Sherborne Old Girls Journal NEW

Journal Sherborne Old Girls

No. 49 – 2015

No. 49 – 2015

Editorial Team Fiona James

Contents From the Editorial Team

1

From the Chairman

2

Katherine Massey

From the President

2

Anna Anthony

2015 SOG AGM

3

SOG charity 2015 – 2018 Achievement for All

4

Congratulations

5

From the Headmistress

6

Development Review

8

Susie Suter Fiona Clapp

Tim Gibson Sue Cameron Executive Committee

Design and print Shelleys the Printers

Journal enclosures Two sheets of paper are enclosed with your Journal: a donation form for the charity of the year (on the back of the address sheet) and details of the 2016 AGM, together with a tear-off reply slip.

The Old Girls Office Sherborne Girls Bradford Road Sherborne Dorset DT9 3QN T: 01935 818329 F: 01935 818310 E: oldgirls@sherborne.com www.sherborne.com/Sherborne-Old-Girls

Sherborne Girls Alumnae

Sherborne Girls

Obituaries

10

Golf

16

Births, Marriages & Deaths

18

New SOG members 2015

20

Daughters and Granddaughters of OGs

20

Sherborne Old Girls

21

Circle News

22

Careers Networking Service

26

Features

30

Peer Group News

35

News from Honorary Members

48

The cover photo of current pupil, Lucy Holcroft (M5, WD), was taken as part of a series of photos depicting the Sherborne School for Girls uniform from the 1920s to the present day. Djibbahs were worn in the 1950s with an apple green shirt with a thin white stripe. Sadly we do not have any of these shirts and so used a cream one for the photo. If you have a shirt you would be happy to donate to the archives, or any other items of uniform, please get in touch with the Old Girls Office. Photography by: Daniel Purse, Affixxius Films

From THE EDITORIAL TEAM

Welcome to the 2015 edition of the Journal.

As was the case last year, we have produced the Journal using an in-house editorial team, with the Executive Committee taking overall responsibility for the editorial content.

We have received an incredible amount of news which we are delighted with. Please do keep sending us your updates; it is always fascinating and inspiring to read about the achievements and roles undertaken by Old Girls. Unfortunately,

due to space restrictions, we have been unable to include all your stories here, but you can read further news and updates on our website www.sherborne.com/Sherborne-Old-Girls. We hope you will enjoy reading the articles as much as we have.

With all good wishes for 2016.

Fiona James on behalf of the Editorial Team

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Journal 2015

From

THE CHAIRMAN Sophie Stratton E’82 As I come to the end of my term as the SOG Chairman, I am amazed at how quickly four years have gone, how many great people I have worked with, old friends and staff reunited with.

I would like to welcome Fiona James as our SOG Secretary; many of you know her and I’m sure she will fill the role brilliantly. It’s Thank You to Laura Windsor on behalf of the Old Girls for all she’s done for us. As Stephen Wingfield Digby reminded me in the Christmas message he sent me, 2016 is a big year for the school and I wish Laura well in her new role as School Development Officer.

This year saw the passing of Margaret Boxwell (1973 – 1978), my first housemistress and long-serving maths teacher. It was lovely to hear the school choir sing so beautifully at her funeral.

As I look forward to the rest of this year, the main event for me is our AGM, which will be in the House of Lords at the kind invitation of The Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Anne Strutt E’73). Places are limited so please book early! We will finish with a magnificent Tea on the Terrace overlooking the Thames – what a great way to pass on the baton.

From

THE PRESIDENT Louise Ellam (Hall) E’84 As we move out of the dark winter months, it is heartening to look forward to things to come, such as a London-based AGM. We hope that the opportunity to look around the House of Lords will attract Old Girls who have yet to attend this gathering, along with those steadfast in their support of our organisation.

Visits to the school are also always welcome and can be 2

planned around the groundbreaking – hopefully in the autumn – of the exciting project to develop a wonderful centre for the school based on a new auditorium, music school and dramatic foyer that will be used by all the girls and the wider community.

We remain keen to engage across the age span of our Old Girls network, making increased use of social media

and offering a wide variety of events and career-based opportunities. With this in mind, Fiona James is always open to new ideas that will help keep the organisation vibrant and forward-looking and, of course, anyone willing to be more closely involved with the OG workings in its various forms would be very much appreciated.

2015 SOG AGM Last year’s AGM was held at Sherborne Girls. The day started with coffee in the Beddington Lecture Theatre foyer before moving into the lecture theatre for the AGM. Headmistress, Jenny Dwyer, welcomed those present before giving her report, in which she outlined that numbers have increased with a large number in the sixth form. The current educational landscape is changing rapidly and requires ongoing management. The AS level is being moved to U6, which reclaims the summer term for the L6 girls.

Jenny highlighted successes within the school, including that of the Performance Swimming team which has reached European standard, the virtually unbeaten hockey teams, the large number of girls in the Dorset athletics team and the three exceptional horse riders, one of whom is competing at Junior Badminton.

Jenny thanked Old Girls for their support with the Music which remains very strong. Drama productions have doubled from last year and girls took part in an outreach programme at Salisbury Playhouse, which was enriching for those taking part.

Chairman Sophie Stratton E’82 reported that the last year had been about implementing change with a newly formed Executive Committee and elected President; work continues apace.

Ghislaine Fluck W’83 has stepped down from her role as SOG Treasurer due to a move abroad and Jane Digby (Auer) AW’80 has stepped down after twelve years from her role as the co-ordinator for all the Peer Groups, though she remains a PGC for her year groups. Sophie and everyone present thanked Ghislaine and Jane for their hard work.

The Bursar, Simon Miller, gave an overview of the Arts Centre. He reported that this new space will benefit the whole school community. It

will be at the centre of the school, a place where girls will want to go, and one that will be as useable as possible.

SOG Secretary, Laura Windsor, and Alumnae Development Officer, Fiona James, then gave reports from their respective areas. As always, we aim to provide the best service to SOG members.

‘Achievement for All’ was voted as SOG Charity for the next three years. Three other organisations were submitted for support.

After the meeting we had lunch in our ‘House Groups’ in Mulliner. Girls from each House joined us, which gave us all an opportunity to catch up with each other, gather news of the school, and for the girls to hear first-hand from their guests about the school’s history.

Following lunch there were tours of the Houses and school, giving everyone a chance to watch the tennis matches, before concluding with tea in Kenelm, kindly hosted by Housemistress, Kathy Pinsent.

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Journal 2015

SOG CHARITY 2015–18 Achievement for All

Since we were founded in 2011, we have made a profound and heavily evidenced difference to over 1.5 million children, teachers and families. Our programmes are driven by the highest aspirations for every pupil. We know from years of success that if you put a spotlight on any child, they will shine.

“”

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High expectations and aspirations – whatever their ability, motivation or background.

Nicki Whiteman (Lewis) E’94 joined the charity as their Chief Communications Officer in May 2015 and writes: Who are we?

“Achievement for All is a movement focused on educational change; building a world in which all children are seen as having potential and where every child is enabled to be the best that they can be regardless of their background, challenge or need.

“Achievement for All has a proven track record and a firstclass reputation for improving outcomes in reading, writing and maths in the children and young people vulnerable to

underachievement. So how do we do it? Well, as any teacher will tell you, there are a host of issues that can act as barriers to learning, including a special educational need, or a disadvantaged background. So we use a unique direct delivery model and a team of over 300 highly skilled and experienced coaches who work with schools and alongside the school leadership team to deliver a bespoke programme for every setting and target group.

“Whilst the focus is on improved outcomes for a specific group, the impact we have on the whole school is well documented. Those on our programmes report significant reductions in the number of exclusions and huge increases in parental engagement with school. They also see improved attendance and behaviour and report happier teachers, who enjoy the increased capacity Achievement for All gives them.

In fact, 73% of parents believe their child will now do well in school compared with 48% before their involvement with Achievement for All, whilst nearly 80% of teachers say the programme allows them to spend more time on the things

Congratulations

that matter most to their pupil’s education. As one head teacher put it: ‘For anyone in doubt, working with Achievement for All isn’t an “initiative” – it’s an investment in our future! It’s about taking what we all know we need to do and ensuring that every student is treated in the same way, particularly in the classroom – i.e. high expectations and aspirations – whatever their ability, motivation or background.’

Jo Halliday – Head Teacher King Alfred’s Academy, Wantage.

“This commitment from Sherborne Old Girls means a lot to me personally. Like each of us, I benefitted from the best education that money can buy. It is great to be able to support the children and young people who simply weren’t born as lucky as us.

“We are a responsibly run organisation with healthy reserves, strict reporting processes and an experienced, diverse and accountable board of Trustees. We are thrilled to have been selected as the Sherborne Old Girls charity for the next three years.”

If you are interested in finding out more about Achievement for All and the work they do, visit www.afaeducation.org.uk or email Nicki directly at nicki.whiteman@afa3as.org.uk

Trudi Hubbard (Harris) DH’58 was awarded an MBE for services to children with special educational needs.

Diana Downing (Beattie) K’63 was awarded an OBE in January 2015 for services to National Heritage.

Hilary Swenarton (Graham) AW’68 was awarded a CBE in The Queen’s Birthday Honours List for June 2014 for services to Social Sciences. She did not attend an awards ceremony until January 2015 so felt this is more 2015 news than 2014 news!

Julia Weston A’91 was appointed as Chief Executive of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust in August 2015.

Olivia Acland K’09 graduated from St Andrews University with a First Class Honours degree in Italian.

Helen Denyer DH’11 graduated from Cambridge with a First Class Honours degree in Archaeology and Anthropology.

Eleanor Edkins K’11 graduated from Falmouth College with a First Class Honours degree (BA Hons) in Interior Design.

Florence Mugerwa WD’11 graduated from Durham University with a First Class Honours degree in Law. Hannah Redman K’12 graduated from Newcastle University with a First Class Honours degree in English Literature.

Torchbearers News We were very sad to learn of the death of one of our Torchbearers, Pippa Lawrence; you can read her obituary on page 12.

During the Art Exhibition Week in March, we are hosting a special Lunch for Torchbearers, in London. We are always keen to hear from potential new legators and are pleased to receive enquiries from those who feel that they may be able to support the school in their Will.

Legacy pledges of all sizes are most welcome. If you would like to know more, do please contact the Development Office.

Jane Reekie (Nicholson) E’59 Leader, The Torchbearers Society 5

From THE HEADMISTRESS

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Extracts from the Headmistress’s speech at the 2015 Commemoration ceremony

Raising the bar for Sherborne Girls

This year, I challenged our school community to ‘raise the bar’!

I am well aware of the pressures on young people to do more, but our aim was to do what we do better and to try to make incremental improvements in all areas. Here’s why I wanted to do this.

I want every pupil at Sherborne Girls to develop the confidence to know that whatever they do, they can do it really well.

I want to challenge the statistic that 96 per cent of women do not think they are good enough. I want to give our girls the resources to know that they can live, love and matter!

