful, Edith, Eric and Michael found time to sit on the boards of many charities, and worked tirelessly for good causes.

And I skirt over her commercial success for good reason. For whilst Edith’s story is one of real triumph, of an inspirational businesswoman, and an upstanding member of her community, I find I draw on her for inspiration for slightly darker reasons.

With a world that is ever-changing, and a new enemy looming, we can only hope we won’t need to think of Edith, the self-declared ‘simple girl’ and the choices she made. But if push comes to shove, then I hope that we too can walk round any obstacles in our way and come back to our original paths, stronger and more successful than we would have otherwise been.

INSPIRATIONAL WOMEN

ABOVE Dame Kitty

Anderson with pupils

RIGHT Dame Kitty

Anderson at her desk

A Conversation with Dame Kitty Anderson (then Dr Anderson) 57 Years Ago at Canons WRITTEN BY VICTORIA ROUSSEAU (NÉE VERONICA MASSARIK, 1962)

At 14, I didn’t like our History teacher, she was alright in retrospect, but I judged her in that unforgiving adolescent way as ‘boring’. She taught from notes that she brought with her and I chose to be appalled by this fact. I was an awful girl.

So when she handed out a History exam, there was not one topic on the paper that interested me. Defiantly, I wrote ‘Veronica Massarik slept here’ on my paper and then folded my arms.

The mood of rebellion started to wear thin by the afternoon and I started to feel scared about possible consequences. So I went to confess to Dr. Anderson. She was revered but unfailingly approachable.

I remember one Monday morning at Prayers, Miss Manson struck up some glorious Bach on the organ and we stood, as usual, as Dr Anderson made her entrance into the Hall, walking down the central aisle past all of us. Lucie Manheim was next to me and she whispered ‘There goes the great little lady.’ Yes. She always had that quality – greatness.

I was asked to wait in Red Square, and eventually the great little lady opened her door. She beamed a welcome and seated me in a cosy armchair. As always, she made small talk to put me at my ease, before coming to the serious business at hand. She invited me to admire with her

the fine details of her Persian carpet. Then: ‘And what brings you here today?’

‘I didn’t do my History exam this morning and I wrote ‘Veronica Massarik slept here’ on my paper. I don’t like Miss Davidge.’

‘Well I’m an historian, as you know.

Would you do the paper for me?’

‘Of course.’

‘Good. That’s settled then. Pop it under my door tomorrow morning and I’ll mark it. Now that you’re here, dear, I was wondering whether you would act as spokeswoman for the Upper Fourth for me?’

‘If I can.’

‘You see, I am getting a lot of reports from staff about your year. There is a lot of disrespect being shown to staff, and not just by you. It’s disturbing. Why do you think this is happening?’

‘Well. We’re 14. We have started seeing boys and learning what life’s all about.

And we look at the staff. And, well, they’re mostly frustrated old spinsters who don’t know anything about life. Why should we respect them?’

I really said that. She remained attentive and smiled kindly.

‘Two things I want to draw your attention to. The first is this: (serious now) You must never EVER make the mistake of assuming that because a woman is un-

married, she is a stranger to deep love and indeed, great passion! I am sure you know that many of the staff lost their fiancés in the war, Miss Dass and Miss Brassington for example.’

I couldn’t believe my ears. Passion!

Love! Wait ‘til I get back to the form-room and report this back!

‘And the second thing is this: all year round, you see women sitting in Red Square, don’t you? They are Old Girls coming to visit me. Many of them are married and many of them are unmarried. Many of them are leading fulfilling lives and many are frustrated. And I want you to know, that it has been my abiding and indeed surprising observation that the majority of the frustrated ones are the married ones!’

A big silence filled the room. She’d got through to me at last, and I could see in her kind eyes that she knew it.

I did the exam as well as my homework that night and put it under her door next morning. It came back with a B+ on it.

Later in the week, Miss Davidge read out the exam results to the form ‘Veronica Massarik. I was going to give you a D, but clearly you are not worthy even of a D. So I have given you Nought, my first ever.’

‘I did the exam for Dr Anderson and she gave me a B+!’ I piped up, gleefully.

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Today, the number of ONLs who are, or who have been, doctors and medical students is in the thousands. However, less than 150 years ago, the dreams of a medical degree would have been wellnigh impossible for a woman. Unless, of course, you were Frances Hoggan, who saw the impossible as a challenge, not a deterrent.

WRITTEN BY JOELAINE FITCH (2006)

DR FRANCES HOGGAN

ONL ARCHIVE

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ONL ARCHIVE

B

ABOVE Frances Hoggan

circa 1850

LEFT P.E for girls of North

London Collegiate School (1882)

orn a few years before Frances Mary Buss founded NLCS, Frances Elizabeth Hoggan (née Morgan) shared more than just a Christian name with our enterprising founder: both Frances Buss and Frances Hoggan were pioneers in their field, and strong proponents of education (both academic and physical) for girls.

Frances Hoggan grew up in Wales, and her ties to the country remained strong despite a life spent across the continent. Though born in Brecon, she spent her early life in Glamorgan, Cowbridge and Windsor. She moved to Continental Europe at a young age, and, aged seventeen, she gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, Elsie, who later became a pupil at NLCS. The father is unknown, but it is probable that Frances fell pregnant in Paris, and then travelled to Brussels to give birth. In straitlaced Victorian times, a child born out of wedlock was scandalous indeed; however, the Morgan family spread the fiction that Elsie was Frances’ sister rather than daughter, so that Frances’ future could be saved. Such scandal would unfortunately have destroyed her dreams and hopes of a career in those judgemental times. There are indications, however, that Frances did her best to remain involved in her daughter’s life: the 1871 and 1887 censuses suggest that Elsie lived with Frances for at least part of her life.

Frances was not one to let any obstacles stand in her way, and the fact that her own country remained unamenable to the further education of women was not permitted to obstruct her education. Frances pursued her studies in Germany and France, and then, in 1867 went on to enter the University of Zurich, the only university in Europe which accepted female medical students. Once there, Frances was not content to rest on her laurels: she astounded the University by completing her six-year course in half the time, whilst also learning Sanskrit in her leisure hours. Frances was an outstanding academic, to the extent that her thesis on muscular dystrophy challenged the views of her supervisor. Frances obtained her Doctorate three months before Dr Garrett (a fellow female pioneer in the world of medicine and also an NLCS governor), thus becoming the first British and second European woman to do so. Challenging the Victorian conception of women whose focus was their home in Britain (with perhaps the occasional decorous, carefully chaperoned, trip to Italy or France), Frances went on to work in Vienna, Prague and Paris.

Upon her return to the UK, Frances became a physician at St. Mary’s Dispensary for Women and Children in London (later the New Hospital for Women), alongside Dr Garrett Anderson.

On April Fool’s Day in 1874, Frances married George Hoggan, who had already proven his support of female doctors by conducting the UK’s first practical anatomy class for women

She astounded the University by completing her six-year course in half the time, whilst also learning Sanskrit in her leisure hours. whilst in Edinburgh. The Hoggans were the first British ‘medical marriage’, in that both were doctors. Such a union of equals was unusual in a world where the husband was firmly believed to be the head of the house. Indeed, Florence Crompton (daughter of celebrated novelist Elizabeth Gaskell) commented that the Hoggans ‘sent the most peculiar wedding cards “Dr. George & Dr. Frances Hoggan”’ and considered the Hoggans’ choice of wedding date and lack of honeymoon ‘quite unique’.

