S O C I E T Y
The Roedeanian
Summer 2020 1
Developments at Roedean 2019
2020-21 Prefects
Poem by Hettie (Yr 7)
Dr Mos-Shogbamimu speaks virtually at Final Chapel
Hairspray
Roedean lit up to thank NHS workers
Alumnae Events
ORA Committee virtual meeting 2
Sarah and Ellen Ehrlich, Teresa and Tilly Outhwaite and Sasha Glynn - two generations of OR brunching together
Introduction I am genuinely and deeply grateful for the work of all our staff and girls over the lockdown. They all worked incredibly hard to ensure that the opportunities, the momentum, and the progress have been maintained. As you will read in the School News section of this issue, the girls have continued to participate in a huge range of activities, as well as their online lessons. I have been amazed by how brilliant, optimistic and hard-working our girls have been. There are so many more stories of their individual successes, charity work and community support work that we haven’t had the space to share with you this time. Many in our community will have been affected by the pandemic in different ways, either through the loss of loved ones, losing jobs or loss of income. Many of you will have futures that look very different. I would like to extend my gratitude to the families who have been able to donate to our 6th Form Leavers’ Deposit Appeal this year. The donations received will go towards supporting those families within the school who need some extra support at this time. The Class of 2020, have had to cope with finishing their school education, without many of the usual traditions, which I know has been hard for many of you, I look forward to welcoming you back to Roedean for events in the future, and to hearing how you go on to thrive in the wider world. This year marked the 75th anniversary of VE Day. We were unable to mark this as we would have liked, but it was with great pride that I saw the school lit up for the occasion. I hope you enjoy reading the memories of two ORs who were at Roedean at the time in our special VE Day feature. With best wishes Oliver Blond Headmaster
Contents School Highlights
4-7
OR News
8-9
Feature: VE Day at Roedean
10-11
Obituaries
12-13
Dates for Your Diary
13
Roedean Merchandise Shop
14
Roedean Through the Ages
15
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School Highlights Black Lives Matter On 25 May, the world was shaken by the death of George Floyd, a 46-year old Black man, whilst being arrested, causing people around the world to call for justice, not just for George Floyd but for all Black people. It is important to speak out and stand in solidarity, whatever our circumstances, and to offer a message to all our girls, ORs, staff, parents and friends. The message is simple - we offer our support and understanding to all and anyone who is fighting against and has suffered racial injustice. Just as vitally, we must work to improve and develop our understanding and empower all our black students. Discrimination can make us feel ashamed because that is what it is designed to do, and sometimes we can feel like hiding it away. The current voices we hear across the world are doing the opposite and it matters. We want our girls to know that they don’t need to hide away. As a School, we are talking about how we can change to ensure that racism has no place at Roedean, now or in the future. To do this we are looking at many different options, including revising our curriculum to ensure that we are
Virtual Summer Concert The Roedean Music Department’s concerts are always highly anticipated events within our school year. With their typical hard work and resilience, they did not let us down this term, and in replace of a live concert, produced a fantastic hour-long virtual concert instead. The girls were all invited to submit a recorded performance of their choice, and these were painstakingly edited and tied together into a wonderful concert.
teaching the truth about Black history, starting a dedicated staff and student committee to be a voice for those who need it, and employing Diversity specialists to review our structures from an external viewpoint. We are aware that this is an ongoing task, but as a school we are pledging our dedication to support the fight against racism.
Highlights of the concert include some excellent sung solos, and pieces on the piano, ukele and trumpet. The music encompasses the whole spectrum from classical through to a piece from Disney film Tangled, and some wonderful original compositions by the girls themselves, including Eden’s A Level piece Serendipity, which was due to be premiered by the orchestra, with Eden on piano at the Fringe Festival Concert in May. As well as these individual pieces, through the magic of technology (and Mr Rous’ editing skills) individual recordings of the students playing I Dreamed a Dream and Theme from Engima Variations were pieced together into wonderful orchestral recordings. In fact, so much content was submitted, that as well as the main concert, there was also enough for another ‘Bonus Content’ video. You can view the main concert by going to: https:// tinyurl.com/roedean-summerconcert and the bonus content at: https://tinyurl.com/roedeanconcert-bonus.