I recently heard the Human Resources Director of Unilever talk about the challenges educators face in preparing students to achieve their employment ambitions in a competitive world.

He talked about how he chooses 120 students to interview out of the 8,000 who apply for graduate

training and why the 40 successful applicants are chosen.

Given that the vast majority are from good universities with a minimum 2:1 degree, how do our girls stand out?

His view was that employers are looking for character. We help our girls develop this by encouraging them to take risks and go outside their comfort zone.

From the beginning of the Lower Fourth to the end of the Upper Sixth, we want girls to have the chance to develop resourcefulness and an understanding of who they are.

We want girls to be radiators and not drains, to be aware of the

impact that they have on others and to understand where their strengths lie.

That is why we actively encourage girls to participate in programmes like the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and, from next year, why we will have an adventure and leadership strand in our co-curricular programme. It is why we encouraged our IB students to go to Romania to teach adult orphans how to use an apple press that the girls funded and shipped out there. And it is why the candidates in our school mock election took the experience so seriously.

Our sporting, dramatic, artistic and musical endeavours are well known. But encouraging girls to run, play rugby and cricket, and continue with performance swimming, riding and fencing, gives so many chances to excel.

Our expanded exchange programme, now including Qatar, Canada, Australia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Shanghai and Germany, provides even further opportunities for life-changing experiences.

In short, everything we have done as part of our growing for the future strategy has had the explicit aim of improving opportunities for our girls. Because, at heart, the task facing us is simple: to light a fire or passion in each and every one of our pupils, ensuring that they leave us with strong self-belief and the confidence to do whatever they want.

Arts Festival In the week leading up to Commemoration, Sherborne Girls hosted an Arts Festival. The theme was ‘A Week in 1915’, and was inspired by an archive display in the Beddington Lecture Theatre.

A variety of lectures, concerts and drama events took place throughout the week, showcasing pupils’ varied talents and creativity.

Then, in keeping with the theme, the guest speaker at Commemoration was the author Lady Rachel Billington OBE, whose latest book, Glory, is set during the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915 – 1916.

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Journal 2015

A TRANSFORMATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE SCHOOL’S BIGGEST EVER FUNDRAISING CHALLENGE. THE ARTS CENTRE TAKES SHAPE. •

520-seat recital hall

•

New music school with classrooms, studios and practice rooms

•

Conversion of the existing music school (Stuart Centre) for drama

•

Central foyer for display space for art

The proposed Arts Centre is a truly ambitious project which will have a profound effect on Sherborne Girls.

Headmistress Jenny Dwyer: “The arts have always been very strong at Sherborne Girls and we need to make sure that we have the right facilities so that the girls can both develop and show the amazing talents that they have.

However, the project has become much bigger than just the arts. What we will gain is a heart to the school, a building which can be used for a multitude of activities. This new centre will be a place where the girls can meet with their friends and can enjoy socials with Sherborne School. In the new auditorium we will be able to host visiting speakers, theatre companies and musical events. The foyer will be used for interval refreshments and match teas. It is going to be a space for the whole school community and will be open from first thing in the morning to last thing at night. The surrounding area will be landscaped and new tennis courts will be built on the far side of the art block.

“We have had an enormous amount of positive support so far and it will be a really exciting moment when we are standing in the new building and celebrating the success of this fantastic project.”

The school itself can contribute £4.5M towards the total cost of £7M, leaving a £2.5M fundraising target for the recently created Sherborne Girls Foundation. Gill Buzzard (Blenkinsop) DH’62, Foundation trustee: “We have already raised £1.25M, counting donations to the original Performing Arts Centre Appeal plus new donations pledged during what we’ve been calling the ‘quiet phase’ of this appeal. The campaign is really picking up momentum, but we are aware that we have a huge challenge ahead and will be appealing to all Old Girls and Honorary Old Girls in the next few months. This is an exciting project and we very much hope you will want to be part of it. Please visit www.sherborne.com/the-arts-centre to find out more about the design and how your help could make this ambitious project a reality.”

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Wingfield Digby (formerly Aylmar and Wingfield)

The project will give the campus “� the focal point it has long needed.

Existing Art Centre

Stuart Centre and Benjamin Britten Hall (Music)

9

Obituaries Rachel Watson (Peterkin) AW’34 Obituary from Rachel’s daughter Hilary Peterkin (Younger) W’64 (including extracts from The Scotsman’s obituary).

Rachel Watson (Peterkin) died in November 2014 at the age of 98. She enjoyed a long and productive life that was marked by a strong sense of public service.

Born into a distinguished Edinburgh legal family, Rachel was one of four sisters – all of whom went to Sherborne Girls and were in AW. Rachel greatly enjoyed her time at the school – participating in many sports, and becoming Head of House.

In 1937, Rachel married Co Peterkin, a lawyer, and they moved to St Andrews. Their first child Dinny (Gillian) was born in 1940, followed by two more – all of whom went to Sherborne Girls.

The family moved to the village of Ceres, where Rachel was able to indulge her passion for gardening. She created a beautiful garden from two fields and regularly opened it to the public.

Her enthusiasm for gardening did not diminish with age and in her eighties she planted a mini arboretum.

With a strong desire to serve the community, Rachel served as a Fife county councillor and a JP. She also co-founded a local Preservation Society and established the Fife Folk Museum.

Later, as Chair of the Trustees, she sourced grants, masterminded expansion and recruited curators. By the 1980s, the museum had garnered several awards.

Rachel’s husband died in 1978, but she continued working hard both mentally for the 10

museum and physically in her garden. At the age of 94, Rachel decided to move nearer to her family in the South.

She is survived by her two younger daughters, two grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren. Sadly, her eldest child, Dinny, died in Austria just 36 hours after her own death (her obituary is on page 13).

Joan Merrells (Resting) W’40 Joan’s son, Stephen, sent us this obituary.

Joan was born in Swansea, and spent most of her formative years there.

On leaving Sherborne at the start of the Second World War, Joan joined the WRNS. With an aptitude for signals and telegraphy, she was soon crossing the Atlantic in various troopships, before being posted to the Queen Mary. She made a number of crossings to New York in the company of another WRN, Greta Resting, who became a very good friend.

Following this, Joan was posted to the Middle East. Here she met her future husband, Leslie, who was Greta’s brother.

Joan and Leslie married under the Pyramids in Giza, and Joan was demobbed to the UK as the wife of a serving officer. When Leslie returned, they set up home in London and he resumed his disrupted career as a Chartered Accountant.

Their first son, John, was born in 1947. Once Leslie had qualified, the family moved to Cardiff, where the couple’s second son, Stephen, arrived in 1952.

Throughout her life, Joan gave constant

support to Leslie and her two children. Leslie passed away eight years ago and, for the last two years of his life, Joan was his carer.

After Leslie died, Joan did not enjoy good health. She had to accept help from others, which didn’t come naturally to her. She was living at home until February 2014, then spent the last few weeks of her life in hospital, where she passed away in her sleep.

Ursula Taylor (Jepson) W’41 Ursula’s son, Rowland, sent this obituary of his mother.

Ursula was born in Bude, Cornwall, in 1922, and lived with her parents in India during the first two years of her life. She returned to Bude to live with her grandmother in 1924.

When Ursula was six, her parents returned from India and made their home in Brecon.

In 1934, Ursula went to Sherborne School for Girls, where she evidently shone; her sweet temper was noted as an asset to the school community. From 1941, she read Natural Sciences at Newnham College, Cambridge, and went on to teach biology at the City of London School for Girls.

Ursula met Michael in London and they married at Brecon Cathedral in 1948. They had four children and lived in Manchester, Prudhoe, Ilkley, Edenbridge and Newport, before moving back to the family home in Brecon in 1971.

Here, at the age of 50, Ursula found herself knee-deep in full-time farming – sometimes bearing the heavy workload alone, while Michael was abroad.

In addition to this, Ursula continued to tend her garden, dressmake, cook, bake, bottle, knit – you name it. She even reupholstered all the chairs and sofas in her home.

Ursula helped form and then chair the Brecon branch of the U3A and became Chair of Governors of Priory School.

She achieved all of this with charm and modesty in her unsentimental, matter-of-fact way.

A wonderful hostess, Ursula’s door was always open and she was great at coping with big gatherings and unexpected guests. She was also gracious, accepting and forgiving of the shortcomings of others and was blessed with a sense of humour. Right until the end, her asides were witty, sharp and dry, delivered with that beautiful voice and that lovely smile.

Ann Humphreys (Shaw) W’48 1930 – 2014 Ann’s daughter, Sharon Libby, sent us this obituary about her mother.

Born in Cadogan Square, London, Ann attended Sherborne School for Girls as a boarder in the early 1940s. She loved all outdoor sports, particularly hockey, lacrosse, tennis and even a bit of cricket. But music was her passion, and she performed memorably in the 1948 school concert.

Ann’s summer holidays were spent either in Crowborough, where she was raised by her grandmother, or staying in Richmond with school friends where they regularly attended the rugby seven-a-side to cheer on their boyfriends.

When she left school, Ann joined the WRNS in Portsmouth as a radio plotter and soon rose to the rank of Petty Officer in both Portsmouth and Malta. During her time in the WRNS she also had the opportunity to play tennis at Wimbledon.

She married in 1955 and had two children in 1961 and 1963 respectively. Another great passion was her cats; she owned 16 throughout her life.

Ann loved Sherborne. She visited regularly and kept in touch with several of her SSG friends via the annual Christmas card. She even attended the Sherborne School for Girls Centenary Service at Sherborne Abbey in April 1999.

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Susan Ferard (Stockley) OBE AW’49

Photo by Desmond Groves at Harrods, Knightsbridge

Susan’s daughter, Helen Stockley (Petri) AW’71 sent us this obituary about her mother.

Susan was born in Bombay, the eldest of five children. She was educated at home in India until the age of 12 when, with her father fighting in Burma, she travelled back to England with her mother and siblings.

Two months after arriving in England, Susan started at Sherborne School for Girls. She excelled in the classroom, the swimming pool and on the tennis court and represented the school in the Aberdare Cup at Wimbledon.

On leaving Sherborne, Susan spent a year studying French and Spanish in Switzerland. She married her husband, Jeremy, in 1951, and they spent 63 happy years together. They leave two sons, two daughters, four grandsons, eight granddaughters and two great grandsons.

For the first 37 years of their marriage, Susan and Jeremy lived near Bath, before moving to Somerset in 1988.

As her children grew up, Susan carried out voluntary work in the community, with her local and county Women’s Institute. In 1982, Susan joined the Executive of the National Federation of Women’s Institutes and played a leading role in the organisation in the years that followed. Her career with the WI culminated in her appointment as National Chairman from 1991 to 1994 and subsequent award of an OBE for services to the WI. Floral Art was another great interest of Susan’s. She held a number of senior posts in this field, culminating with her appointment as National President of the National Association of Floral Art Societies (NAFAS) in 2002.