Marianne Gaskell, however, noted that after her marriage Frances looked ‘most bright and happy’. Together, the Hoggans opened a medical practice (the first married couple to do so) and published over 40 medical research papers.

Frances herself became a specialist in women’s and children’s diseases.

Frances was a strong proponent of high quality secondary education for females, and she published a short book, Education for Girls in Wales, in 1882. Frances was also extremely involved in debates concerning the question of higher and secondary education in Wales, with particular focus on girls. In 1880, the Aberdare Committee (set up to investigate the condition of secondary and intermediate education in Wales) used Frances’ research. In giving evidence at the Aberdare Inquiry, Frances emphasised the inadequate provision for the education of girls in Wales, and suggested that suitable schools for girls be established with the assistance of the Girls’ Public Day Schools Company in England, or with the aid of the North London Collegiate School for Girls and Camden School. She also maintained that education should be a ‘well-balanced training of all powers of mind and body’.

The Aberdare Committee’s conclusion agreed with Frances’: education for girls compared unsatisfactorily with that of their male counterparts, and it was decided that ‘improved education for girls of the middle class may be described as urgent’.

Frances’ reference at the Aberdare Inquiry to Miss Buss’s two schools wasn’t surprising: both Miss Buss and Dr Sophie Bryant (who succeeded Miss Buss as Headmistress in 1895), were 2016 | ONLINE

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ONL ARCHIVE

ABOVE Frances Hoggan

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well-known advocates for high quality education for females. Frances herself was medical superintendent at NLCS during the 1880s, and she was said to have been greatly concerned for her pupils. Miss Buss had always propounded the need for a healthy mind and body, including through exercise. The concept of exercise for girls was unusual for the time, and Miss Buss’s decision to include physical education in the curriculum was revolutionary; even forward-thinking friends such as Dorothea Beale, Head of Cheltenham Ladies’ College, mocked the spectacle of girls playing hockey. Miss Buss’s ideals were supported by Frances, who even recommended cycling for women, and believed that delicate females derived great benefit for the activity. Frances made careful notes relating to her individual pupils, meticulously recording their measurements, and frequently stressing the need for judicious exercise and a healthy diet that included lots of milk. For a rheumatic pupil with a weak heart, for example, Frances advised that ‘Gymnastics is good for her, but she needs to be carefully watched.’ For another pupil, who is described as ‘Slight and delicate’ with her ‘lung not quite sound’, Frances suggests that ‘Gymnastics could be very useful, but care to be taken’.

Contrary to the fashions of the time, Frances did not approve of overly tight corsets; concerning one pupil she wrote: ‘One Lung delicate. Heart’s action disturbed by habitual compression of chest by tight stays and strings.’ On the contrary, another pupil who wore ‘no stays’ is described as ‘well developed’ with a ‘normal waist’. Frances was not afraid to reject the mores of the time, believing that health, even if it involved physical exercise for females and the disposal of corsets, was far more important than adherence to convention.

The ill-health of her husband led to Frances

closing their clinical practice and nursing George in the South of France until his death in 1900. Frances, unsurprisingly, did not then fade into quiet and inactive widowhood: not content with revolutionising Victorian Britain, she set her sights on global reform. Frances became involved in educational and social reform in India, the Middle East, South Africa and the USA; she even accompanied an exploring expedition to South Africa to inspect the native villages. She did not confine herself to education and health: she toured post-Civil War USA, lecturing and campaigning against the lynching of African Americans in the southern states. Her opinions were radical for their time: in a country which had only recently supported the slavery of African Americans, Frances publicly stated that ‘her own experience showed that Negro children are often very bright and intelligent [… and that] Negro women [would be] a useful addition to the electorate.’ Frances also spoke at the first Universal Race Congress, which was held in London in 1911.

Frances was passionate and pioneering till the last; indeed, at the outbreak of the First World War, though she was seventy, Frances offered to run a hospital for the British Government.

Having lived an extremely full and remarkable life, Frances passed away in 1927.

Frances Hoggan’s legacy continues to this day: a documentary on Dr Hoggan is scheduled to be aired later this year by Tinopolis (international media producer and distributor), and, in January 2016, The Learned Society of Wales launched the Frances Hoggan Medal. The medal is sponsored by the Welsh government, to recognise and celebrate the contribution of outstanding women connected with Wales in the areas of science, medicine, engineering, technology or mathematics.

ONL NEWS

FAR LEFT Emma Cravitz

and family at Buckingham Palace after receiving an MBE

LEFT Hephzibah Kohn and her mother awarded the Freedom of the City of London

Alison Boreham (née Clarke, 1948) obtained her MA in Biography at the University of Buckingham.

Emma Cravitz (1988) formally received an MBE at Buckingham Palace in January 2016, following an official announcement in June 2015. Emma has received the award for her services to children and families, particularly in the London area.

Debbie Gilby (2007) lives in Tenerife as a personal trainer and has been running her own private gym for the last two years and competing in various fitness competitions. In July 2015 she claimed the winning title of Miss Universe, in the Miss Fitness category with the IBFA Federation.

Hephzibah Kohn (1982) graduated from the LSE in 1986. The focal points of her career have been in Medical Research and more recently in Holocaust Education. In the early part of her career, she specialised in the management and implementation of clinical trials on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry.

After moving to Zurich in 1993, she gravitated to the commercial side of the industry and worked in business development and

logistics associated with a new central laboratory.

Ten years ago, she embarked on a life-changing journey and began to focus almost exclusively on Holocaust Education – mainly focused on the story of her mother and her immediate family who were survivors of several concentration camps. She set up a project entitled Surviving the Holocaust (www.survivingtheholocaust.co.uk), a narrative that presents the story of her family’s survival, recovery and renewal after the war.

There is a unique dimension to this project in the sense of it being a first and second generation, mother and daughter, partnership and also because of the extraordinary documentation which they bring to the sessions. They speak in schools across the social spectrum all over the UK, including North London in January 2016, and in Germany, where students of all backgrounds can engage with and hear direct testimony from a Holocaust survivor. The response to their programme has been overwhelmingly positive.

These past ten years have been personally rewarding for her, and last year Hephzibah and her mother

were awarded the Freedom of the City of London for their work in Holocaust Education.

She married in 1993, lives in London and has two children - a son at university and a daughter at secondary school.

Kathreena Kurian (1988) recently published a book, An Atlas of Gross Neuropathology, Cambridge University Press (Authors: Kurian KM etc) and has been promoted to Reader in Brain Tumour Research at the University of Bristol, though she says her best achievements are her two beautiful daughters Sarina aged 13 and Christina aged 8!

Georgina (George) Rose (2005) graduated top of her year with an MEng in Manufacturing Engineering from the University of Cambridge in 2010. She has been working at LEGO in London for 18 months, having moved there following a four-year stint at Innocent drinks, working in their supply chain operations and finance teams. At LEGO she has recently been promoted to Senior Supply Chain Manager for EMEA & APAC, working very closely with their European production sites and global demand teams.

e’d love to hear more news from ONLs. Please keep W us updated by emailing us at onla@nlcs.org.uk



Keep up-to-date with our news follow us @NLCS1850. Below is a selection of last year’s tweets.