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Roedean Becomes a Virtual School The challenges we have all had to face over the last few months have been exceptional. As a school, we were suddenly, faced with having to work out in a very short amount of time how to continue educating 620 girls, offsite and spread across the globe. The work that went in to preparing for this behind the scenes was immense, but we are incredibly proud of how well our staff and students have adapted to becoming a Virtual School. In particular, huge thanks go to our IT department, who within a remarkably short length of time had ensured that everyone in the school had access to the computer equipment and software needed to work and learn remotely, through Microsoft Teams. This has meant that throughout this term, the girls have been able to follow a full timetable of lessons every day, ensuring the continuation of their studies. As a school with a holistic vision for the education of our girls, we also wanted to find a way to continue this online. Part of this was to build tutor periods and year group socials in to the new timetable, so that the girls were able to spend time together outside of their lessons, to keep their friendships as strong as ever. Our Chapel has always been central to life at Roedean, so there has also been weekly Chapel services, as well as virtual versions of our usual First and Final Chapels of term. Hopefully it won’t be too long before we are also able to reinstate handshaking. Staff were all asked to submit ideas for extra-curricular sessions they would be able to run online, and the result has been an absolutely packed programme for the girls to choose from during their two daily activity slots. The variety
has been tremendous, from sports challenges (and even a virtual Sports Day), musical groups, textiles and academic societies to a regular Monday night cook along with Mr Ebden, and weekly Bingo with Mr Halsey. The most important factor to us, has been ensuring that the girls are happy, supported and able to continue with an education as close as possible to normal Roedean life, it has been fantastic to see this pay off, as shown by some of the feedback we have received from students and parents: “I would like to thank all of my amazing subject teachers for their patience and support over the year, but particularly over the last term dealing with remote learning. Our curriculum has continued throughout, and this is due to their incredible organisation and flexibility. They have helped us to cope with this change every day, and for that I am so grateful. A special mention also to Ms Beadle, our wonderful Head of Year for her unwavering support. And not forgetting the Sports Department and Ms Boobis for organising a vast and varied co-curricular programme, which provided me with badly needed time away from screens and of course kept me engaged in fitness and other interests. On that note, a huge thank you to Mr Ebden for the brilliant cookery lessons... I learned to make so many delicious dishes! Our House staff have been amazing too, especially Ms Le Bihan, always taking an interest in what we were doing, and arranging much needed socials with our House. THANK YOU SO MUCH everyone!!”! (Maria, Year 9) “Please may I also take this opportunity to say a big thank you for your care and support of our girls. You and your colleagues have worked tirelessly to deliver some normality and structure to their days, and deliver a 1st class virtual education.” (Year 7 and 9 Parent)
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School Highlights Roedean - A Year in Pictures At the end of a very unusual year, we have been reflecting back on everything that has been achieved at Roedean - despite having a third of the year as a virtual School. We hope you enjoy this picture gallery of a year in the life of Roedean!
August: Our 2019 A Level cohort celebrate their outstanding results, with 54.8% at A*-A grades.
September: Year 9 and 10 enjoy a day of workshops with West End star Charlotte Kennedy.
October: 6th Form Students on their Digital Detox Residential in the Peak District.
November: Musical Comedian Rachel Parris hands out the awards and exam certificates at Speech Day
December: The Chapel is transformed for the School production of The Crucible.
January: Prospective Roedean Girls enjoy the Visual and Performing Arts Experience Day.
February: The Music Department wow us with their ‘Name That Tune’ Gala Concert.
March: Students from Roedean and St Marks Primary walk the fancy dress catwalk for World Book Day
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May: The PE department challenge the students to carry out Netball trick shots at home.
April: Year 7 take part in an Easter Egg decorating competition for the Art Department.
Careers Support Thank you to all the ORs and parents who have supported our careers programme over the past year. Without you we simply wouldn’t be able to prepare the girls so well for life after Roedean. Over the course of this year: • 36 recent leavers have signed up to be 6th Form Buddies to support the Class of 2020. • 14 ORs and 4 parents have presented 6th Form Pathways Lectures • 12 ORs and 13 parents, joined with local businesses and national organisations to represent nearly 50 different careers at the Careers Fair. • 7 ORs provided interview practice for Oxbridge and Medical School applicants. • Multiple requests for help sourcing work experience and mentoring support have been answered. • 1 OR appointed as our Arts Ambassador. We want to continue to expand the support we offer the girls in these areas, so please do get in touch on alumnae@roedean.co.uk if you can help in anyway - even if you don’t live close to Roedean, as lectures can always be delivered virtually, and work experience is often needed close to a girls home. ORs can also easily keep us up to date about your career so that we can match your experience to any requests from the girls by creating an online profile on the Roedean Community Network (https://community.roedean.co.uk/ register) and importing information from your LinkedIn account.