The last 18 months of Susan’s life were dominated by health problems, but she never 12

complained and she always took an interest in everyone else’s lives.

Susan was multi-talented, immensely capable and with impressive leadership skills. She was resilient and wise, a shrewd judge of character, with both discretion and tact. Those attributes, combined with a ‘hands-on, can-do’ approach, warmth and a quiet sense of humour, make her the perfect example of Robert Louis Stevenson’s words: “A life well-lived and well-loved.”

Philippa (Pippa) Lawrence AE’57 Katherine Lawrence (Smith) AE’60 sent us this obituary, adapted from an address given at her sister’s memorial service by Philippa’s friend, Diana Lloyd.

Philippa and I became friends while she was working at Castle Howard, organising the Textile Conservation Centre. I asked her to share her immense knowledge of textile restoration and costume with my students at the Inchbald School of Design and, over the years that followed, I heard of her extraordinary life.

She told me of her work in theatre and television, first in Bristol then in London; of her friendship with Peter O’Toole, whom we later visited backstage at the Old Vic; and of her training in textile restoration, specialising in costume.

In 1974, Philippa became the first conservator on the National Trust’s staff.

Working at Knole House in Kent, she trained volunteers to restore the magnificent gold and silver cloth of the King’s Bed. In 1977, she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship and toured the USA – lecturing, as well as recording their methods of display and conservation.

Philippa enjoyed talking about the many people she met through her work, such as the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland (whose damask wall hangings she restored), and the designer John Fowler.

She dressed with great style and was an extraordinarily sweet woman – a sentiment echoed by all those who knew her.

Katherine adds: Philippa was also a gifted poet. Her collection of poems From Memory’s Wardrobe brings her interest in clothes colourfully to life with wry humour. In 2007, she instituted the Philippa Lawrence Poetry Prize at Sherborne, which continues to encourage girls in their poetrywriting – attracting an impressive 130 entries this year.

Dinny (Gillian) Peterkin (Patterson)

In 1968, Dinny and Billy married on Elba. In 1980, they retired to a small village in the Mugello, north of Florence, although Alpbach was very much home.

Dinny and Billy’s contribution to Alpbach has been marked in many ways, including a public celebration of their 70th birthdays, the planting of a tree in the Denkerweg (Thinkers’ Way), and the equivalent of a state funeral for each of them.

Dinny visited the UK regularly to see her family and friends until the last couple of years of her life. She died 36 hours after her mother, Rachel (whose obituary is on page 10).

AW’57 Hilary Peterkin (Younger) W’64 sent us this obituary about her sister, Dinny (Gillian) Peterkin (Patterson), AW’57.

My sister Dinny died on 24 November 2014 in Alpbach, Austria, where she had lived and worked for 50 years.

She enjoyed her five years at Sherborne and made a considerable contribution in the lacrosse and cricket teams. She took pleasure in the many good friends she made during her time at school.

Dinny started her working life in Edinburgh and spent about five years with the National Trust for Scotland. She then became Cruise Secretary – using her knowledge of Scotland and its heritage, and developing a great interest in the coastline and sea birds.

In the mid-1960s, Dinny started working as a ski rep for Erna Low. She was first despatched to Fieberbrunn in Austria, then moved to Alpbach, in the Tirol. Here she met her future husband, Major Billy Patterson, with whom she ran Billy’s Bureau – an organisation providing training for the Rhine Army ski teams.

Dinny and Billy expanded their empire to Elba, where they built their own villa and provided summer accommodation for the Rhine Army and their families. Dinny also set up a successful travel business in Alpbach, and she and Billy founded the Alpbach Visitors’ Ski Club, to train British juniors. The Club has thrived and is preparing to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2018.

Judy (Judith) Barke (Wingfield Digby) W’65 Judy Currie (Ross) AW’68 sent us this obituary of her friend.

Judy was born in 1947 in Sherborne, where her father, Basil, was the Vicar. Her childhood, surrounded by her three brothers, was steeped in Sherborne and so, not surprisingly, she was educated at the Girls’ School.

From the very beginning, Judy’s life was physically very challenging. It was horses that gave her the greatest early pleasure and, to quote her, it was only when riding that she felt herself to be on a level playing field with her more ablebodied peers. Her Sherborne days culminated in her marriage to David in the Abbey in 1968.

Her life, which ended much too early, was extremely happy. She was incredibly brave and uncomplaining, and, as she said not long ago, “Despite all the challenges, I just got on with things as best I could.” Judy carried the belief

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that family was the foundation of everything and she certainly lived and breathed that philosophy.

Her life was totally fulfilled by her love of her husband, three children and eight grandchildren.

The sight of the whole Wingfield Digby clan dancing at weddings to the song ‘We are Family’ is a sight to behold!

As well as her family, the joys of her life were her extraordinary network of wonderful friends, who were a particular support to her over her last 12 months; her garden, which she cherished with great skill and care, as well as the brilliant flower arrangements that she regularly created; her dogs and cats, which were her constant companions; and, of course, anything equestrian.

She lived a genuine, caring life, which should be an example to us all.

Nicky (Nicola) Tye (Nisbet) K’76 Nicky’s husband, Nick, sent this obituary about his wife.

Nicky (Nicola) Tye (Nisbet), daughter of Yvonne Davy (Tye) K’42, died on 24 March 2015, after eight years of defying breast cancer and a short period of illness. Nicky valued the friendships she formed at SSG, especially with Rhoda McDouall (Eagles) K’76 and Di Bolland (Phillips) E’76, who remained close.

Nicky trained at The Hospital for Sick Children and continued to practise as a Nurse.

She met Nick Nisbet from the Boys’ School while in the Lower Sixth and they married in 1981. Nicky was immensely proud of her two sons, Ed and Chris, and a much-anticipated granddaughter, Esme, born hours before she died.

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Christina (Tina) Xynias AE’87 Memories from her friends Catherine Rawlins (Hickling) K’87 and Christina Quigley A’87.

Tina spent her early life moving a great deal, giving her a lifelong love of travel and languages; she spoke English, French, German, Ukrainian, Russian and Italian. Tina joined Aldhemsted East in 1981 and became Head of House in 1985. She was very popular with everybody.

From school, Tina went to Manchester University to read Russian, which eventually led to her working in the Ukraine, a country she loved.

Tina moved there permanently in 1994 and had her beautiful children, Daniella, Becky, Sam and Amelie. While there, Tina set up Dolmart Ukraine which was one of the first wine importers in the Ukraine.

She travelled extensively, both professionally and with her children, and was passionate about both her company and her children. Tina loved good food, good wine and good company and was the perfect dinner companion. She could regale you with stories for hours about the people she had met and the situations she had been in when she first tried to break into a very male dominated area.

Tina, and her sister, Ilyana, spent many summers in Austria with their beloved maternal grandparents after their mother died when she was in MV. Tragically, Illy was killed in a car crash in Tobago at the horrendously young age of 28, leaving Tina devastated. Tina told us that she had breast cancer in September 2014 and that she was going to beat it. Unfortunately she lost her battle in May 2015, leaving behind her four children and hundreds of shocked and disbelieving friends.

If we were asked to sum Tina up it would be this: she was a funny, quirky, intelligent, generous person who could light up a room with her megawatt smile and somebody we are honoured to call our friend.

Romilly Walton Masters

Jane Birkett

A’88

Mathematics Teacher 1964 – 1982

Written by Henrietta Birchenough A’88.

Romilly died very suddenly of sepsis on 23 March 2015.

Romilly came to Sherborne in 1983 – joining Aylmer in the Lower 5th – and became a much-loved member of our year group.

After leaving Sherborne, Romilly spent a year travelling, before going on to read English at Edinburgh University. She spent her third year at Trinity College, Dublin, where she returned to complete an MPhil in Anglo-Irish literature.

While her great love was literature and theatre, Romilly was never afraid to give anything a go: she taught English in Prague, worked in television and theatre in London and guided groups of American students around Europe. In 2003, she played a pivotal role in setting up, as Director of The Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust, the largest annual award in the UK for emerging directors in experimental theatre.

In 1998, Romilly moved full-time to Paris – finding a city she loved and a life that suited her. She wrote a large number of scripts for film, television and theatre and directed several wonderful short films. In 2013, she was joint winner of the prestigious BAFTA Rocliffe New Writing Forum for TV Drama. In Paris, Romilly founded Cinemorphe – a group that pushes the boundaries of immersive theatre, creating productions that are part performance, part installation and part social gathering.

We will miss Romilly more than words can say. She was a wonderful, funny, tremendously loyal friend and I feel proud to have known her. Romilly always lived life on her own terms, refusing to compromise or give up on her dreams. While this did not always make life easy, it made for great adventures and wonderful stories to be told over a glass of wine and with a lot of laughter.

Memories from Jane’s colleague, Honorary Old Girl and former parent, Charles Simpson: When I was very new to SSG, I remember trying to fix a date for an event during a staff meeting. When asked if anyone knew what day 3 December was, Jane immediately responded: “Tuesday.”

We were stunned by her computational skill, until she revealed an interesting fact that has stayed with me ever since: the days in December match those in September.

Jane was very kind. She had a relatively small garden, and in it she grew strawberries that she would give to unmarried members of staff. She explained very apologetically to me that she did not have enough to supply married people as well. The girls liked and respected her, though they disliked her refusal to wait for late arrivals; they would find they had to pick up the argument at whatever stage had been reached.

Memories from Jane’s colleague, former Headmistress and Old Girl June Taylor W’61: I first met Jane when I returned to Sherborne in 1966. An exceptional Cambridge-educated mathematician, she was also an outstanding teacher across the whole ability range. We all knew that she was better than any of us at teaching, regardless of which division she took.

Jane was also wonderful to work for – always ready with help and support.

In the sixth form Jane taught Pure, rather than Applied, Mathematics. I remember once asking for her help with a question on a Mechanics paper and she said that although Mechanics was not her strength, she would take a look anyway.

Before Prayers the following morning, she had produced the most elegant solution.

Jane taught me a great deal and I shall always be grateful to have known and worked with her.

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Journal 2015

Margaret Boxwell Housemistress of Ealhstan 1973 – 1978 Mathematics Teacher 1971 – 1982 An obituary by John Skinner (whose wife was Margaret’s second cousin).

Margaret was born into a vicarage family, and schooled by a tutor alongside the daughter of the village squire. It proved a formative © Dorset Echo encounter, and one that gave Margaret her love of Mathematics.

After graduating from Nottingham University, Margaret taught at Prior’s Field, Godalming, and Abbots Bromley, before becoming Head of Mathematics at Clapham High in London. She then took up a post at St Pauls’ in Knightsbridge, where she met Ralph – a civil servant and former Indian Army Major.

Margaret and Ralph married, but Ralph died suddenly only five years later. Out of a desire to make a fresh start, Margaret moved to Sherborne Girls as a Mathematics teacher and Housemistress.