Congratulations to ONL Paloma Strelitz, whose collective Assemble won the Turner Prize last night HYPERLINK “https://t.co/pVrQjN30GI” \o “http://ow.ly/VBRn0” \t “_blank” http://ow.ly/VBRn0 Fascinating series created by Nabihah Iqbal (ONL 2005), exploring the realities of moving abroad. @throwing_shade_ https://t.co/L8fhkyJVzG Huge congratulations to ONL Kaye Song for winning the 2015 National Open Art Competition. http://t.co/WhPNpXsZbj http://t.co/gYjnOP6Pv5 Congratulations to ONL @AlevScott author of Turkish Awakenings on a fantastic review from the LA Review of Books. Amazing!

Looking forward to welcoming #VirginiaNicholson at #NLCS today, talking about women in 1950s; topic of her critically acclaimed new book Great to welcome @Tracy_Chevalier to Literary Society today, thank you for a wonderful talk https://t.co/ KFHUESwcw9 Delighted to welcome #Dancruickshank to school today to give keynote address at Senior Societies http://t.co/6ruQFXLNdJ Delighted to welcome award winning author of @_CharlieAndLola books #laurenchild to the junior school http://t.co/MRIAWB8Ue7

2016 | ONLINE

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ONL GROUPS

A Community for Life ONLs often tell us that they feel that they are part of a community for life. No matter where they go in the world, paths cross. Despite there often being many school years between them, ONLs never have any trouble chatting and sparking happy memories of their respective times at Canons. They inevitably discover a shared ethos, work ethic and lively spirit which has shaped each of their paths through life.

I

n the Alumnae Office, we are often overwhelmed by the generosity of ONLs to one another – either through offering advice to ONLs wishing to enter a similar career, putting old friends back in contact with one another or helping to organise events. It is a

BACKGROUND Molly

and Elizabeth Lefebure in their North London Collegiate blazers

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network with emotional, rather than physical, ties.

Do reach out to us for careers advice, to mentor another ONL, to join a local group or a society or simply to find an old friend with whom you’ve lost touch. We are here to help!

WRITTEN BY CAROLINA JAYSON (NÉE ZUBCOV, 1991) CJAYSON@NLCS.ORG.UK 020 8951 6475 AND POORVI SMITH (NÉE PATEL, 1991) PSMITH@NLCS.ORG.UK 020 8951 6377

ONL GROUPS

Join our ONLA Societies on Facebook or email us at onla@nlcs.org.uk ABOVE: Sydney ONLA

Group, September 2015

ONLA SOCIETIES

ONLA MEDIA SOCIETY

On behalf of ONLA, NLCS coordinates a number of career networking societies.

ONLs are invited to come together to meet with peers in their fields for informal drinks and the opportunity to forge new connections. We currently offer five ONLA Societies, details of which are below. If you would like to find out more, please contact onla@nlcs.org.uk .

The next meeting is on 13 April 2016 NLCS - ONL Media Society

CAREERS NETWORKING Through the willing help of our extensive ONL network, the School is keen to offer careers support to ONLs at all stages of their working life. Each week, we receive at least five requests from ONLs for careers advice, and we are grateful to the many ONLs who have volunteered to offer guidance or connections. If you would like us to either put you in touch with another Old North Londoner in your field, or if you would like to put yourself forward as a career mentor or contact, we would be delighted to hear from you, at cjayson@nlcs.org.uk .

ONLA ART SOCIETY NLCS – ONL Art Society

ONLA BUSINESS AND FINANCE SOCIETY Next meeting is on 19 May 2016 NLCS – ONL Business Society

ONLA LAW SOCIETY The next meeting is on 29 September 2016 NLCS - ONL Law Society

ONLA STEMM SOCIETY

NLCS - ONL STEMM Society ONL REGIONAL GROUPS The regional groups each have their own closed Facebook group which is managed by the Alumnae Office. To become part of the group please simply befriend ‘Frances Mary Buss’ (look for the daffodils!) and ask to be added to the relevant group.

If you are going on a gap year or simply abroad on a holiday do consider contacting the regional groups as they would love to help you plan your time away. If you yourself would like to become a regional, or overseas group coordinator, please email us at onla@nlcs.org.uk CORNWALL/DEVON Jill Hall (née Hankins) jill22hall@gmail.com Alison Nelson (née Strachan) an276@uwclub.net NLCS - ONLs Cornwall & Devon

EAST ANGLIA Margaret Angus (née Claydon) maa@angi.me.uk NLCS – ONLs East Anglia

GLOUCESTERSHIRE Dorothy Farley (née Coode) Tel(01452) 713 883 NLCS – ONLs Gloucestershire

HAMPSHIRE Mandy Grover (née Collins) ALCollins@doctors.org.uk NLCS – ONLs Hampshire

LINCOLNSHIRE Caroline Kenyon (née Brandenburger) (01673) 828 302 caroline@thefoodawardscompany.co.uk NLCS – ONLs Lincolnshire

MIDLANDS Kate Jones (née Levinson) (01564) 776 571 Kate.Levinson@talk21.com Summer Meeting 2 July 2016 NLCS – ONLs Midlands

SOUTH WEST Audrey Derrick (née Dickinson) (01823) 421 323 priorscombe@tiscali.co.uk Spring Meeting 16 April 2016: Stoke St Mary, near Taunton, Somerset Autumn Meeting 15 October 2016: Wells, Somerset NLCS – ONLs South West England

ONLA OVERSEAS AUSTRALIA Kay Moyes (née Hannah) Australia 02 9975 6150 Mobile 0416 002 701 moyes_kay@hotmail.com Spring Meeting 29 May 2016: Forestville NLCS - ONLs Australia

ISRAEL Debra Benstein (née Kestel) dbenstein@gmail.com NLCS - ONLs Israel

NEW ZEALAND Helen Chipper (née Marr) 0064 9 4164946 j.h.chipper@xtra.co.nz NLCS – ONLs New Zealand

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ARTS CORNER

With so many inspirational women in the arts, it seems almost unbelievable that there are still issues with gender equality. While NLCS has seen star actors from its ranks such as Anna Popplewell and Rachel Weisz, there is still a great shortage of lead roles for women on stage. And in the visual arts, there is also still a long way to go; while female fine art graduates outnumber males, only six women have won the Turner Prize in 30 years.

NOTWITHSTANDING, THERE ARE STILL MANY PIONEERING WOMEN IN THE ARTS. Until a 2014 exhibition at the Towner Gallery in Eastbourne, many were unaware of Peggy Angus - an extraordinary woman and an artist of first-class standing. Known by many as the ground-breaking Head of Art at NLCS she built the department into what it is today, believing that art was an important part of a young girl’s development. As William Morris said, art and life are inseparable. Among Angus’ pupils were Anna Wintour, the editor of American Vogue, and the ceramicist Alison Britton, whose work can be seen in the V&A. While much of Angus’ work in public spaces has been lost, her sketchbooks and paintings remain to show what a fantastic visionary she was. Her design work is mesmerising.

Angus had been all but written out of history and even her husband didn’t mention her in his memoirs, but she is by no means forgotten now.