June: Year 12 students Gracie and Liv complete a challenge to swim the distance across the English Channel along the Brighton coast.
Race Across the World In order to keep everyone moving, and the fiercely competitive House spirit alive, the challenge was set during the Summer Term to log our exercise distances in an attempt to together cover the distance to Roedean South Africa, 12,000 km away. Roedean South Africa were also challenged to race to us in return. The results were of course ranked by House in order to encourage healthy competition - and to spur everyone on to take part. We were blown away with the results, and with one week left of term had not just reached South Africa, but had almost returned to Brighton, and together with Roedean SA, we were just under 5,000 km away from going all the way around the equator. With a tremendous effort in the final week, particularly from Year 13, and House 3 (who nearly doubled their previous total) we made it - the final distance covered by both schools was 43,882. The final House rankings were worked out as an average per person, to allow for the variety in House size: 1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place 4th Place 5th Place 6th Place 7th Place
House 4 House 1 House 3 Kats Lambs House 2 Bears
28.42 27.42 25.65 24.01 23.97 19.65 14.99 7
OR News Shanta Sundarason (No. 4, 1983-87) 17 March 2020 is a day all Canadian’s will remember. This was the day in which Premier Ford declared a state of emergency against Covid-19. As the world struggled with its battle to flatten the curve it was matched by a deficit of personal protective equipment. Sewers around the world became creative and started to stitch face masks and other personal protective equipment to support and protect front-line workers and their loved ones. What started just north of Toronto as a small group of sewing enthusiasts quickly turned into a Region wide army led by OR Shanta Elizabeth Sundarason. Her group consists of 120 active sewers and 30 drivers all rallying together. The initiative has been strongly supported by community donations of fabric and notions. The York Region group began its journey on 5 April with its mission to provide an additional layer of protection to the front-line health service workers and the vulnerable population in times of personal protective equipment shortage. In 100 days, the group was able to fulfill requests for well over 22,000 masks, scrub caps, headbands, and wet bags to the local healthcare community. Shanta says: ‘We are humbled by the generous donations of supplies from the community. As our Cities start reopening and PPE becomes readily available, we are slowing down on our mission and allowing our volunteers to take a well deserved break.’ WE Care - York Region will continue as a community volunteer group to help in times of urgent need. To celebrate all volunteers who have so unselfishly donated so much of themselves to others during these unprecedented times, Shanta commissioned the sewing of a memory quilt. She carefully collected scraps of fabric from each of her volunteers and had their names embroidered on by a friend. The next step was to have another volunteer who was a quilter, piece the squares together to form a beautiful piece of art. The quilt will now make its rounds from hospital wards to long term care homes and hung as a tribute to all those that have given their time to help front line workers during Covid-19. 8
Felicity Flutter (Cole, No. 3, 1967-71) “The start of a new decade has already seen major changes in all our lives. As an artist being confined to my studio has not been a problem, however closed Galleries and cancelled Exhibitions have not been a happy situation. So, when an email appeared from the popular Artists & Illustrators Magazine, offering to showcase my seascapes in their ‘In the Studio’ 2020 summer feature, I was thrilled and excited. I have already enjoyed sales and wonderful feedback as a result. I have been painting in Watercolours for almost 30 years. A move nearer to the coast has encouraged and inspired my latest work, mixing artistic license with realism, combining watercolour with drawing in pencil to incorporate more mark making and texture. I use photography and sketches as a starting point for my paintings, often ‘designing’ the picture from a number of different images, manipulating them in Photoshop then painting many thin glazes of transparent paint, finishing with a dry brush, natural sponge or pencil to create more random marks.” Felicity’s paintings can be seen in an online exhibition on the Mall Galleries website with the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, and on her website www.felicityflutter.co.uk where you can buy greetings cards of her designs, or complete a contact form if you are interested in buying her artwork.