Margaret made her new home in Cerne Abbas, and immediately formed friendships in the village and at St Mary’s Church. She continued sailing and took up golf. Her holein-one was front-page news, and she achieved the feat again at the age of 85!

Margaret was a wonderful teacher and leader who left a lasting legacy to so many at Sherborne Girls.

Deborah Blowers (Sage) E’78 sent us these memories of Margaret.

Margaret was my housemistress for five years, and I realise now more than ever how much I owe her.

My own journey to Ealhstan was tortuous and pained, after a difficult childhood. But in Margaret, who was new to her post, I found a very special person who supported and guided me through the maze of early adolescence.

Margaret was very important to me, and will be much missed.

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Golf Report by Anne Whately-Smith (Agnew) K’70

The golfing year for 2015 was blessed with great weather for all our events. Our annual match versus the Old Shirburnians took place on Monday 11 May at Sherborne Golf Club where once again we had a lovely day and for the first time actually managed to win the match! We were joined for lunch by Fiona James and Laura Windsor from the OG Office and the kitchen did not disappoint – an extremely good lunch!

Playing for the SOGs were: Tiggy Dewey (Sutton) A’73, Anne Whately-Smith (Agnew) K’70, Liz Pendered (Edwards) W’75, Hilary Tuckett (Ward) W’58, Fiona Strang (Keane) W’66, Mary Elliot (Troughton) T’76, Barbara Dalrymple (Savill) W’70 and Caroline Davis (Patterson) DH’57.

The Silver Tassie was held at The Berkshire on Monday 8 June with 34 teams competing. We were not as successful this year as we were last, but both our teams did manage to come in the top 15. Our first couple of the A Team, Emma Dibben (Pennington) AW’96 and Susie Pym (King) DH’68 won the Scratch Cup (best gross over 27 holes), and our first couple from the

OSS v SOG

Left to right: Mary Troughton, Anne Agnew, Tiggy Sutton, Liz Edwards, Caroline Patterson, Bar Savill, Fiona Keane, Hilary Ward

B Team, Janice Buswell T’54 and Ali Preston (Aldred) A’81 won the best nett 18 holes on the Blue Course – both results a great achievement.

The other players were Charlotte Harrocks (Johnson) K’68 and Rachel Long (Trotman) W’69 making up the A team with Anne Agnew and Anne Kinnersley (Boyle) K’67 playing for the Bs. This is always a great day’s golf on two lovely courses and we are lucky that we are able to field two teams; other schools find it hard to muster one!

Our third event was the autumn meeting held at the North Hants Golf Club near Fleet, on the last day of September. There were 22 of us in total playing in 7 groups. We were made to feel very welcome by the charming ‘visitor golf manager’ who made us all feel very important as we were individually introduced on the first tee.

After we had played, he gave us a very interesting tour of the Justin Rose Room (his home club) where all his trophies and golfing paraphernalia were displayed.

The winning team was Vicki Head (Pett) K’68, Hilary Park (Dennes) E’65 and Josie Kemp (Mather) DH’62. Second place went to Tiggy Sutton, Mary Troughton and Sally-Anne Rumble (Duke) A’74. Susie King won ‘nearest the pin’ and Jane Kinnersley (Ellen) K’69 the longest drive. Everyone seemed very happy with the course and we may well return there next year – decision still to be made. The others attending were Susie Pendered (Dawes) W’76, Liz Edwards, Fiona Stern (Corben) E’62, Hilary

Glynn (Thomas) DH’67, Gail Preston (Taylor) DH’67, Ali Aldred, Mary Chalmers (Beard) AE’58, Gill Buzzard (Blenkinsop) DH’62, Sarah Kinnersley (Stonehouse) K’65, Valerie Worth (Thomas) E’73, Jenny Josselyn A’63, Jane Jefferson (Shearer) E’68 and Buzz Blandy (Francis) E’62.

The final event was a match against the Old Girls of Cheltenham Ladies College. Susie King (captain on the day) writes: “Eight stalwart golfing Old Girls went to play against CLC at Woking on Monday 12 October. Being a 2-ball course, we opted to go out in singles but, on this occasion, we all played a Stableford round and added all our points together to make a final tally for each team – an unusual way of doing things, but it seemed to work very well! We were very lucky with the weather. Woking is always a treat to play, tea was delicious and, most importantly, we had a lovely, sociable time with kindred golfing spirits. The last time we played Cheltenham was several years ago at West Hill, but we thought that we should try to turn the match into an annual event – next time possibly on a course which would allow us to go out in 4s.

Representing Sherborne were Ali Aldred, Sarah Stonehouse, Mary Beard, Fiona Keane, Candida Harris (Woolley) E’70, Susie King, Jane Shearer and Trudi Hubbard (Harris) DH’58. PS – it was close but we did win!”

Sherborne Old Girls Golf Association Golf Day

The Tassie

Left to right: Emma Pennington, Ali Aldred, Janice Buswell, Anne Agnew, Charlotte Johnson, Susie King, Anne Boyle, Rachel Trotman

Left to right: Vicki Pett, Jenny Josselyn, Buzz Francis, Jane Ellen, Sarah Stonehouse, Hilary Dennes, Valerie Thomas, Josie Mather, Jane Shearer 17

Journal 2015

Births, Marriages & Deaths Births Nicola Cooney DH’91 and Jonathan had a son, Sebastian, on 26 April 2015 Lucinda Prain (Fidgen) E’95 and Robert had a son, Rory, on 11 December 2014 Lucy Andersen (Harwood) W’96 and Mark had a son, Theo, on 27 January 2015, a brother to Oscar Vanessa Rogers K’99 and Henry Talbot-Ponsonby had a daughter, Stella, on 15 October 2015 Poppy Lord (Tuke) AW’03 and William had a daughter, Matilda, on 9 March 2015

Victoria Kraunsoe (Thomas) K’97 and Andrew had a son, Luke, on 2 January 2015, a brother for Alexander Clementine Kerr (Sinclaire) A’00 and Robert had a son, Tobias, on 7 February 2015 Rosie Adams (Carey) AE’04 and Daniel had a son, William, on 25 August 2015 Georgina Kraunsoe (Menko) K’92 and Stephen had a daughter, Clara, on 17 May 2014, a sister for Benjamin and Sebastian

Marriages Clemi Kerr A’00 married Robert Sinclair on 7 June 2014

Lucy Stewart-Richardson K’05 married Simon Lucas on 8 August 2015

Annabel Tucker T’02 married Garry Chow on 13 September 2014

Louisa Graham A/RH ’06 married Edward (Ted) Cameron on 8 August 2015

Claire Dickinson A’03 married Robin Hardy on 6 September 2014

Flora Hill K’07 married Fraser Scobie on 19 July 2014

Penelope Kirby-Johnson K’03 married Thomas Story on 4 July 2015

Jessie Richardson W’07 married Jamie Excell on 13 June 2015

Poppy Lord AW’03 married William Tuke on 31 December 2015 18

Deaths Barbara Alington (Cassels) A’32 died on 29 August 2014

Sonya (Sally) Nash (Hare) AE’55 died on 30 July 2015

Rachel Watson (Peterkin) AW’35 died on 22 November 2014

Rita McVittie AE’56 died on 9 July 2015

Pamela King AE’37 died on 25 June 2014

Sally Campbell (Winter) W’57 died on 8 November 2014

Katharine Cooke (Woodsend) A’39 died in September 2015

Philippa (Pippa) Lawrence AE’57 died on 23 March 2015

Enid Hunt (Galloway) E’40 died on 7 March 2015

Gay Hunt (Catto) AW’58 died on 30 May 2014

Elizabeth Johnston Phillips T’40 died in 2015 (date unknown) Joan Merrells (Resting) W’40 died on 13 March 2014 Ursula Taylor (Jepson) W’41 died on 23 December 2014 Mary Haigh (Scott) DH’46 died on 4 January 2015 Audrey Jeaffreson (Fynmore) K’46 died on 13 March 2014

Angela Jenkins (Davies) DH’59 died on 13 March 2015 Patricia Lawrence (Bruce) AE’60 died on 20 March 2015 Cherill Angas (Heckstall) T’65 died on 1 June 2014 Judith (Judy) Wingfield Digby (Barke) W’65 died on 1 August 2015 Nicola (Nicky) Tye (Nisbet) K’76 died on 24 March 2015

Jane Barford (Crosse) W’47 died in August 2015

Julia Hardy (Linzee Gordon) K’78 died on 18 October 2015

Ann Humphreys (Shaw) W’48 died on 28 December 2014

Katherine Allport (Dalton) AE’81 died on 7 March 2014

Ann Lush (Sawtell) AW’48 died on 18 June 2014

Christina (Tina) Xynias AE’87 died on 23 May 2015

June Mackintosh (Goodenough) K’48 died on 9 January 2015

Romilly Walton Masters A’88 died on 23 March 2015

Julia Meston (Lanesborough) W’48 died on 5 March 2015

Philippa Craig W’98 died in 2015 (date unknown)

Susan Ferard (Stockley) AW’49 died on 3 October 2014 (Chairman of SOG from 1987 – 1991)

Jane Birkett Mathematics Teacher 1964 – 1982, died on 31 December 2014

Suzanne Holman (Farrington) AW’49 died on 1 March 2015

Margaret Boxwell Housemistress of Ealhstan 1973 – 1978, Mathematics Teacher 1971 – 1982, died on 11 September 2015

Heather Bell (Pittar) A’53 died on 11 February 2015 Susan Cotton Clarke T’53 died on 14 October 2014 Susanna Golden (Baker) W’54 died on 25 December 2014

Phyllis (Lindsay) White History of Art, Art & Craft Teacher 1937 – 1963, died on 19 January 2016 Kathryn Rowswell, Matron of Aldhelmsted East 2007 – 2015, died on 31 January 2016 19

NEW SOG MEMBERS Welcome to the following ‘new’ Old Girls, who left school in summer 2015 Imogen Adams Gunel Aliyeva Jessica Annobil Charlotte Atkins Alicia Baines India Bamber Maddie Barber Helena Barham Antonia Blanchard Celeste Bowden Tallulah Brown Rachel Bucklow Constance Cater Natalie Chan Mandy Cheong Genevieve Cherubini Rebecca Cheung Mamie Colfox Octavia Cooper Isabelle Crabb Georgie Crocker Harriet Cunningham Emily Dillon Julia Dodson Molly Edgley

Isabella Elwes Chak Lam Fung Isabella Gardner Isla Gething Alexa Gibbs Olivia Gilmour Tessa Gough-Allen Sophia Greacen Emily Hall Ellie Hollis Stephanie Hutchings Arabella Jennings Libby Jones Amber Lacey Georgina Lee Xinyue Li Francesca Lines Cecily Loveys Jervoise Xiao Wei Lu Alice Mackean Hannah Mahlmann Elnara Mamedova Alice Martyr Sophie Masterton Antonia Matthews