Ruth Brandon began working as a trainee producer for the BBC but she swiftly found television to be a very cumbersome medium and made the transition to writing. She comments that she ‘likes the 24

ONLINE | 2016

spaciousness of writing a book, the way one gets to live inside it.’ Surreal Lives, published in 2000, looks at how our assumptions about surrealism are, in fact, a long way from the truth. While many think of surrealism as being concerned with jokes, the movement began among poets whose aim was to create a revolution, both political and artistic. Brandon concentrates on the contradictions at the heart of the surrealists’ story with a fascinating focus on André Breton.

Girls continue to finish NLCS with strong distinctions in the arts. Only last year Kaye Song (2015) won the top prize in a National Open Art competition with her A-level coursework, Asleep, and Paloma Strelitz’s (2006) architectural collective, Assemble, won the Turner Prize. Triumphs such as this show the quality and passion nurtured by the Art Department, and it is women like these who shape the art world as we know it today.

If you are involved in the arts, please email at info@chloenelkinconsulting.com.

To keep up-to-date with my art news, check out chloenelkinconsulting.com.

Chloé Nelkin (2006)

ABOVE LEFT Oak leaves

by Peggy Angus ABOVE RIGHT

Asleep by Kaye Song

Chloé Nelkin Consulting specialises in PR, events and consultancy with a focus on visual arts, theatre and opera. CNC offer an internship scheme to those who are considering public relations as a career option. Internships last for a minimum of one month and expenses are paid.

A love of the arts is essential!

This scheme allows people to get a feel for working at a busy Soho office. If you would like to be considered, email info@ chloenelkinconsulting.com along with your up-to-date CV and a short covering letter, marking the subject box as ‘internship’.

BOOK CLUB

BARRY THE PENGUIN’S BLACK AND WHITE CHRISTMAS BY RACHEL BELLMAN (2010) Rachel Bellman has published a musical picture book with an accompanying CD, Barry the Penguin’s Black and White Christmas, featuring original songs and narration by Christopher Eccleston Barry is a penguin detective with enough gumption to carry him from one end of the earth to the other and back again.

When Father Christmas is kidnapped by the evil Bedbug Queen it looks like Christmas will be destroyed forever.

Only the chosen one, a girl called Phoebe, can save him.

The book was adapted from the original musical by Lesley Ross and John-Victor, and developed by Perfect Pitch.

MY HUSBAND’S WIFE BY JANE CORRY (1974) An eye for an eye. A wife for a wife. Lily is a newly-married, freshly-qualified solicitor in the year 2000. Her first case is to handle an appeal by a renowned murderer. Fast forward fifteen years, and Lily is asked to handle another case. To defend her first husband’s wife. Is her successor innocent? Or could her first client really be the culprit? Most important of all, is this Lily’s chance to wreak revenge?

To be published by Penguin on 26 August 2016, follow her on Twitter: @janecorryauthor

MISS CAVELL WAS SHOT: THE DIARIES OF AMY HODSON, 1914–1920 BY MONICA KENDALL (1972) In August 1914, thirteen-year-old Amy was trapped on the Belgian seacoast as war was declared with Germany.

British, resilient and feisty, she got back to occupied Brussels and began her war diaries. Amy knew Nurse Cavell and Ada Bodart, members of the secret network

who worked to get Allied soldiers across the frontier. She writes of zeppelins, food shortages, constant gunfire and spies.

‘The teenage Amy is at once observant, resilient and poignant in her daily recordings of the deprivations and small joys, the horrors and the mundaneness of an adolescence lived in a time of war. I loved this book.’ Vanessa Furse Jackson, Times Higher Education

Published by SilverWood Books 2015

CREATIVE, SUCCESSFUL, DYSLEXIC: 23 HIGH ACHIEVERS SHARE THEIR STORIES

BY MARGARET ROOKE (1979) Darcey Bussell CBE, David Bailey CBE, Eddie Izzard and 20 other prominent personalities with dyslexia have told their stories in this new book. It aims to encourage today’s school children who have this common but challenging condition.

Sir Richard Branson says dyslexia taught him to delegate; Prime Suspect creator Lynda La Plante CBE says she uses the way her brain is programmed to help her to move plots forward, Scotland and Everton footballer Steven Naismith says he believes the different way his brain is wired helps him with his game.

The book’s author Margaret Rooke remembers her shock and concern when her 13-year-old daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia. No one else in the family had struggled with their education. ‘I decided to write the book to show my daughter that she could still pursue her dreams,’ she says.

‘All the stories in the book are incredibly inspiring. Before I started the book, I had no idea how many hugely successful people are dyslexic and the degree to which they put their success down to dyslexia.’

THE BOOK OF JOBS BY LUCY TOBIN (2004) Lucy Tobin, now working in journalism, is always interviewing people in interesting jobs, so she decided to compile her own careers guide. The Book of Jobs contains ‘a day in the life’ style diaries from people doing a huge range of jobs, from a cabinet minister to Tim Peake, Britain’s first European Space Agency Astronaut. Also included are chef Antonio Carluccio, designer Kelly Hoppen, footballer Michael Owen and author Tracy Chevalier plus bankers, actuaries, publishers, fashion designers, barristers, zookeepers, app developers and lots more.

CHAINS OF SAND BY JEMMA WAYNE (1998) He has always been good at tracking down things that are hidden, like cockroaches in his mother’s kitchen cupboard, or tunnels in Gaza.

At 26, Udi is a veteran of the Israeli army and has killed five men. He wants a new life in a new place. He has a cousin in England.

Daniel is 29, a Londoner, an investment banker and a Jew. He wants for nothing, yet he too is unable to escape an intangible yearning for something more. And for less.

He looks to Israel for the answer.

But as the war with Hamas breaks out, Daniel cannot know that the star-crossed love of a Jewish girl and an Arabic man in Jerusalem a decade earlier, will soon complicate all that he thinks has become clear.

Chains of Sand is the eagerly awaited second novel from Jemma Wayne. Her first novel After Before was long-listed in 2015 for the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction, shortlisted for the Waverton Good Read Award, and long-listed for the Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize.

Creative, Successful, Dyslexic will raise funds for Dyslexia Action.

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ENGAGEMENTS MARRIAGES BIRTHS

ENGAGEMENTS

Lizzy Barber (2005) became engaged to George Reynolds on 13 April 2015 in Tulum, Mexico Anna Popplewell (2007) became engaged to Samuel Caird on 23 April 2015 in California Natasha Zilberkweit (2003) became engaged to David Lewy on 4 December, whilst on a weekend in New York

MARRIAGES

Elizabeth Leigh (2003) married Adam Lubczanski on 29 March 2015 at Luton Hoo Hotel, Bedfordshire The Rev Sharon GrenhamToze (née Laine, 1984) married Richard Thompson on May 2015 aboard HMS Warrior in Portsmouth Dana Sawdaye (2003) married James Grabiner in August 2015 in Israel

BIRTHS

Natalie Rowland (née Adzic, 1998) had her second daughter, Bethany Joy, in June 2014.

Natalie Phillips (née Lancer, 1999) had her second daughter, Clementine Rebecca-Mae, in April 2015, a little sister for Lily Alicia and ninth grandchild for Bernice Lancer (née Harris, 1959).