OR News Teresa Outhwaite (Brach, No. 1, 1985-91) and Vickie Tabain (Korner, No. 1, 1980-86) We were excited earlier this year to be able to help connect two ORs with an unknown family connection. In the Winter issue of the Roedeanian, we published Lily Reitlinger’s obituary, written by her niece, Teresa. This prompted Vickie to get in touch with us, as she realised that her and Teresa have a cousin in common (as well as both being House 1!). Vickie asked us to pass on her email address to Teresa, who responded to say that she remembered Vickie well as they also have a mutual friend. Since then Vicki and Teresa have been in email contact, and had talked about meeting up face to face - although with Vickie in Australia, and Teresa in the UK, this may now prove to be even trickier than it would have been during ‘normal’ times. Do get in touch if you also have a tale of an unexpected OR connection!
Eugenia Cheng (No. 4, 1987-94) Eugenia’s new book x + y: A Mathematician’s Manifesto for Rethinking Gender, was released this summer. This is Eugenia’s fourth book, and looks at how her mathematical speciality of Category Theory, can shed light on gender issues, proposing a new way for us all to look at the contexts in which we all exist. Eugenia was recently interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour about x + y, those in the UK can listen to the interview here https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/ m000ktxf (The section with Eugenia starts around 33:20 minutes). About writing the book, Eugenia says: As a woman working in the male-dominated field of mathematics, I have been asked about gender issues for my whole career. I believe my time at Roedean was important as I did not grow up subjected to the stereotype of boys being better at maths or being better leaders. In an all-girls environment we got used to girls doing everything. But there was something important beyond that, which was the “whole life” education with an emphasis on community and collaboration. My book is about when gender issues are really about gender, and when they’re really about character and behaviour. More information about the book can be found on the publisher’s website: https://profilebooks.com/x-y.html.
Rebecca Long (No. 4, 1982-91) Producer Rebecca’s latest film, Kat and the Band was released this summer, on 13th July. The concept was originally conceived about 5 years ago, as a film with a positive message for young women - if you have a dream, through dedication, determination and courage, you can achieve it. The message is wrapped up in an entertaining, feel good film: Kat, a student at a private girls’ school her mum (played by Katherine Kelly) is working hard to afford to send her to, dreams of being a band manager. During the school holidays, she persuades the band (with McFly’s Dougie Poynter playing Alex in his first film role) to make her their manager - but they don’t know she’s still at school. Brave Kat flying by the seat of her school uniform manages to get some gigs, but it all becomes a bit of a disaster until one of their songs goes viral. Rebecca spent a good year confined in her home / office developing the idea with writers and putting investor plans and pitches together - often the hardest and most complicated part of the process. The aim was to have women in 50% of the heads of department and crew roles, which they achieved, of this Rebecca says “I found having a parity of women with men on set made for the very best atmosphere during long days often outside and late at night in the cold. Hopefully the film will warm your heart.”
Keep in touch We are always interested to hear what our community are getting up to, whether that is a new business venture, a book being published, an award you have won, or perhaps you have got married or have connected with another member of our community in some way. So please do get in touch with anything you would like to share on these pages, or if you would like to be added to our online Business Directory or Virtual Bookshop. You can contact our Communications Manager, Harriet de Bene, on hdb@roedean.co.uk. 9
VE Day at Roedean This year marked the 75th anniversary of VE Day. Sadly, as a school, we were unable to mark the anniversary as we would have liked. Instead, the main building was lit up in honour of the occasion, and a group of girls recorded Dame Vera Lynn’s iconic song We’ll Meet Again. You can watch the video of the recording here: https://vimeo.com/ 415899272. Through the memories of the ORs who were students at the time, we are able to learn how Roedean celebrated in Keswick, and how it felt to experience the move back to Brighton.