Lottie McNair Scott Molly Melville Jemima Middle Chess Milne Elizabeth Murray Larissa Nash Claudia Ngapo Katherine Page Phoebe Parker Eugenie Parkhouse Rose Patrick Rebecca Penfold India Penny Polly Pentreath Lisa Pun Yixuan Qian Lucy Redman Katie Reid Summer Reid Flora Ritchie Amelia Rogers Eliza Sale Eleanor Schute Ruth Scott Matilda Scott-Bowden

Nadezhda Selyutina Lucinda Sewell Phoebe Sharp Isabelle Stone Alice Storrie Mary Stronach Charlotte Summerhayes Olivia Suter Tilly Taylor Tsz Ling Tsang Olivia Turner Olivia Van Grutten Charline Van Maercke Noémie Van Maercke Andie Vinycomb Maya Vlahovic Monette Wan Katherine Waring Eve Wellband Emily Williams Polly Wilson Sophie Wong Vanessa Yam Susanna Young

Daughters and Granddaughters of Old Girls in the school Aldhelmsted West Olivia Andrews

Gillian Slaughter, Grandmother Georgina Andrews Gillian Slaughter, Grandmother Cecilia Darwall Diana McWatters, Mother Matilda Massey Katherine Prideaux-Brune, Mother Artemis McMaster-Christie Diana Hamblin, Grandmother Artemis McMaster-Christie Sarah Tory, Mother Agatha Palmer Zoë Phayre-Mudge, Mother Kenelm Mary Butler Isobel Ellis Lucy Knott Hannah Lee Grace Palmer

Dione Ellison, Grandmother George Hardy, Mother Jane Royston, Mother Jo Nicholls, Mother Zoë Phayre-Mudge, Mother

Reader Harris Christa Cripwell Sophie Hall Emma Kitson Wingfield Digby Imogen Andrews Tilly Cripwell Flora Dakin Lucy Holcroft Rosie Kitson Josephine Marshall Josephine Marshall Sacha Nokes Lily Sebag-Montefiore Poppy Weldon Alice Wharton

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Emma Pocock, Mother Louise Ellam, Mother Caroline Jones, Mother

Gillian Slaughter, Grandmother Emma Pocock, Mother Victoria Hunt, Mother Anthea Malim, Grandmother Caroline Jones, Mother Christine White, Grandmother Kate Gregor, Mother Anthea Ottaway, Grandmother Santa Palmer-Tomkinson, Mother Clare Hedges, Mother Rebecca Courtenay, Mother

Sherborne Old Girls President Louise Ellam (Hall) Presidents Emeritae Mrs Geraldine Kerton-Johnson Miss June Taylor Vice-Presidents Mrs Patricia Barker Miss Caro Macintosh Miss Augusta Miller Miss Sheila Powell Dr Hassan Qasrawi

Executive Committee Chairman Sophie Stratton sogchairman@sherborne.com Treasurer Stephanie Hislop sogtreasurer@sherborne.com Secretary Fiona James oldgirls@sherborne.com Peer Group Co-ordinators’ Representative Alexandra Ballard oldgirls@sherborne.com Circle Secretaries’ Co-ordinator Jane Reekie (Nicholson) oldgirls@sherborne.com Journal Co-ordinator Susie Brabner (Suter) oldgirls@sherborne.com Under 30s Representative Stephanie Hislop oldgirls@sherborne.com Headmistress Jenny Dwyer headmistress@sherborne.com Senior Management Team Representative Fiona Clapp fc@sherborne.com

Peer Group Co-ordinators 1900 – 1950

VACANT

1951 – 1955

Jenyth Worsley

1956 – 1960

Daphne MaGuire (Thomson)

1961 – 1965

Rosie Cox (Highfield)

1966 – 1970

VACANT

1971 – 1975

Jocelyn Passey (Humfrey)

1976 – 1980

Jane Digby (Auer)

1981 – 1985

Victoria Hunt (Dakin)

1986 – 1990

Antonia Foster (Plant)

1991 – 1995

Alexandra White (Ballard)

1996 – 2000

Alexa Ramsay (Laryea)

2001 – 2005

Tess Cavendish

2006 – 2010

Bella Hussey

2011 – 2015

Louise Moseley

Trustees of Sherborne Old Girls Bursary Fund June Taylor, Prudence Butterworth (Mrs Dauris), Joanna Gornall (Mrs Wright), Helen McLuskie (Mrs Garton) All correspondence should be addressed to: Miss June Taylor, 4 Palliser Court, Palliser Road, London W14 9ED Development Officer Laura Windsor development@sherborne.com

Sherborne Old Girls Office, Bradford Road, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3QN Tel: 01935 818329 Email: oldgirls@sherborne.com www.sherborne.com/Sherborne-Old-Girls Main school tel: 01935 812245 Email: office@sherborne.com Sherborne Girls Alumnae

Sherborne Girls

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Journal 2015

Circle News

1A Devon &

1B

Cornwall

Joint secretaries: Liz Whitley (Pybus) AW’58 and Sarah Pybus (Moody) AW’80 Sarah Pybus writes: The Devon and Cornwall circle reunion was held for a second consecutive year at The Arundel Arms on 24 September 2015. We were given a warm welcome with a delicious meal in their light and spacious dining room. It was lovely to be joined by Fiona James who was largely responsible for the smooth running of the reunion this year (for which I was very grateful!). Among those attending were Susan Russell (Johnson) AW’55, who was over from the USA for just a couple of weeks visiting her sister Jill Russell (Long) AW’52. She left hoping that the 2016 reunion would coincide with her next planned visit to the UK! Also Clive, husband of Clare Whitley (Rendle) AW’60 was present and seemed to thoroughly enjoy the occasion despite being somewhat outnumbered!

Those attending were: Jane Butler (Browne-Clayton) A’54, Heather Caverhill (White) E’57, Jane Knocker (Youle) AE’51, Barbara Mudge (Thomas) T’55, Hilary Plumptre (Churcher) AE’52, Kate Pybus (Buckley) AW’85, Sarah (Moody), Clive Rendle, Jill (Long), Susan (Johnson), Clare (Rendle), Elizabeth Whitley (Pybus) AW’58.

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2A Dorset Secretary: Anne Walsh (Colquhoun) E’69 Anne writes: The Dorset group of the Sherborne Old Girls met on a hot and sunny day in early July at Athelhampton House, a magnificent 15th century house near Puddletown. After lunch in the old stables, we were free to wander round the house and gardens. I used to work here, many years ago, for Robin Cooke, conservative MP for Bristol West, when he lived here with his family. Robin’s son Patrick now lives here, and has done much to preserve and maintain the wonderful house and beautiful gardens. We had a most enjoyable, relaxing day and I look forward to meeting up

6 4

with everyone again next year.

Attending the lunch were: Penny Hockley (Tozer) K’55, Mavora Geoghegan (Forward) K’57, Elizabeth Byers (Gaff) E’59, Ann Livock (Kraunsoe) K’60, Diana Hamblin (Tory) AW’60, Jo Edwards (Vernon) AW’60, Christine Cree (Gabbarelli) K’68, Anne Colquhoun, Caroline Cossins (Tory) E’72 and Tessa Haggett (Tripp) K’77. Honorary Old Girls Sue Cameron, Chris Bartholomew, Wendy Laid, Shelagh Wills, Augusta Miller and Issy Morley-Smith were joined by staff members Fiona James, SOG Secretary and Laura Windsor, Development Officer.

Buckinghamshire & Berkshire

Wiltshire

Secretary: Penny Faulks (Austin) AW’56 The Bucks and Berks Circle celebrated yet another very enjoyable occasion on Tuesday 30 June 2015 at Secretary: Jane Reekie (Nicholson) The Golden Ball in Lower Assendon, just outside E’59 Henley. Eleven of us met in the garden before Having enjoyed a huge reunion last going inside for an excellent buffet. We were year I have kept a rather low profile. blessed with another beautiful sunny day. We all Since then we have sadly lost 2 of our enjoyed catching up with each other and plan to keen members: Rita McVittie AE ’56 who repeat it again next year. If there is anyone was Treasurer of the OG’s Union 10 years interested in joining us whom I have not ago and Louise Palmer K’38 whose contacted, please get in touch with me. company I regularly enjoyed on my visits Those present were: Jane Gange (Rooksby) to her care home. Please get in touch if AW’57, Ann Collier (Shemilt) K’56, Gail you would like to be visited or think I Cunningham (Crichton) W’63, Pippa Morley can help in any way. (An obituary for (George) W’58, Frankie Faulks (Elliot) AW’63, Louise Palmer can be found in last Margaret Sayer (Hollings) DH’46, Sarita Caldwell year’s Journal on page 17.)

(McLuskie) A’49, Fiona Munro (Harman) W’53, Jane Nayler (Worland) AE’61, Joan Capps (Orford) A’57, Penny Austin.

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Journal 2015

12A Norfolk & Suffolk Secretary: Gillie Bryson (Scoular) E’73 Penny Cooper (Baily) AW’64 yet again welcomed eight of us to her wonderful home in Elsing, Norfolk, in September. We had a very scrumptious lunch and a thoroughly enjoyable time.

Many thanks to Penny and to those other attendees who put together such a delicious meal.

We plan to have another gathering in 2016; if anyone has any ideas as to venue, please do get in touch.

Left to right (clockwise round table): Vicky Cook (Keith) AE’74, Sarah Randall AE’66, Rosemary Hoysted (Fraser) A’56, Vicky Manthorpe (Beard) E’68, Zoé Brown (Mair) (with her grandson) T’65, Katherine Brown (Tulley) W’87, Gillie Scoular, Libby Ashe (Foss) DH’60 – (our hostess, Penny Baily, took the photo)

13B Leicestershire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire Secretary: Josephine Hepburn (Blake) A’69 Pru Nahum (Tatham) A’63 very kindly held our annual circle lunch in May. We were fewer in number this year due to the date changing, but we still very much enjoyed seeing each other for our get-together and had a good catch-up. As the weather did not look good, Pru showed us round her wonderful large garden first, including their amazing plans to build their next house with all mod cons at the end of their garden, with all the landscaping involved. We look forward to returning to see it all completed in a few years’ time! Pru then gave us the most delicious lunch in her charming conservatory.

I am hosting next year’s lunch at Boothby Pagnell, near Grantham, Lincolnshire on Wednesday 11 May 2016. All OGs in neighbouring Circles are very welcome to come 24

and join us. Please make a note in your diaries, and for more details contact the Office at: oldgirls@sherborne.com

Left to right: Elizabeth Blandy (Francis) E’62, Margaret Mayell DH’50 and our hostess Pru Tatham. Jo Blake A’69 took the photo

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Channel Islands

Secretary: Emma Campbell (Le Maistre) W’89 On 30 April 2015, Sherborne School and Sherborne Girls held a reception at Banjo Brasserie in St Helier for present, past and future parents as well as Old Girls and Boys. There was a fantastic turnout and we all had a lovely evening drinking wine and eating delicious canapés.