Joelle Rich (nee Rashti, 2003) had a baby girl, Aurora Giulietta Rich on 18 September 2015 Sam Hikmet (nee Goldman, 2003) had a baby girl, Alexa Arona Hikmet on 3 November 2015 26

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Barbara Ann Barrett (née Presswood, 1957) died on 3 June 2015. After North London Collegiate School, she won the Senior Scholarship to read Physics at Somerville College, Oxford. Postgraduate work took her to Columbia University and then as a professor to San Francisco State College until 1967. Barbara leaves three children and will be remembered for her kindness, gentleness and ability to smile through many challenges life threw at her.

Jenny Bogle (née Brown, 1980) arrived at NLCS in September 1969, three weeks after her seventh birthday, and stayed right through until ‘A’ levels in 1980. Jenny then had a highly successful legal career, first as a barrister, and later re-qualifying as a solicitor. It was through music, playing in the Imperial College Symphony Orchestra and later in the Salomon Orchestra, that she met her husband, David.

They married in 1996 and their daughter, Eleanor, was born in 1999. Jenny decided to stay at home while Eleanor was at school.

In 2009 Jenny received the devastating diagnosis of ovarian cancer. She was determined, however, not to be defined by her illness. In her last five years she was truly inspirational in her cheerful, positive attitude, making the most of every moment of life. Meanwhile, she put her legal and advocacy skills to work on behalf of Target Ovarian Cancer, even giving evidence to a House of Commons Select Committee. Jenny died in January 2015, survived by her husband, daughter, mother and two brothers.

Joyce Mary Childs (1944) won a scholarship to NLCS in 1938. In September 1949 she sailed to Southern Rhodesia where she worked at a London Missionary Society school for 17 years.

She returned to England for one year to do a degree course and was then appointed Senior Lecturer in Education at Harare University. Ten years later she felt called to Ministry, becoming Minister of the Congregational Church in Harare. In retirement she opened her back garden to an African play group and even taught some of them to read before they went to school. A life devoted to God and Zimbabwe, she died on 7th December 2015. A number of years ago a newspaper article called her ‘north Harare’s unsung heroine.’

Leonora Collins (née Dorf, 1942) died very peacefully on 30 November, five days short of her 92nd birthday. She had a long and interesting life and remained independent and active until the last month. She always spoke very warmly of her school years, all of which were spent at NLCS under Miss Drummond and Miss Harold, the latter of whom she had particularly good memories. She was very proud of being an Old North London Collegiate girl.

Joan Cooley (née Day, 1941) has died aged 89. She was a remarkable woman whose warmth and creativity touched many people’s lives.

Joan won a scholarship to North London Collegiate School, and went on to gain a first-class certificate at Goldsmiths College. Her career as a teacher blossomed and in 1973 she became a lecturer in nursery nurs-

ing at Acton and Chiswick Polytechnic. In the mid1950s, Joan discovered the delights of pottery and she became an accomplished and highly individual ceramicist, her home becoming crammed with her own objects, which she delighted in sharing with visitors. She is survived by her children, Sarah, Nancy and Jon, and her grandchildren, Helen, Tim, Robin, Rowan, Ella and Louise.

Meg Drake (née Wheeler, 1937) died of a heart attack on 7 December 2015. She was an amazing lady who drew everyone to her and she will be terribly missed by all who knew her.

Meg was a very special member of the South West ONL group and since its formation in 1980 came regularly to meetings until the last few years. She kept in touch but we missed both her presence and her lively contributions to discussions of diverse topics, including her own special interests in Art and Design and her recollections of life as a pupil at the school in Sandell Road.

Sheila Edwards (née Scott, 1947) died on 25 January 2016 in hospital in Exeter. Sheila joined the South West ONLA group soon after it was formed although poor health prevented her attending meetings.

She was however a lively corresponding member and greatly valued hearing news of the school, with particular interest in new developments and the formation of the Jeju school.

Joan Gartner (1939) attended NLCS when it was in Camden with weekly visits to Canons.

She won a scholarship and enjoyed her years there. She had to leave at 16 because of

REMEMBRANCE

family pressure to go to work so was unable to further her education, but continued with evening classes later in life. She regularly attended ONLA meetings for many years. Her daughter, Helen, joined the school in 1968 and remembers at least one of the teachers who’d taught her mother was still there then.

Gold Medal in the Southern Area Championship. She was proud of ‘her’ school and how well it prepared her for adult life. She was happily married to Mervyn for nearly 48 years and is remembered with love and affection by Mervyn, son Clifford, daughter-in-law Ailsa, relatives and many friends.

Margaret (Maggie) Glover (née McKechnie, 1953) was a dedicated Quaker, an active political campaigner for peace and a committed environmentalist and in all this she used her art as a means to her witness. She was an example and an inspiration to many.

As an artist she was prolific, taking her sketch pad wherever she went and as a portraitist she painted people of similar sympathies, including Fenner Brockway, Dora Russell, Pat Arrowsmith, Peter Tatchell and Bruce Kent. Bruce and Peter both spoke at her memorial service on 4 July at Wandsworth Quaker Meeting House.

In 2003 she emigrated to New Zealand to join two of her sons, and before going donated a great deal of her work to Bradford University’s Peace Studies Department.

Baraka Khan (2009) died in February 2016 after a long battle with cancer. Baraka joined North London in Year 12 in 2007 and went on to study Social and Political Sciences at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. She was an extraordinarily able student and used her intellectual gifts to the full. Baraka was a passionate individual, committed to her faith.

She faced her illness with courage and spirit, raising money for various charities by doing sponsored walks even when her strength was at its lowest. Her kindness and sense of humour won her many friends at School.

Marianne Elizabeth Irvine (née Holder, 1955) died on 11 April 2014 of cancer at Frimley Park Hospital, just before her 70th birthday.

A quiet, reserved and unselfish person, her close friends and family were very important to her. Whatever activity she engaged in, her heart and soul were put into it. Typical of her determination was taking up Judo in her middle age. Within a few years she had been awarded a black belt, and in 1979 received a

Hilary King (née Presswood, 1964) died on 25 June 2015. After North London Collegiate School, Hilary went on to read Modern Languages at Somerville College, Oxford, and completed a PGCE at York University. She had a very strong service ethic and did two years with VSO, taught French, Spanish and IT and was very involved in Rotary, both in Norwich and overseas. Hilary will be widely missed, especially by her family.

Barbara Nathan (née Michaels, 1961) died, aged 73, on 8 February 2016.

Barbara won a scholarship to the School in 1954.

Her school career and her continuing involvement with the School, Founder’s Day and the Old North Londoner’s Association remained a constant source of inspiration and pleasure for the rest of her life. She was Vice President of ONLA from 2009 to 2016 and was a member of the ONL Committee for many years, applying her trademark attention to detail and 100% effort to all her activities. Mrs McCabe was kind enough to describe her as a central figure in the life of the School.

She assiduously applied her talents to communal work on a national heritage day for B’nai B’rith UK (an international organisation which brings Jews together), helping to make it into a major feature in the B’nai B’rith calendar. Working alongside her husband, Brian, she established the Platinum Award for jewellery designers as one of the foremost design awards in Britain for modern jewellers. In later life she teamed up with him providing and delivering quiz questions for charitable organisations, including the annual NLCS Parent’s Guild evening.