Judith Rich (Willmore, No. 3, 1944-49) Judith Rich is one such OR. Her son recently got in touch with the School to share with us this wonderful painting by her, showing the VE Day celebrations in Keswick. The picture shows (from left to right) Judith, Jean Napier (No. 3, 1943-49), Miss Spearing (or “The Spur” Housemistress of No. 3), Miss Thompson (“Tompy”, the
Games Mistress, wearing her trademark check trousers), Miss Will (aka “The Will”, Deputy Housemistress, No. 3), and Miss McCulloch (known as “The Muck”, No. 3 Matron). The figures are standing in the forecourt of Keswick station - decked out with the flags of the allies and bunting - watching the bonfire on Latrigg. The bonfire was built by Roedean students, with each girl carrying a log up the mountain apparently it ended up very large! Grace Chaston (Head of Alumnae Relations) spoke to Judith on the phone recently to learn more about what the atmosphere was like on that day - and how much changed once the School returned to Brighton. Judith told Grace that the mood on the day was joyous, with many friends feeling a huge sense of relief in knowing that their serving family members and friends were safe. She went on to note that they were really very isolated from the war in Keswick, the closest the war came to them was air-raid warnings in Carlisle, and bombing in Gretna and Barrow-in-Furness, and so once the jubilation of VE Day was over, life continued much as it had before. Saturday walks up the hills, or to the lakes continued, as did the exams for those taking their School Certificate that summer. The main changes were once Roedean returned home to Brighton. At this point, there was an influx of new students, as well as those who returned from Canada. School life was by Judith’s account quite different as well, with greater segregation between the Houses than that experienced in Keswick, but (to Judith’s delight, as a sporty future House Captain and School Prefect) far greater opportunities for Games. The Saturday afternoon walks were gone, and replaced with team sports such as cricket and Lacrosse. There was also now the chance to compete against other Schools. Although a miss-thrown Lacrosse ball did once see Judith in trouble with Miss Middleton (Housemistress of No. 4) after it went through her Drawing Room window. The reason for the detention Judith received though was due to her misuse of grammar when admitting to being the culprit - rather than the broken window!
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Wendy Davis
Another memory was the food: while rationing was in effect, we lived on kippers, for breakfast, lunch, and supper. We schoolgirls tried to bribe the porters to mislay one of the boxes of kippers arriving at the station before transporting them to the hotel, presently our boarding school.
(No. 3, 1945-47) Like Judith, Wendy was at Roedean just at the end of World War II. She kindly sent us some postcards showing the School’s home in Keswick, and shared these memories with us of her time at Roedean. “My father was very keen on education. At the outbreak of the Second World War my elder sister was at Roedean School, Brighton. She rightly claimed she was nearer the Germans who had occupied the Channel Isles than she was to my mother and myself on a farm in Devon. Alas, the Germans had bombed Plymouth in Devon, destroying the city. My father served in the Indian Civil Service and was recalled from his home leave to India. The British government was running ships for families to join their parents in India, as every mouth out of England was one less to feed. However, my father insisted we only come when my sister had completed her matriculation. Later, we joined my father in India. I was sent to a convent school in Srinagar, Kashmir as my father believed the nuns were good teachers. Five years later, as the war was thankfully ending, my father was paramount that I should return to Roedean School. So, it was I went to Roedean, which was by then evacuated to Keswick in the Lake District. I was used to living in a hot climate with little rain. In Keswick our classes were scattered in the town. One day, Miss Middleton who taught geography saw me walking to class. “Are you mad? Where is your raincoat? You never go out without your raincoat.” It evidently rained every day in the Lake District.