From left to right: Alex Wilsey (Bellew) W’95, Jo Newbald W’98, Jo Hensman (Christensen) W’98, Jenny Dwyer, Headmistress, Claire Vellacott (Gibson) AW’96, Claudia Whitson (Rogers) AE’89, Emma Le Maistre, Sarah Campbell (Pallot) T’87 and Emily Newbald DH’06

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South East Asia

Secretary: Vacant The Singapore Chapter of the OSS, led by OS Malcolm Richards (Abbey House 72), organised a drinks reunion at Stumps Bar at the Singapore Cricket Club on Friday 15 May 2015. Old Girls, Old Shirburnians, former and current parents were invited.

Tina Rodd (Nixon) A’82, Katherine Prideaux-Brune (Massey) A’91 and Lucy Venning A’85 attended the reunion.

Left to right: Philip Andrews Speed (School House 72), Mrs G Richards, Katherine Massey, Lucy Venning, Hugh Ellerton, Alexander Neill, Hugh Ellerton’s son, Dominic Harding, Colin Keatinge, and Malcolm Richards.

The evening was judged a great success and our next joint OS get together is being planned for next year.

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Journal 2015

Sarah Hatherell (Wood) A’05, Dentist

A l u m n a e CAREERS Networking Service

We continue to receive many requests for help and advice from younger Old Girls whose career interests cover a wide range of professions and industry sectors, including Public Relations, Events and Human Resources.

We are very grateful to the Old Girls who assist with our Careers Networking Service. We continue to work closely with the Old Shirburnian Society and hope to run a number of careers events.

Our use of Social Media is growing.

I encourage Old Girls who use LinkedIn to join our Community and to ‘like’ our Facebook page. You will find a link on our website and details are also printed on the inside front cover of this Journal.

Fiona James Old Girls Secretary

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Sarah went straight to Cardiff to study dentistry after leaving Sherborne Girls, having originally considered physiotherapy as a career option. She was keen to take a vocational course at university, and to make use of her science A Levels.

“I really enjoyed my five years at university,” she says. “I had lots of time for travelling over the summer holidays and spent a memorable three months in Sweden on an Erasmus exchange during my final year.”

Since graduating, Sarah has worked in a number of positions, from general practice in South Wales to private work in Australia. She now lives and works in Devon, splitting her time between Exeter and Sidmouth.

“My work can be stressful at times,” she admits. “But it is brilliant to meet families and build up rapport and trust with them.

“I’d definitely encourage Sherborne girls to consider a career in dentistry,” Sarah continues. “It’s a rewarding and flexible career, where there is always more to learn!”

Katie Ball is just finishing a geography degree at university and hopes to pursue a career in Food PR once she has graduated.

“I have always loved cooking,” she explains. “This developed while taking part in the Leiths Cookery Course at school. Since then I have worked in the kitchen of our local farm shop, as well as part-time for a catering company.”

When Katie discovered that it was possible to make a living in Food PR, she was instantly interested.

After contacting Fiona James in the Old Girls Office, Katie got in touch with a company in the industry, and is due to go on work experience there shortly.

“I can’t thank Fiona enough for her help,” she says. “I urge other girls to make contact, if they need advice about the scary world of work!”

Catherine Laine A/RH’05, Film professional

Katie Ball DH’12, Final-year student, Bristol University

Profiles

Catherine works in the glamorous world of film and TV. She recently worked on 24, starring Kiefer Sutherland, as well as the last Avengers movie and Alice in Wonderland 2, where her main duties involved looking after Johnny Depp.

“I also worked on SPECTRE, the latest Bond movie,” she reports, “and I’m now at work on Guy Ritchie’s Knights of the Roundtable. At the same time, I’m prepping my own feature, which is due to start filming this summer in Ireland.”

Catherine’s main goal is to become a producer. She has been making her own short films and music videos for the last five years and has her own production company called Up Stream Films.

She makes corporate and promotional films for a variety of clients, including a number of Old Shirburnians.

Higher Education Fair A number of Old Girls returned to school in June 2015 to chat to sixth form girls about university options. The photo shows, from left to right: Rebecca Clapp AE’14, Eleanor Gratton K’14, Poppy Jackson WD’12, Georgia Benney RH’12 and Kitty Shafto WD’13.

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April left Sherborne Girls in 2008 and studied at the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry in Exeter. During this time, she was particularly inspired by an ophthalmologist she trained with in Plymouth, and now hopes to pursue this as her specialism.

“The idea of becoming a doctor was planted by watching a TV hospital drama when I was younger,” April laughs. “I thought the defibrillator looked fun to play with!”

Naturally, April had to work hard to attain the high entry grades needed to study medicine. But she says the challenges really got going once she’d completed her degree.

“I had four three-hour exams per year,” she reports, “and two clinical finals in year two and four of my training. In addition, I had to carry out weekly case presentations and clinical examinations with a consultant, write two to three essays per year and undergo clinical skills assessments.”

Added to the emotional rollercoaster of life on a ward, April admits that working as a doctor is challenging. She is sustained by her friends and family, and her Christian faith, which she says has helped her through difficult times.

Besides which, working as a doctor has its rewards. She enjoys the variety, and the privilege of working so closely with patients and other skilled professionals. “I love making a difference to people’s lives,” she says. “I’d definitely recommend this way of life to other Sherborne girls.”

Clare Williams A’05, Doctor

April Liu AE’08, Doctor

Journal 2015

The medical profession is in Clare Williams’s blood. Her mother was a GP, and her two older siblings also studied medicine. “This was a mixed blessing,” she reports. “I heard about the good aspects of the job, but was also aware of the commitment it requires, and the long and often unsocial hours.”

Even so, she took a place at Cardiff University to read medicine and is now training to broaden her experience with a view to entering general practice. She admits that the training process is long, and requires a high level of commitment.

But she says that being organised, and enthused by the work, makes a big difference in adjusting to the way of life.

What’s more, Clare says she enjoys getting to know patients and their stories.

“It’s a very privileged position when people feel they are able to trust you and confide in you,” she says. “It’s also fantastic when you see patients who were admitted with serious health problems rehabilitated and ready to go home.”

Clare’s advice to any Sherborne girls who are thinking of a career in medicine is to fix up some work experience and find out what the job entails. “It’s a very rewarding and worthwhile profession,” she says, “but you need to be willing to commit to it.”

CITY NETWORKING EVENT In September, Sherborne Girls arranged a city careers event at Investec Wealth and Investment in London. The event gave Old Girls and Old Shirburnians who either work in the city or have an interest in the sector a chance to network with others in the industry. We are very grateful to Louise Ellam (Hall) E’84 for enabling us to hold this event.

Katie Hillan DH’14 said the workshop provided a “useful insight” into careers in the city, which helped her develop a “deeper understanding” of the options available.

Meanwhile, Emily Palmer RH’09 was grateful for the opportunity to “reconnect with friends from both the Girls’ and Boys’ Schools and meet a number of older alumni”. She described it as a “fantastic occasion.”

Fleur Morris DH’13 writes, “The careers networking event I went to in September was very useful. As someone studying maths at university I have become interested in applying my numerical and analytical skills in the financial world. However, with so many different aspects to ‘finance’ in the City I have found it very difficult to learn and understand enough to work out which area would interest me most. This careers event offered me an excellent opportunity to spend some time with people who had already started their careers and who could answer some of my questions.

As we talked with fellow alumnae, I felt more relaxed and open about my concerns and they understood that exactly. It was also very inspiring to see the leadership roles women can play. It was a most worthwhile event and I am sure should be repeated in the future.”

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Features REFLECTIONS OF LIFE AT SHERBORNE GIRLS – 1915 CONTINUED FROM LAST ISSUE By 1915 the grip of War had tightened, but articles in the School Magazine show that the Staff and Girls realised how comparatively lucky they were.

In some ways we were much less disturbed than many schools… No hostile aeroplane ever reached Sherborne; their constant attentions were kept at the coasts by the great dockyards and the vigilant searchlights of Portsmouth and Southampton. We were never really short of food; butter and milk were too plentiful in the rich pasture lands of Dorset; vegetables were easy to grow and, with skilful cooking, there was no need to be hungry.

The school raised money for the hospitals in the town, giving £30 to the Yeatman, and £10 each to the Castle and Greenhill Red Cross Hospitals. Many girls and staff also knitted and sewed for the troops. By the end of the year they were able to send three large crates packed with garments – pyjamas, shirts, socks, caps etc. to the Southampton Hospital which had done so much to supply the needs of the wounded from the Dardanelles.

Miss Mulliner kept in touch with all her former pupils, addressing her letter at the beginning of every Magazine to them, and encouraging them in their chosen occupations.

Many of the girls joined the Red Cross as nurses and worked in 30

Voluntary Aid Detachment Hospitals both in England and in Belgium.

Others went to work on the land, helping on farms with livestock and crops, taking over the roles of the men who were now at the Front.

Others worked in munitions factories doing work previously undertaken by men.

Enid Horton, who was only 20, having left Sherborne in 1913, was helping a society providing comforts for the soldiers of the Belgian Army, also the Red Cross. She gave her name to the Board of Trade War Service for Women as able and ready to go and make shells or do any light machining for armaments that may be

required and, in 1915, was waiting to be called up to work in any factory that was employing women.

Whitehall, the home of Erica WardlawRamsay, another 1913 leaver, became a Red Cross Hospital holding 150 men. Erica was Secretary to the Girls’ Diocesan Association for Edinburgh Diocese for the duration of the war, which included organizing, working at war clubs etc. She also worked for the Charity Organization Society and took a course of training in Social Service.

When she delved into the War Supplement again, Sue Cameron (Honorary Old Girl, Housemistress of Ealhstan, now Reader Harris, 1978 – 1984), who is helping with this research, came across an unusual name she recognised. She asked her friend Hugh Guillebaud if he had had any relations at Sherborne Girls and was rewarded by this personal and interesting recollection. Dorothy and Evelyn were his aunts and H.L.Guillebaud in the VIth Loyal North Lancs was his father.

The rather bald facts in the list have become real people, living (and dying) during WW1.

Extracts from War Supplement 1915

“”

Others went to work on the land, helping on farms with livestock and crops, taking over the roles of the men who were now at the Front.

NEAR RELATIONS SERVING THE COUNTRY RELATIONS OF MEMBERS OF THE OLD GIRLS UNION The Guillebaud sisters were the daughters of The Rev. Alexander Guillebaud, who was vicar of the tiny downland village of Yatesbury, near Avebury, Wiltshire.

Just north of the village is Windmill Hill, with remains contemporaneous with Avebury’s stone circle. The family owned the gift of the living; it was one of the remotest and smallest parishes in southern England.

On those downs were unfenced sheep walks – endless miles of wild flowers. The pony and trap was the only contact with the world, along pre-tarmac road surfaces.

