Obituaries

MIRANDA HARRIS CertEd 1972

Miranda Harris trained as a teacher at Homerton from 1972–1975. She was killed in a terrible road accident in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, on October 28th, 2019.

After graduating she taught at Tanbridge House school in Horsham, before moving with her young family to Bristol in 1978, where her husband Peter trained for the Anglican ministry. In 1983 they moved to Portugal where they bought, established and led a field study centre and bird observatory. This was the first expression of the environmental charity A Rocha, which they founded. Over the years, A Rocha (www.arocha.org) has become a global Christian conservation movement, dedicated to communicating the relationship between the Christian faith and commitment to the environment and the planet.

In the years that followed they oversaw the establishment of two other centres in France and travelled extensively to resource the rapidly growing number of Christians active in nature conservation, which now has teams in 21 countries, and centres in many of those.

In 2010, Peter and Miranda moved back to the UK for family reasons but continued their work of sharing A Rocha’s Christian approach to conservation with many across a wide range of backgrounds around the world.

Miranda was raised in a cultured family and carried her fine sense of beauty and poetry into everything that she became involved in. She was musical, artistic and deeply creative in everything she undertook. But of her many gifts, probably the greatest was her capacity to make the other feel listened to and loved, whether she was interacting with someone very familiar or a complete stranger. That A Rocha has succeeded in becoming a relational and family orientated movement, despite the constraints imposed by its global nature, is in large measure due to Miranda’s ceaseless investment in all those who belong to it. Her enormous creative capacity bore its greatest work in the lives of many, both in and beyond A Rochafruits which of course cannot be measured, unlike the book she longed to write but was never able to. She was an outstanding communicator, in both spoken and written word, often lecturing with Peter at Regent College Vancouver among other places, and writing literally thousands of cards and letters to those she loved and cared about. The premature death of a person so vibrantly alive is a lasting loss.

Miranda is survived by Peter, her four children and eight grandchildren.

Supplied by Anita Cleverly

BARBARA POINTON Music Department 1963–1993

Barbara Pointon was a Homerton fixture for generations of students, whom she taught, befriended and to a certain extent adopted. As Emeritus Fellow Professor John Hopkins put it, “the overall ethos that Barbara cultivated was that of an extended family.”

As a lecturer in the Music Department from 1963–1993, for much of which she was Head of Music, Barbara shaped the musical aspect of the four-year BEd degree and the one-year PGCE. Taking a practical approach to the subject, the Music Department staged its own concerts and recitals and maintained a choir, orchestra and steel pan group, as well as ensuring that Homertontrained teachers were equipped to bring enthusiasm and energy to the teaching of music in schools across the country for decades to come.

Barbara and her husband, Malcolm, also a lecturer in the Music Department, regularly hosted social events at their house in Thriplow for students, many of whom stayed in touch.

Malcolm was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s in 1991, at the age of just 52, and retired from the department. Barbara took early retirement a year later to care for him, and became a hugely influential campaigner for dementia care.

Two documentaries made by the film-maker Paul Watson for ITV, Malcolm and Barbara: A Love Story (1999) and Malcolm and Barbara: Love’s Farewell (2007) demonstrated movingly yet unsparingly the impact of Malcolm’s illness. The programmes gave Barbara a platform from which to advocate for patients with dementia and their families, and in 2004 she won a landmark case that the NHS should fund nursing care at home as well as in care homes and hospitals.

Barbara worked for more than two decades as an ambassador for Dementia UK and the Alzheimer’s Society, as well as advising the Government and contributing to the national dementia strategy. She fought tirelessly for a more sympathetic approach to the care of dementia patients, for free access to the necessary care and for support for families. In 2006 she was made MBE for services to dementia.

Following Malcolm’s death in 2007, Barbara returned to Homerton as Director of Music for two years. She remained a member of the RSMA until her death, and numbered countless former students and colleagues among her friends.

In 2018 Barbara began to develop dementia herself, and was looked after in the purpose-built Denbigh ward at Fulbourn Hospital, which she had helped to design in the 1990s. Barbara died on 21 June 2020, aged 80.

JEAN MARY ROBINSON (CertEd 1943)

Jean was born in West Runton, Norfolk, the only child of elderly, but wonderful parents. They later moved to Torrisholme, near Morecambe and then Warton, near Lytham. Her childhood was happy and secure and her schooldays enjoyable and successful.

War was declared on Jean’s 14th birthday, 3rd September 1939. The outbreak of war limited educational opportunities for Jean in her teenage years. Jean had always loved history and dearly wished to read history at university. Instead, she found herself training to be a teacher at Homerton.

Although Jean’s experiences of Cambridge were disrupted, there was still a great deal to enjoy. She spoke fondly of punting on the Cam, tea at Grantchester, and Evensong at King’s, albeit without the stained-glass windows, which had been removed to keep them safe. Jean also had fond memories of watching the boat race, which was moved to the Ouse at Ely. She was enthralled by the lectures of Lord Beveridge and Sir Richard Livingstone on the Butler Education Act of 1944, heralding the ‘brave new world’ ahead. Jean and her contemporaries celebrated VE Day at Parker’s Piece.