Because of the shortage of school facilities, some classes were held at the train station adjacent to the hotel. With the trains coming in regularly, the classes frequently had to pause because of all the steam. The steam completely obliterated the teacher and the blackboard, and it took time to evaporate before we could resume the class. To celebrate VE Day (Victory in Europe) and then later VJ Day (Victory over Japan), hikes were arranged to climb Scafell Pike and Latrigg, two mountains in the Lake District, where bonfires were lit in commemoration. I could barely keep up with our hiking group as I was not used to climbing or hiking, having been recently confined to the decks on a passenger ship for four weeks. On our returning to Roedean in Brighton, I shared a room with Hélène Bap; she and her sister Elizabeth (Zabo) came from Paris where they had been during the German occupation. Neither of us had been Juniors at Roedean and came late to the school. Hélène told me that during the war, when she came to her home in Paris one day, she found the Germans had ripped the sofa apart looking for secret documents. I also have correspondenced with Nancy Banks-Smith. We sat together at Madame Lavedon’s French class. Nancy, Sally Ball, and Val Seager were my great pals. I appreciated their friendship even though we were in different houses. On leaving Roedean, Nancy worked as a columnist for the Guardian Weekly. On leaving Canada for a holiday in the UK, I thought it would be fun to meet. I quote her response to my letter: Dear Wendy, Good lord, I thought we were all dead. Though not, as someone remarked, if you look closely. […] Personally, I think I’d rather not see anyone. You are wholly unaware of the passage of time until you meet an old friend and then you think ‘Poor soul!’ And, after a minute, ‘Oh, no!’ We did not meet! One of my sister’s good Roedean friends, Faye Foucar, was in Rangoon during the war when the Japanese invaded Burma. She and her parents and brother walked out of Burma with a pillowcase of clothes, and when they arrived in Calcutta they were so well-dressed, people thought they had just come from the horse races.” 11
Obituaries Enid Oppenheim (Cohen, No. 4, 1940-44) Enid was born in Newcastle upon Tyne on 7 March 1927. She was only in Brighton for a month when the school closed and the rest of her school days were in Keswick. Enid graduated from Newcastle University in 1947 with a BSc in Agriculture. She retained her love of the natural world throughout her life, always cultivating beautiful gardens wherever she lived. She grew orchids long before you could buy them everywhere and even had a stunning pink Cattleya named after her. In 1949 she married our father Harold, who lived in Edinburgh and they enjoyed a happy life there. In 1967 they moved first to a house in Marlow and then to a London garden flat. Her four daughters, Jane, Marian, Rosemary and Fiona followed in her footsteps to Roedean. Tragically in 1972 Marian died in a car accident. When Rosemary's daughter Victoria went to No. 4 Enid sent her a letter about her schooldays, which was published in the OR Magazine in 2009. Recalling her month in Brighton she wrote: 'When the air raid sirens went off, we House 4 girls had to wake up,
Patsy Abbott-Charles (Johnston, No. 1, 1950-57) Coming from country living in Northern Ireland in 1950, life at Roedean was quite a shock for Patsy. As a lover of riding, rambling outdoors, and freedom of time and space, Roedean could not have been more different. Patsy made no accommodations for her Roedean experience, though she always saw an opportunity and made the most of it. With armfuls of friends and a taste of empowerment, her life journey began. After Roedean she read Legal Science at TCD. One of only a few women to graduate, making the local Press in doing so. She relocated to London joining 1 Hare Court chambers under the pupillage of Sir Sebag Shaw. As a successful Barrister she enjoyed the work despite cutting a path as the only female in her Chambers. In 1970 she moved to corporate legal positions as Legal Counsel for global investment houses all the time challenging the patriarchal culture. A move to France with her husband Peter in the late 80s opened a new chapter. She loved the Normandy life and embarked in legal consultancy in Paris and London. France 12
put on our sweaters and cloaks and run down to the tunnel under the main road to the beach which was our shelter. Each girl had a ‘Dunlopillo' pad on each step and we had to try to sleep until the 'all clear' siren went off.’ Our mother devoted her life to her family and to voluntary work with many charities, including in the 1980's becoming National Treasurer of British WIZO. She was accomplished at everything she turned her hand to, always eager to learn new skills and was more 'tech savvy' than many of us. When our father died in 1983 she took over the running of the family business and she enjoyed a second marriage of nearly twenty years with Basil Sandelson. She maintained her connection with Roedean throughout her life, through her daughters and granddaughter and being for many years a Group Secretary. In her last few years, despite failing health, she retained her beauty and elegance, her sparkle and her sense of humour, enjoying being with family and friends, especially her seven grandchildren and their partners and her six great grandchildren. Enid died on 7 May 2019.