Dorothy Guillebaud

Evelyn Guillebaud

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Features They had two brothers: Hugh, my father, born in 1890, who read classics at Oriel, Oxford, was badly wounded in the first war, and taught at Marlborough for thirty years, and Geoffrey, born in 1894, was killed in action in 1915.

Dorothy, the eldest child, born in 1898, was beautiful, intensely religious, and loved by all for her sweet nature. As a teenager, she ministered to the needs of the villagers, with an emphasis on the spiritual side. That encouraged the village secularist to tell her “Y’ore wastin’ yore time”, which became a family joke. Her beliefs were creationist; when challenged as to how she explained the fossil evidence that contradicts the belief in a seven-day creation, she replied that God had put the fossils there to test one’s faith.

She gave the gift of the parish to Salisbury diocese, and spent her life working for the church; I remember her affection for the young soldiers of the second war to whom she ministered while they were stationed in England, awaiting discharge after the war. Among her many jobs was missionary work in North Africa, probably South Sudan. In her fifties she was picked up at Bristol Temple Meads railway station by a widowed clergyman, to whom she was married until he died. She died in her late eighties.

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Evelyn, born 1892, was the third child; she was athletic and rode to hounds. She married Warren Dingle, a first-world-war fighter pilot, whom she met while he was stationed at Yatesbury’s tiny ‘airfield’. Warren was a very big man, and people wondered how he could fit into a cockpit. Sadly, he died young, leaving Evelyn a struggling widow, with three sons. George went into the church, while Rodney and Richard became school teachers. Rodney was a Cambridge rowing blue and is a fine musician.

Evelyn qualified as a physiotherapist to make ends meet, working at Savernake Hospital, in Marlborough. She liked to move around, living in Burbage near Marlborough, then in the town itself, then in Saddleworth, Berkshire. She retired to Dorset, and died in her sixties, following an illness. I have fond memories of her pretty cottage and garden in Burbage. She drove a 1936 Morris 8, and used to free-wheel it illegally downhill to save petrol. She gave me my first driving lesson on a grassy down-land track when I was twelve. She was good fun.

Many thanks to Hugh Guillebaud for that information

Breathing life into London’s historic buildings When I left Sherborne in the early 1960s I never imagined that I would end up in such an interesting career: helping to rescue and reuse historic buildings in London and getting an OBE for it. I was not university material and although I would have loved to become a character actress, the most promising possibility seemed to be secretarial work.

The Heritage of London Trust (HOLT) was founded by the old Greater London Council in 1980 as the building preservation trust for Greater London: 33 very different local authorities. Dame Diana Reader-Harris, a friend of the Trust’s first Chairman, Willie Bell, was an early recruit to the Appeal Council.

After six years at Clarence House, I arrived in the Trust’s early days as the director’s secretary. These were stimulating years when we had an office in the GLC Historic Buildings Division, which later became English Heritage London Region. It meant I learnt the ropes on the job like an old-fashioned apprentice.

What intrigued me from the start was the fascinating history locked away in old buildings in the most unlikely and often very deprived areas of London. No stately homes for me, but some relevant economic and social history in places that have shaped and formed our country and the liberties we value.

An early success for the Trust was the restoration of nine of the 13 surviving cabmen’s shelters – set up by Lord Shaftesbury in the late 19th century to stop cabmen who were in charge of horses getting drunk in the pubs!

The Minnie Lansbury Memorial Clock, opposite Bow Road underground station, was another success. Minnie was a Russian Jewish immigrant who became a councillor representing the people of Poplar. She was a suffragette and became hugely popular by refusing to levy a rate on her poverty-stricken constituents. She and six other councillors were sent to prison for this, but sadly she died in

Diana Downing (Beattie) OBE K’63 writes about her experiences as director of the Heritage of London Trust 1922, soon after her release, as a result of pneumonia contracted while she was inside.

Many thousands attended her funeral.

After I retired as director of the Trust, I became Chairman of Heritage of London Trust Operations – a sister trust which acquires and renovates historic buildings to bring them back into community use. We are currently rescuing St George’s Garrison Church, Woolwich, which was hit by a V1 in 1944 and has remained roofless ever since. It is the VC memorial for the Royal Artillery and has some very fine Italian mosaics in the chancel. It also has a memorial to the victims of terrorism in Woolwich, including Fusilier Lee Rigby.

Our major campaign at the moment is to rescue the New River Head, Amwell Street, Islington from very unsuitable development and turn it into a base for a heritage interpretation centre. New River Head is the terminus of an amazing 35-mile aqueduct built in 1613 to bring water to London from fresh springs in Ware, Hertfordshire.

I am delighted that several Sherborne Old Girls are Friends of the Trust and are among our most discerning supporters. Dame Diana would be proud!

P A photos

From left to right: Diana’s sister, Philippa Downing K’66, Diana, Diana’s husband, Richard and her daughter, Jessie 33

Features Aldhelmsted East Farewell Tea to Mrs Liz Poraj-Wilczynska Housemistress of Aldhelmsted East from 2003 – 2015

On Saturday 20 June 2015 Sherborne Girls hosted an Afternoon Tea to say farewell to Liz PorajWilczynska. Liz was housemistress from 2003 to 2015. This was held in the small marquee on the main lawn immediately after Sports Day. Parents, Old Girls, current girls, former and present members of staff together with friends of the house joined together for this very happy and special occasion.

We were treated to a wonderful performance of a traditional Welsh lullaby, Sao Gân, sung by members of the Madrigal Society Choir. Liz was presented with a bouquet of flowers, some garden furniture and a purple flowering tree, by two current members of Aldhelmsted East.

It was wonderful to see the whole school community enjoying themselves together.

At the tea there was also an archive display showing extracts from the AE diaries, together with an example of AE games uniform and a green silk dress from the 1950s, which was also depicted in a drawing.

We wish Liz all the very best for her future and look forward to seeing her again at one of the events.

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Peer Group

NEWS 1900 – 1950

1951 – 1955

Peer Group Co-ordinator: Currently vacant

Peer Group Co-ordinator: Jenyth Worsley AW’52 It has been a great pleasure to read news from other parts of the world. I have recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and have been told by the nurse specialist to do all the things I should still like to do in the next two years. So I am aiming to climb Mount Kilimanjaro next spring!

Jenyth would like to hand over the role of Peer Group Co-ordinator to someone else. We would like to thank her enormously for all her hard work. If you are interested in taking over, please contact the Old Girls Secretary, Fiona James.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Pat Brewster (Grayburn) T’48 for her enormous contribution to Sherborne Old Girls. Pat has worked tirelessly for the benefit of all members and we wish her well for the future.

Jean Lynden-Bell (Grieve) DH’49 writes that she missed a holiday to Hawaii and Japan in March because of illness, but has since recovered. She enjoyed the annual Oakville Performing Arts Camp, which she inaugurated 35 years ago and is working locally to campaign against high house prices.

SAVE THE DATE On Saturday 25 June 2016 we are hosting an Afternoon Tea to celebrate the centenary for Ealhstan and Thurstan. Old Girls from Ealhstan, Thurstan and Reader Harris will be invited as well as former parents, current girls, their parents, former members of staff and friends of Reader Harris.

Wendy Nash (Bloomer) AE’51 writes that her sister Sonya (Sally) Nash (Hare) AE’55 died on 30 July. Her funeral at St Mary’s Alverstoke was attended by old school friends Mary Wilshire (Scott Miller) AE’54, Lucieanne Craven (Meacher) AE’54, and Una Harris (Rankin) AE’51.

Wendy says: “Sally’s daughter Juliet Hare

(Hardwicke) AE’82 is living in New York, where her husband Adrian is director of the Whitney Gallery. Una and I spent a good day with Ann Baxter (Dawson) AE’51 at her lovely cottage in Winchelsea.”

Jane Ferard’s (Giles) AW’51 older sister Susan Ferard (Stockley) AW’49 sadly died in October 2014 (see obituary page 12), and more than 400 people attended her thanksgiving service. Jane sees Sally Henderson (Gale) W’52 a great deal, as they live in the same village.

Hilary Plumptre (Churcher) AE’52 attended the Devon Reunion in September. Alison Lansdown (Copeman) DH’53 was also there while visiting from Australia. During her stay, she enjoyed a Dun Holme reunion with Tricia Bell (Rawson) DH’54 and Frances Boas (Bouchier) DH’53. Alison has three grandchildren, with two weddings and a great grandchild due in 2016.

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Journal 2015

1956 – 1960 Jane Pople (Adley) A’55 writes that Jane Butler (BrowneClayton) A’54 came to stay with her. She missed the Northern Reunion because she was in Arran at the time, where she climbed Goat Fell (see photo).

Jane at Goat Fell Susan Fisher (Bird) T’55 has mainly been looking after her family over the last year, but caught up with Jenny Young (Regan) T’55 at Wimbledon and was hoping to go to the Suffolk region lunch with Jenifer Milligan (Cordeaux) DH’54.

Jenna Forward (Holmes) E’55 met up with Anita Paterson (Vaughan-Johnson) AW’54 in South Africa, where she lives.

She also saw Muirne Mathieson (van Wyk) E’55 in Cape Town, and keeps in touch with Mary Hocken E’55 and Hilary Lawrence E’55.

Elizabeth Chiesman (Gunn) E’51 has moved with husband Andrew to Charney Basset near Wantage in West Oxfordshire to be near three of their four children.

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Peer Group Co-ordinator: Daphne MaGuire (Thomson) T’59 A number of our contemporaries have lost loved ones this year. My own husband Christopher died in February, and I have been grateful for the support of friends and family, especially Elizabeth LindsayRea (Honnywill) A’59.

Christine Bennett (Bladon) A’56 lost her husband Tim in May. She plans to stay in Rippingale and continue opening her garden for charity.

Fiona Biggart’s (Lewington) DH’56 husband Maurice passed away in May 2015 at the age of 91, after 38 very happy years of marriage.

Rosemary Hoysted (Fraser) A’56 has a scattered family and eight grandchildren, and celebrated 50 years of marriage in 2015. Sara Stephens (Morton) A’56 was amongst the guests. She met up with Sue Bain (Gage) A’57 for a visit to Westonbirt Arboretum and the sculpture in Gloucester Cathedral. She continues to work as a Spanish interpreter and enjoys singing in choirs.

Donnie Smellie (Lovell) E’56 is hoping to visit Liza Cookson (Young) AW’54 in France. She was a close friend of Mary Parsons (Jackson-Coates) AW’54, who has recently visited Australia with her husband, Tom. Antonia Steadman (Matthew) A’56 continues to enjoy living in

Bloomington, home of Indiana University in the US, where she is near some of her children.

Penny Faulks (Austin) AW’56 organised an annual Circle reunion and a West reunion (see photo) in 2015. Both events were very successful.

Hilary Moss (Ainslie) W’57 is now the leader of her church Altar Guild and social convener for the Garden Club of Niagara.