From 1945 to 1960 Jean worked in schools in Wembley, Harrow, Acton and Hayes, teaching Nursery, Infant, Primary and Secondary children. During this time, she studied at London University and attained a First-Class Honours degree in History.

In 1960 she was appointed as Head of Minet School in Hayes and then moved to Worcestershire in 1965 as Inspector of Schools, work she found stimulating, interesting and varied.

Jean retired in 1982 and her attention turned to enjoying reading and gardening, joining the Malvern Horticultural Society. She particularly enjoyed visiting famous gardens, National Trust properties and the theatre at Stratford. She also retained her lifelong interest in education as a Governor of the Wells School from 1983 to 1995. Jean loved walking and could often be seen walking from Malvern along the Wells Road to visit the school.

Jean was always something of a crusader and when she thought something was wrong or unfair, she went into battle with great determination to try to put things right. The Freckleton air disaster of 1944, where an American Bomber crash landed into the local school, happened at Wharton airfield, very close to where Jean was living and deeply affected everyone. On visiting the National Arboretum in Staffordshire, Jean was amazed to find that there was no mention of this tragedy amongst the numerous memorials. Jean set about campaigning and was instrumental in having a fitting memorial tribute erected there.

During her retirement Jean lived at Morgan Court, a retirement property, for 27 happy years, before moving to Perrins House, Malvern in 2019, where she was blissfully happy. Jean loved her room, looking out onto the fabulous gardens and spent many happy hours enjoying the vista, whilst she read her extensive collection of books. Jean was thankful for many things in her life, particularly her good education and her close circle of friends.

Supplied by Joyce Green

CARMEN CLARKE (NÉE JONES) CertEd 1958

Everyone who knew Carmen remembered her with a smile. She was warm, funny, creative and adventurous. Born and brought up in Bridgend in South Wales, she entered Homerton in 1958 to study for a Certificate in Education, majoring in Mathematics.

Shortly after graduating, she married her first husband, David, whom she had met in Cambridge. His work took them overseas, and they lived for some years in Singapore, bringing up three daughters. Back in the UK in the 1970s, they bought an old property in Somerset, turning it into a guest house for expatriates on leave. Carmen cooked, and raised goats.

Some time afterwards, the marriage broke up, and Carmen returned to teaching secondary school Mathematics in the area. In the late 1980s, ever adventurous, Carmen moved to the Canary Islands, working as a cook/manager of a restaurant, and later turned up in Brussels, where she took up a teaching post at The British School. We happened to be living there at the time, as was another old Homertonian, Wanda Kieblinska (née Wachowicz) and the three of us had many happy times together.

Eventually Carmen returned to Somerset, where she lived surrounded by numerous grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren. As well as doing supply teaching, she taught summer courses for overseas students at Millfield School. In 2008 she married Joe Clarke, a retired businessman. Joe adored Carmen, and together they travelled widely and happily on holidays. Sadly, Carmen began to show signs of dementia, and in 2019 she moved into a nursing home. She died of a brain haemorrhage on April 19, 2020, deeply lamented by her large family and many friends.

Supplied by Christine Carne (née Doy)

HELEN SLADE (NÉE ORNA) CertEd 1962–65

After leaving Homerton, Helen moved to Canada in 1966 and married Christopher, whom she had met at Cambridge. After several years in Toronto and Vancouver, they moved to Victoria and raised their family there. Helen worked as a teacher and, in later years, devoted herself to her art and poetry. Helen is survived by Christopher, her husband of 51 years, her children Jonathan (Renee) and Catherine, and her two young grandchildren Isabel and Macleay.

Supplied by Chris Slade

BARBARA JEAN GREGORY (NÉE BAKER) CertEd late 1940s

After training as a teacher at Homerton in the 1940s, Barbara went on to teach until she retired in 1988. She always spoke very fondly of Homerton and recommended it as an excellent place to train.

Barbara taught in the UK and abroad as her husband, John, was an officer in the Royal Air Force. She lived and taught in Malaya, Germany and Singapore. She fully embraced life abroad, participating in many activities and integrating herself into life as a busy officer’s wife. She was also a great mother and enjoyed bringing up her three daughters. On their return to the UK, they settled back in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. Barbara taught at a junior school in Amersham where she worked her way up to the position of deputy head teacher.

As well as teaching, Barbara’s passion was always music. Alongside teaching a class she was also in charge of school choirs. She was highly involved in the musical life of her local area and particularly enjoyed singing, being an active member of the local choral society up until her early 80s. She was also highly involved in local church life, from delivering parish magazines to playing the organ for services.

Barbara was a sparkling personality who enjoyed being surrounded by children and music throughout her life. She passed away very peacefully aged 92 in December 2020, after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for a number of years. She is survived by her three daughters, two grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. Her granddaughter has recently followed in her footsteps by also training as a teacher at Homerton.

Supplied by Sophie Winnard (PGCE 2017–18 / MEd 2019–20)