Her proof-reading skills, attention to detail and wise counsel were invaluable in the smooth running of over three hundred of these events and between them they helped to raise over

£500,000 for charitable causes. She founded the Melissa Nathan Foundation, set up in the name of her dear daughter who passed away aged 37, raising money for families in need and for over 15 years she chaired and ran a local cultural group providing regular speakers and outings.

Pamela Anne Schooling (née Landsler, 1949) died on 16 March 2015, aged 83.

Pam spent the length of her school days at North London, leaving age 18 in 1949. She maintained good friends from her time at North London throughout her life. Pam married aviator John Schooling and leaves a daughter, Juliet Anne Schooling Latter. Pam carried with her an interest in all things from art to language, travel, history and gardening. She has been a pillar of the community in Radlett, Hertfordshire for the past five decades and will be sorely missed.

Gillian Mary Tooth (1955) died on 11 October 2015 in Bath, aged 78. She was a vital and sensible person, loved and appreciated by family and friends. She was invited to teach PE at NLCS by Rhona Lewis, after training at Bedford PE College, but opted to go back to Bedford.

Unfortunately she contracted German measles which affected her health for many years, together with other medical problems. She later taught at the Royal School in Bath, both PE and Art, for which she devised her own teaching method. She was much valued as a caring and generous step-sister.

Her friend Mary Rawitzer attended her funeral, and Gillian was a correspondent member of the Gloucester ONL Group.

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STAFF ANNOUNCEMENTS

STAFF BABY NEWS

Claudia Ash , a baby girl, Penelope, born in February 2015 Erica Breffit , a baby girl, Lucy, born in February 2015 Emma Staves , a baby girl, Amelie, born in April 2015 Sara Gamsu , a baby boy, Ethan, born in June 2015 Lucy Cooper , a baby girl, Fleur, born in July 2015 Sarah Donwa , a baby boy, Joshua, born in August 2015 Vicky Webb , a baby girl, LilyAnne, born in August 2015 Dhara Pindolia , a baby boy, Rian, born in the summer 2015 Maria Briggs , a baby girl, Freya, born October 2015 Dora O’Sullivan , baby boy, Joseph, born in November 2015 Susanna Stuteley , a baby boy, Cian Ruben, born in December 2015 Emma Brown , a baby boy, Mitchell Anthony, born in January 2016 Deborah Sobel , a baby boy, Toby Max, born in March 2016

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STAFF ENGAGEMENTS AND MARRIAGES

Hannah La Farge (Junior School, Reception Teacher) got married in the Easter holidays and is now Hannah Stokes-Wigham Joe Brown (Junior School, Year 5 Teacher and Partnerships and External Relations Co-ordinator) became engaged over the Summer holidays Alex Cocksworth (Head of Middle School) married Ryan McSharry in August 2015 Kate Machemer (Junior School Director of Sport) got married in December 2015 and is now Kate Kiernan

RETIRING STAFF

This year we said goodbye to two members of staff who are retiring.

Between them they gave 22 years of service to the School.

MS CARMEL HEWITT

Year 4 Form Tutor Carmel joined the Junior School team in 2001 from Orley Farm, teaching Year 1, Year 2 and, for the last seven years, Year 4. She developed the teaching of RS in the Junior School and introduced Philosophy into lessons and through her popular ‘Change Your Mind Club’. Carmel’s special brand of pastoral care came with endless patience and attention to detail. She ensured that her girls achieved their best with gentle nudges and infinite kindness. No friendship issues or squabbles were allowed to fester as Carmel helped to melt away any tears or upset. Carmel was always up for a new challenge, joining the trip to the Flying Angels School in Zambia and as a great ambassador for the Junior School at SCEGGS. We wish Carmel every happiness as she begins a new life in Surrey and will miss her wisdom, insight, reliability and measured approach to life.

DR DILIP JOSHI

Teacher of Chemistry Dilip joined the Chemistry Department in 2007. He quickly became a respected and valued teacher, earning the girls’ trust with his calm and meticulous approach to classroom teaching, working closely with his tutor groups over the years. Within the Chemistry Department he provided terrific levels of technical expertise, both in the laboratory and in developing methods and schemes of teaching. We thank him for his tireless efforts and his devotion to sharing his love of his subject. We wish him a long and happy retirement.

STAFF VALETE

TEACHING STAFF:

Steven Berryman (Assistant Director of Music) left for a promotion to Director of Music at City of London School for Girls.

Charlie Dehaan (Canons Duty Manager), left to pursue his career in the Sport & Leisure Industry further at Highgate School.

Fleur Delany (Teacher of Geography) left for a promotion to Head of Geography at Queen’s College, London.

Sarah Donwa (Teacher of Mathematics) left to have a baby.

Axelle Douillet (French Language Assistant) left to pursue a PGCE course.

Emilie Eymin-Petot (Teacher of French and Spanish) left for a promotion to Lead Teacher of French at St Paul’s Girls’ School.

Hanna Heffner (German Language Assistant) left to pursue other interests.

Caroline Kalms (part-time teacher) left after completing a one year contract with us.

Ben Kerr-Shaw (Teacher of Religious Studies and Philosophy) left for a promotion to Head of Religious Studies at St Albans High School.

Rebecca Levy (Maths Specialist) left after completing a one year contract with us,

Niranjali Manek (Teacher of Mathematics) left to join Merchant Taylors’ School.

Christian McCarthy (Teacher of History and Politics) left having completed a maternity cover post.

Laura Needoff (Teacher of Art) left to spend time with her family.

Angela Novick (part-time teacher) left after completing a one year contract with us.

Robert Paler (Teacher of History and Director of IB Diploma) left for a promotion to Head of Politics and Director of IB at Charterhouse.

Hilary Tilley (Teacher of French) left to pursue other interests.

Kitty Turley (Teacher of English) left to spend time with her family.

Hannah Wiedermann (Teacher of French and KS4 Co-ordinator Modern Languages) left for a promotion to Head of French at UCS.

NON-TEACHING STAFF

Chloe Fitchet (Support Assistant and After School Club Coordinator) left to join the Metropolitan Police Force.

Emma Maltz (Alumnae & Development Officer) left to spend time with her family.

Graham Partington (Bursar) left to pursue other interests.

STAFF OBITUARIES

Betty Dass was a Geography Teacher at North London from 1951 to 1955, and Head of the Geography Department for ten years until 1965.

Miss R. M. Scrimgeour (19062000; NLCS 1934-1971) spent four decades at NLCS as an English Teacher, Head of English and then Deputy Head to Dame Kitty and later Miss McLauchlan before she retired in 1971. She loved Canons and wrote in her will that she wanted a small service held in the grounds.

On 16 July 2015 the Bursar, Graham Partington, welcomed her executor, Margaret Cook, and former members of staff Enid Ellis, Joan Lundie, Ann Thomas and Kay Moore and ONL Heather McManus to Canons. To mark her retirement Miss Scrimgeour had planted a cherry tree near the gates; we gathered there and Miss Ellis, who is a lay preacher at St Mary’s Harrow on the Hill, and a good friend of ‘Scrim’, conducted a short service and read a moving eulogy. On a beautiful day it seemed a fitting tribute to a remarkable scholar and friend of NLCS. Mr Gordon Rodney Wood died peacefully in hospital on 23rd October aged 84.