Written by her daughters
became her home for over 30 years. She fully immersed herself in the life and culture, often equating the way of life to rural Ireland in her youth. She returned to Sussex in 2014 to live near her family. A short but wonderful few years. Patsy died on September 19th, 2019. Patsy loved life and all that it afforded her. Family, friendships, kindness and integrity underpinned her values. It was Roedean that kickstarted her confidence and belief that women could be successful despite the imbalance of power and culture that she faced. She respected the pioneering foresight of the Lawrence sisters and used their legacy to inspire and empower her through her career and life choices. She firmly believed in respecting history though not being guided by it. Every generation has their own path, each experience akin to the individual and context of the times yet respecting the legacy of our forebears. Always embracing the here and now, and with one eye on the future. Whilst her family and friends miss her greatly, we were blessed to have experienced her spirit, wisdom and love. Her legacy remains. Patsy’s daughter also attended Roedean and her granddaughter is a current pupil. Camilla Nightingale (Johnston-Lyon, No. 1, 1981-89)
Obituaries Elisabeth Scheybeler (Tunnard, No. 2, 1959-66) Elisabeth Scheybeler died in April last year at her home in Northern Spain. She was at Roedean from 1959 to 1966, and always spoke of the school with great affection. After Roedean she went up to St. Hilda’s College, Oxford where she read Greats (Literae Humaniores). On coming down she took a PGCE at London University and went to teach at the Roan School in Greenwich where she introduced the Cambridge Latin Project. While at Oxford she met her husband, Cedric Scheybeler, and they married in 1972 when he finished his post-grad B.Phil. Her husband’s family had had connections with Spain going back to the 1920’s and in 1976, having
qualified as EFL teachers, Elisabeth and her husband set off to start an International House Language School in Santander. In 1981 the Santander school opened a Madrid branch where as many as 10,000 madrileños per year have learnt English since then. Elisabeth’s foresight and organisational ability contributed greatly to both schools’ success. A vocational multi-tasker, Elisabeth also enjoyed renovating the family home and garden in the Cantabrian countryside which, thanks largely to her feel for what is harmonious, would occasionally feature in Spanish magazines. Elisabeth is survived by her husband and two daughters, the youngest of which, Alexandra, is also an OR. Cedric Scheybeler
Dates for your Diary Postponed and Cancelled Events We are currently working on alternative dates for the various events that have been postponed over the past few months due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. As soon as we have confirmed dates for these events they will be circulated and posted to the Roedean Community Network events page: https://community.roedean.co.uk/events
September 2020 TBC
Young ORs Networking Event Virtual event to be held via Zoom. For more information please email alumnae@roedean.co.uk or visit https://community.roedean.co.uk/event/youngroedeanian-s-networking-drinks-2020
Wednesday 25 November 2020 6 pm
Governors’ Annual General Meeting The Caledonian Club, 9 Halkin Street, London, SW1X 7DR
Thursday 3 December 6.30 - 11:00 pm
ORA Christmas Drinks The Antelope, 22 Eaton Terrace, London, SW1W 8EZ To book email membership-secretary@oldroedeanians.co.uk
For more information and booking, please contact us on alumnae@roedean.co.uk or call us on 01273 667398
We are always happy to support the organisation of year group or regional events, or career sector networking events. If you would like support to start organising something for the future, or a virtual event, then please get in touch via alumnae@roedean.co.uk or by calling 01273 667398. 13
Roedean Merchandise Shop The Roedean Merchandise shop contains a gorgeous range of Roedean branded items, and items featuring our bespoke illustration of Roedean by artist Katie Cardew. To view the shop online please go to: roedean.co.uk/shop. To order by post please call 01273 667398 so that we can advise on postage costs, and then send a cheque payable to Roedean School Enterprises Limited. UK and International postage, and click and collect from the school, are all available.
Hessian Bag: £9.00
A3 Print: £50.00
A4 Print: £30.00
Penelope Bear: £7.20 Christmas Card: £3.00
Greetings Card: £3.00
Key Ring: £3.00
If you have any queries, or would like to suggest new products, then please email us on merchandise@roedean.co.uk.
Sticky Notes: £4.80
Tea Towel: £10.50 14
Ball Point Pen: £1.50
Roedean through the ages The Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove have a fantastic collection of images in their online digital archive, and have kindly given us permission to share these photographs of Roedean from their collection. Digital copies, and more images, can be found at https://tinyurl.com/brighton-royal-pavillion.
Postcard of Rottingdean Cliffs & Roedean, by A.R. Quinton
The Cliffs at Black Ro ck, Br showing Roedean Scho ighton, ol
Photograph showing Roedean in the distance, 1967
wing Roedean School Cliffs at Black Rock Brighton, Sho
Postcard showing a House Drawing Room
Games lesson in progress
Postcard showing a House GDR
Postcard showing an ODR
the School Postcard showing the front of
Postcard of Roedean School and Chapel 15
1930c - Study Tea
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