He worked at the School for about five years leaving in 1997, maintaining contact with many staff friends. He

helped the School stay at the forefront of modern educational methods via his work as an Audio Visual Technician, and spoke warmly of his time at NLCS. Lucy Wood (NLCS 1950-1961) came to teach part-time in the Maths Department for one term to cover an emergency. She stayed for 10 years! She arrived in time to help with costumes for the centenary Tableaux Vivants and to be an usher at the service in St. Paul’s Cathedral and she continued to play a full part in the life of the School.

Her two daughters were pupils and Lucy left to give them more breathing space.

How often had she made her way to dinner to find either Jane or Frances having been sent out of the dining room for talking at the wrong time!

Lucy was always ready to learn new skills and follow up new interests. She started to play the bassoon in her 50’s and played in amateur orchestras and wind groups until she was 99. She travelled extensively and in her later years took up creative embroidery, partly ‘to get to know new people’.

Lucy died unexpectedly and peacefully in her sleep on 23 August 2015 at the age of 103.

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DEVELOPMENT

We extend our warmest thanks to donors who have supported us at all levels this year – whether through a monthly direct debit or a one-off gift. We are grateful for gifts of all sizes towards the Bursary Fund and to our most recent capital campaign, the New Buildings Project.

To thank supporters, we were delighted to put up two donor boards in the School in September, one by the entrance to the Hall and one in the entrance of the New Building.

The School was also thrilled to erect a climbing wall in the Sports Hall last summer. It makes a fantastic addition to our sporting facilities, and we are looking forward to seeing girls learning to climb both in lessons and in clubs. Many thanks to Keith and Lauren Breslauer and the Dwyer family for their generous contributions towards the wall.

BURSARIES AT NORTH LONDON We continue to raise much-needed funds for bursaries at the School. Approximately 9% of Senior School students receive some form of bursary support. The School received 55 applications for bursaries for entry in September 2015 – the largest number of applications received in several years, indicating the increasing demand for bursary places. We are immensely grateful to all ONLs who support the Bursary Fund, and who enable us to welcome girls of all backgrounds into the School community, regardless of their parents’ ability to pay the fees. Thank you all.

We are thrilled to let you know of two recent fundraising successes: Bank of America Merrill Lynch North London is delighted to announce the first corporate sponsorship of the School’s Bursary Fund. Bank of America Merrill Lynch will generously support bursaries at the School over a seven-year period, allowing future students to benefit from a North London education.

This new partnership builds on an existing relationship that the School has developed with the bank, which previously sponsored a YouGov survey investigating attitudes of young women to careers in financial services on behalf of NLCS. As part of the School’s growing rela30

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tionship with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, some students have taken part in internship programmes and one has been offered mentoring by staff.

The Headmistress welcomed the funding: ‘This donation will make a difference to the lives of the students who receive it.

The relationship we have with the bank also brings wider benefits, providing girls with mentors and role models in the financial services sector, broadening their horizons and opening up opportunities.’

Currently, more than 70 girls at North London – about 10 per cent of the Senior School student body – benefit from needsbased financial support, ranging from 10 per cent to 100 per cent of fees.

The donation will help students like Nadia Odunayo, an Old North Londoner and Oxford graduate. Nadia received a bursary and a scholarship which covered her fees in full.

‘The ethos running through the School is about confidence, about independent young women who believe in themselves going on to do awesome things,’ said Nadia.

‘It was such a rich environment. I felt I really came into my own.’

‘The support at school when I was applying to university was invaluable,’ she said.

‘And when I went to university, I was relatively unfazed because of the big switch I’d handled at 16 – for me, the real transition in my life was going to North London.’

The bank’s support is part of its efforts to help drive youth employment, which includes introducing girls to career opportunities in financial services, and encouraging young women to consider a career at a global financial institution.

John Lyon’s Charity A charitable foundation, John Lyon’s Charity, has awarded a grant to the Bursary Fund that will cover the fees of four students joining the School on 100% bursaries for their entire Senior School education - two joining Year 7 in 2016 and two in 2017.

John Lyon’s Charity is currently funding four students on 100% bursaries within the School, and so we are thrilled that they have awarded us another grant. A gift over this length of time is so useful in allowing us to plan for our bursary provision with confidence.

If you are able to connect us with a company or a charitable trust that might be interested in supporting our Bursary Fund, please do let us know – do contact Russell Marriott either on 020 8951 6376 or at rmarriott@nlcs.org.uk – thank you.

A GIFT IN YOUR WILL Legacies and bequests have played a key part in North London’s success and that continues today. Whether large or small, a gift in your will can help to make a real difference to the School in a meaningful way.

Remembering North London with a legacy gift will ensure that some of the moments you may recall from your school days here – games of Budge, inspiring teachers, lifelong friendships – will also be enjoyed by future generations.

You may choose to support the Bursary Fund, School facilities and buildings, or an unrestricted area of the School’s work.

We are immensely grateful to receive such meaningful gifts.

For more information or for an anonymous, informal conversation please contact us at legacies@nlcs.org.uk, or on 020 8951 6376.

We may use information about current and former parents and pupils, and others, in relation to fundraising and promoting NLCS. For example, we may contact individuals who we consider might be interested in supporting NLCS in connection with a specific fundraising activity. In this, we are assisted by a small team of volunteers (which includes NLCS alumnae, governors and current parents) but we will not share your contact details with them, or any other information which we consider to be confidential, without your permission.

DEVELOPMENT

1 Deborah Sobel 2 Russell Marriott 3 Gavin Mann 4 Poorvi Smith 5 Carolina Jayson

INTRODUCING YOUR ALUMNAE & DEVELOPMENT TEAM The Alumnae & Development Team supports North London’s growing alumnae network, and fundraises for much-needed bursaries and developments at the School.

We hold many events for the ONL community from year group reunions and an annual ONL Picnic, to networking events and careers seminars. We always enjoy meeting you and receiving updates and news – by email, phone or Facebook. We’re here to support your ‘Community for Life’ so please do keep in touch!

We currently have contact details for over 5,000 ONLs across the world, but some of these may no longer be accurate. If you know anyone that isn’t in touch with the School, please ask them to email us at onla@nlcs.org.uk.

And finally – if you want to share with us any ideas or suggestions for how we can better support or bring together ONLs, we’d love you to let us know. This is your alumnae network.

DEBORAH SOBEL, DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT (MATERNITY LEAVE) I am thrilled to be Director of Development at North London, with responsibility for fundraising and alumnae relations.

Until December 2014 I was part of the Development team at the Royal Opera House; I have also raised funds at the Donmar Warehouse and the National Theatre, after starting my career as a graduate trainee at Mars. I very much look forward to meeting more parents, ONLs and members of the North London community over the coming months and years. I’m on maternity leave from February 2015, and look forward to rejoining the team soon!

RUSSELL MARRIOTT, DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT (MATERNITY COVER) I joined NLCS in January 2016 to cover Deborah’s maternity leave. I have been a

fundraiser in the charity sector for over 20 years, working in sectors as diverse as education, the arts – Rich Mix, Somerset House and the Old Vic, social welfare and membership organisations such as the Institution of Engineering and Technology and The Royal College of General Practitioners.

With responsibility for building on and continuing the great work already done in fundraising and alumnae relations I look forward to the coming months.

GAVIN MANN, DEVELOPMENT MANAGER I joined North London Collegiate School in November 2014 after serving as a musician in the British Army. I have performed around the world and for all of the major state and ceremonial events. Of the many highlights, two in particular stand out – performing at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games and sharing the stage with Robbie Williams for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace.

NLCS feels like an extension of my family as my wife is a History teacher and my daughter is a student in the Senior School.

Since joining NLCS I have enjoyed meeting so many different people, from ONLs at the 55+ Year Reunion to sharing breakfast with the new Reception intake. I am continually impressed with the dedication of the students and staff and the warm, positive atmosphere within the school and community.

I enjoy how varied my job is and am passionate about the School’s Bursary Fund, helping to raise funds for girls who require assistance to access NLCS.

POORVI SMITH (ONL 1991), ALUMNAE OFFICER I am an ONL and mother to a nine-yearold daughter. I have worked in the Alumnae Office for three years, and previously worked in the advertising and marketing

industry. I returned to NLCS for my 20 year reunion and very quickly fell back in love with the grounds, the buildings and the general ethos of the School – so much so that I began working here the following year. I still find it difficult to go into the staffroom and have to remind myself that at the age of 41, I am legitimately allowed to go there without getting into trouble!

Whilst I secretly still harbour a dream to become Prime Minister, my role in the Alumnae Office keeps me busy. I particularly enjoy running the Career Networking service and never cease to be amazed at the incredible careers that NLCS girls go on to do.

CAROLINA JAYSON (ONL 1991), ALUMNAE OFFICER I am the newest member of the Team, having joined last November. I am so delighted to be back at NLCS after all these years! I have such great memories of the School and am still close friends with many of my classmates, which partly inspired my wanting to be active within the Old North Londoner community. My career background is in building and managing Sales and Customer Services departments within the telecoms industry, and I hope to be able to make use of my experience through getting to know other ONLs and working with Poorvi to build connections within the ONL community.

I am stunned by all the improvements here and the expansion of the facilities. I have a seven year old daughter and a three year old son who will love the opportunity to run around the same grounds I ran around 30 years ago, during summer holiday camps here. I recommend any ONLs to contact us and come and have a look for themselves.

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ONL REUNION

1 Year Reunion Class of 2014

10 Year Reunion Class of 2005

20 Year Reunion Class of 1995

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ONL REUNION

30 Year Reunion Class of 1985

40 Year Reunion Class of 1975

2016窶ポ窶グNLINE

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ONL REUNION

50 Year Reunion Class of 1965

Summer Picnic

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The Old North Londoners’ Association Today

ONLs in touch with us

TOP 5 CAREERS

Law

Banking and Finance

Engineering

18 101

AGED

5,521

to

Medicine

Media

How ONLs can benefit from ONLA

guests at 16 events

Keeping up to date with news about ONLs and School

Reasons to attend events

Catch up with old friends

£1.9 14 4

Revisit North London

Network

m donated to the School by 399 ONLs over the last 10 years ONLA Committee Members Development and Alumnae Staff at NLCS

CANADA

Attending interesting events volunteering to give career advice to students and other ONLs

ISRAEL

Getting internship opportunities, work placements and career help Applying for ONLA Academic and Travel Awards

5

USA

AUSTRALIA

OvER ThE LAST yEAR

636

Top 5 Countries outside the UK

Career Networking Societies for ONLs - Arts - Business & Finance - Law - Media - STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Medicine)

FRANCE

8

Financial awards ONLs given in 2015 to wishing to continue their studies or travel abroad after leaving School

1,700 Friends on Facebook 252 Followers on Twitter 2016 | ONLINE

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ONL INFORMATION

Annual General Meeting SATURDAY 7 MAY 2016

Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting 2016 of the Old North Londoners’ Association will be held at North London Collegiate School, Canons, Canons Drive, Edgware, HA8 7RJ on Saturday 7 May 2016 at 10.30am.

AGENDA ÌÌ ÌÌ ÌÌ ÌÌ ÌÌ ÌÌ

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE MINUTES OF THE LAST AGM 2015 MATTERS ARISING SECRETARY’S REPORT PRESENTATION OF ONLA ACCOUNTS ELECTION/RE-ELECTION OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS AND VICE PRESIDENTS ÌÌ ANY OTHER BUSINESS

COFFEE AND PASTRIES WILL BE SERVED AT 11AM.

All ONLs are more than welcome to attend.

The Association is run for the benefit of ONLs and we would be delighted to receive your input. If you would like to attend, please contact the Alumnae Office by Monday 25 April 2016.

If you would like to nominate another ONL for election or re-election to the Committee at the AGM please contact us for guidance on how to nominate and the forms.

Forthcoming Events 2016 Please visit the ONLA section on our website, nlcs.org.uk for the most up-to-date list of events and reunions.

APRIL 13

ONLA MEDIA SOCIETY DRINKS

MAY 7

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ONLA AGM 10, 20, 30 AND 40 YEAR REUNIONS: CLASSES OF 1976, 1986, 1996, 2006 ONLA BUSINESS AND FINANCE SOCIETY DRINKS

JUNE email: onla@nlcs.org.uk call: 020 8951 6475

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ONLA SUMMER PICNIC CLASS OF 2013 3 YEAR REUNION

Visiting Canons ONLs are warmly welcomed back to the School at any time. Please don’t wait for a reunion – if you are going to be in the area, please contact the Alumnae Office and we would be delighted to organise a visit for you, with a tour of the school led by current girls. Please contact onla@nlcs.org.uk or 020 8951 6475.

ONLs have an open invitation to attend any of the school shows, performances and sports matches. For example, this year the school will host 39 events from music to drama to art in the Performing Arts Centre. Information about these events available at www.nlcs.org.uk under the About Us, Latest Publications: Performing Arts Brochure 2015-2016.

Founder’s Day remains a popular date in the School calendar and space for ONLs to attend is limited by the attendance of Year 13 parents. If you wish to be placed on the waiting list, please contact the Alumnae Office onla@nlcs.org.uk or 020 8951 6475 from January 2017. Names on the waiting list are added on a first-come, first-served basis and we will not be able to confirm your seat until approximately a week beforehand.

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ONLA BURSARIES North London is keen to maintain a relationship with our students beyond their time at School, supporting ONLs in their endeavours and ambitions whenever possible.

All ONLs are eligible to apply for Travel and Academic Bursaries. Please contact the Alumnae Office for more details.

CANONS LIFE UPDATE From the autumn term of 2016, we’ll only send you a copy of Canons Life, the School’s termly newsletter, if you choose to ‘opt in’ to receive it. If you would like to continue to receive Canons Life by post, please email us at onla@nlcs.org.uk or phone us on 0208 951 6475, and we would be delighted to send it to you. The online version will be available as usual on our website.

Buzz Square Frances Mary Buss has 1,700 ONL friends on Facebook! To become part of the ONLA Facebook community, please befriend Frances Mary Buss and ask to be added to the correct group for your year.

We also have different regional groups set up, as well as ONLA Arts, Business and Finance, Law, Media and STEMM Societies.

You can also keep up with the latest news about ONLs and current girls by following @nlcs1850 on Twitter.