Caroline Foot (Stranack) E’59 enjoyed a reunion with Jane Reekie (Nicholson) E’59, Ginia Cadbury (Reekie) E’59, Libby Byers (Gaff) E’59, Veronica ‘Goldie’ Goldsworthy (Dare Bryan) E’59 and Lizzie Norman (Byrd) E’58 in April.

She then attended the SOG AGM and 110th Anniversary of the Founding of the School in May. Ruth Startin (Marshall) E’58 and her husband Alan live in Bradfield, near Manningtree on the River Stour estuary.

They left their fruit farm five years ago. She keeps in touch with a number of Old Girls, and is always pleased to hear from others close by.

Jane Reekie (Nicholson) attended a small Ealhstan’59 reunion in Marlborough in April with Virginia Cadbury (Reekie), Caroline Foot (Stranack) and Libby Byers

1961 – 1965 (Gaff). She and Libby then stayed with Veronica Goldsworthy (Dare Bryan) in the Dordogne. Veronica married her long-term partner, Carl Isakson, earlier in the year.

Anne Zeal (Lavruckine) AE’57 has recovered from a recent illness and visited Greece in the autumn. She retains her enthusiasm for calligraphy, which was instilled in her by Miss White during her school days. Jane met up with Mary Monro (O’Dwyer) A’59 at the Marlborough Summer School.

Virginia Warren (Tidmarsh) T’60 met with seven Thurstan contemporaries in May. They were joined by Jane Smerdon (Easterbrook) T’58 from Canada. Virginia is in regular contact with Antonia Peck (Mayhew) T’60 and Joan Bond T’58. She also enjoyed meeting up with Gill Buzzard (Blenkinsop) DH’62, Bubby Morris (Henderson) E’61 and Pip Wilson (Nalder) AE’60 for a reunion of the 1960 Tennis VI. Sadly, Gill’s friend Heather Bell (Pittar) A’53 has died.

Peer Group Co-ordinator: Rosie Cox (Highfield) DH’63 Zoé Brown (Mair) T’65 spent three weeks in Bhutan in the spring and enjoyed meeting a number of Suffolk and Norfolk Old Girls for lunch at the home of Penny Cooper in September.

Jennifer de Paula DH’61 still lives in Heggedal near Oslo, Norway, but enjoyed some winter sun in Tenerife last year.

She reports that she has lost 12kg since January 2015.

Cara Beresford-Stooke (Henderson) AW’61 suffered a stroke, but is staying cheerful as she returns to health.

Diana Downing (Beattie) K’63 was awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours List for her work with the Heritage of London Trust (see story on p.33).

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Journal 2015

1966 – 1970 Peer Group Co-ordinator: Currently vacant Caroline Brett Young (Palmer) AW’67 is living in Cornwall and working part-time in mental health for the NHS and Restormel Befriending Scheme.

She continues to write history books about local villages. The picture below shows Caroline and her sisters, Liz Whitley (Pybus) AW’58 and Clare Whitley (Rendle) AW’60, on a day out at Cotehele.

Di Lewis (Verdon-Smith) K’69 is living in Wiltshire. Her son George married Old Girl Philippa Rogers K’96 in October, and they now have a son, Reggie (below photo, which shows George flanked by five SOGs!).

1971 – 1975 Hilary Swenarton (Graham) AW’68 was awarded a CBE in the June 2014 Birthday Honours List for services to Social Sciences. She collected her award in January 2015 (photos below).

Peer Group Co-ordinator: Jocelyn Passey (Humfrey) K’73 My email box has been bulging with stories of jolly celebrations and retirements: what fun! I have just opened a shop (www.number52.co.uk) and my Old Girl sisters Gay Passey (Cheyne) K’70, Miranda Passey (Chalk) K’77 and Jill Passey (Eyre) K’80 continue with their busy working lives.

Valerie Worth (Thomas) E’73 sees a lot of her 90-year-old parents. Her daughter Rachel Thomas DH’02 is now a primary school teacher and is engaged to be married in August 2016.

Valerie enjoyed the Old Girls golf day in September, and enjoyed working with Sarah Perfect (Marshall) E’73 and her husband Tim, as part of the Royal British Legion team at the Remembrance Service at the Royal Albert Hall.

Celia Macpherson (Hill) W’72 came over for a lovely trip to the UK from Canada with her husband and daughter in the summer of 2015.

Julie Hatcher (Vidaller) AW’71 welcomed a number of visitors to her French home in 2015, including Pip Marten (Fear) AW’70 and Fiona Crean AW’71 (photo below).

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Lizanne Page A’71 has retired.

She regularly sees Ianthe Wright (McWilliams) A’71 and her sister Oenone Wright (Baillie) A’74. She also met Gilly Thompson (Cumming) A’71 and Lucy Holder (Badham-Thornhill) A’71 at a birthday party and is good friends with Judy Holder A’72, Caroline Ollerenshaw (LindonMorris) A’72 and Belinda Magee AW’71.

Helen Bayley (Daltry) AE’73 has reduced her working hours, but continues to serve as a governor of Dean Close School in Cheltenham and a trustee of the local Painswick Rococo Garden. Her sisters Frances Bayley (Elkerton) AE’65 and Sarah Bayley (Gadsden) AE’74 both live in the West Country and have five grandchildren between them. Meanwhile, her niece Katy Hartley (Walton) AE’89 moved to New Zealand in September 2014 with her four daughters, to be near her husband’s family in Auckland.

Charlotte Ashe (de Grey) DH’72 enjoyed a number of 60th birthday celebrations in 2015, including one in Paris for Sarah Herbert-Jones DH’72 in Paris. This event was attended

by Di Selby (Wemyss) DH’72, Jo Wood (Good) DH’72, Victoria Emms AW’72 and Kate Kinnersley (McKenzieJohnston) K’72.

Annie Blampied AE’73 married just three weeks before her 60th birthday (photo below).

She works as an Interfaith Minister and Spiritual Counsellor and sends warm greetings to all.

Buffy (Elizabeth) Wilson (Morris) W’72 has left her job as a primary school teacher to set up a glamping business (photo below – brocklandsfarm.co.uk) Buffy is in touch with Celia Macpherson (Hill) W’72 and Anne Etheridge (Numan) W’72.

Beverley Hodges (McMahon) K’72 has welcomed her first granddaughter, who joins two grandsons. The new arrival was born at 06:06 on Beverley’s 60th birthday!

Helen Strong (Talbot Baker) AW’74 lost her husband James in January 2015. She has been supported by her children, and continues to run the family business, but on a smaller scale.

Helen enjoyed catching up with Penny Jonas (Brewer) AW’75 in the spring.

Vicky Cooks’ (Keith) AE’74 daughter Alicia Keith WD’11 finished her French degree at Reading this summer and hopes to go into the army.

Vicky is planning a 60th birthday party in Norfolk in 2016, which will be attended by Sarah Roberts (Crosse) AE’74, Katy Wood (Landau) AE’74, Diana Youle (Pring) AE’74, Rowena Deacon (Curchod) AE’74, Sarah Bayley (Gadsden) AE’74 and Ann Fortescue (Simon) AE’74.

Fiona Crean AW’71 (photo below), currently the ombudsman for Toronto City Council, is taking her investigative skills to the utility that has been dogged with consumer complaints and is about to be partially privatized.

Photo by: Richard Lautens /Toronto Star File

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Journal 2015

1976 – 1980

1981 – 1985

Peer Group Co-ordinator: Jane Digby (Auer) AW’80 In May I stood down as the Peer Group Rep on the Executive Committee. Having served since 2004, I felt it was someone else’s turn. I’m still happy to be your Peer Group Co-ordinator, although after more than 14 years in that role, perhaps someone else would like to take over?

Please do add my SOG email address to your e-address book so that my emails make it through your spam filters. Also, please keep me informed, if you change your email address.

Peer Group Co-ordinator: Victoria Hunt (Dakin) E’85

Sarah Pettman (Ansell) AW’80 is working in GP education in Devon, as well as doing a Masters in Clinical Education.

Caroline Adams (Turner) K’80 is farming in Monmouthshire.

She has three children, all living in London: Chris, 27, Adam, 25 and Beth, 22.

Deborah Blowers (Sage) E’78 lives in Twickenham with her husband Viv and daughter Sarah, and has a holiday apartment in the French Alps.

She volunteers for two charities, Porridge and Rice and Carers in Mind. Deborah is in contact with Julia Crutchley (McNeil) W’77, Jenny Roberts (Sylvester Bradley) AE’78, Lucille Childs (Richards) DH’78 and Katharine Martin (Stringer) DH’78.

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1981 REUNION

Emma Young (Rose) K’81 still lives in Wellow where she has an art studio. She also has a permanent gallery in Bath (upstairs at 78 Walcot Street, Bath BA1 5BD) and exhibits in London two or three times a year. Her next London show is on 2–8 May, at 53 The Market, Shepherd’s Market in Mayfair.

In September, she won The Independent’s Award for Best Artist, and her work can be seen at www.emmaroseartworks.com.

Charlotte Brodhurst (Stirling) W’82 had her second baby, Georgiana Roslyn Diana, on 9 February 2015 at 8.30pm.

Georgiana is a sister for Teddy.

Charly is currently living in Bavaria and would love to hear from Old Girls in the region.

Charlotte Barraclough (Parry) AW’83 and Dionne Curtiss (Brignardello) K’83 have sent this picture of them in Dionne’s garden in California in late September (Charlotte is on the left). They live about two miles from each other.

A reunion was held for the leavers from 1981. Old Shirburnian Nicholas Lusher (Abbey House 1981) organised the event which was held at The Villandry, London on Saturday 18 April 2015.

1986 – 1990 Peer Group Co-ordinator: Antonia Foster (Plant) AE’91 We’re getting used to a new routine with the onset of school in our household. So far, so good! I am also looking forward to a mini-reunion in London of the class of 1991, organised by Marcella Edwards A’91.

Sarah Hebblethwaite (Priaulx) DH’90 still lives in the Cayman Islands, but frequently travels back to the UK because two of her sons are at school in Dorset.

Her sisters Philippa Hebblethwaite (Johnson) DH’93 and Stephanie Hebblethwaite (Gray) DH’02 live in Perth and Melbourne.

Nora Luttmer’s AE’90 third crime novel, Totenkranz was published in November 2015.

Nora works as a freelance journalist and author and lives in Hamburg, Germany with her husband and their two children. www.noraluttmer.de Alexandra Penny (Garnier) A’88 is organising a Piano Festival at Pangbourne College on 27 to 28 February 2016, for pianists aged 18 and under. She says that if you have a daughter or son who would be interested in taking part, please contact her via the Old Girls Office.

‘On China’ and CCTV to talk about wine in China. In addition, she’s been helping with Jancis Robinson’s Wine Grapes and World Atlas of Wine as well as Oz Clark’s Pocket Wine Book, editing the sections concerning China.

Camilla Shephard (Wood) AE’90 has returned to Somerset after 10 years in Hong Kong and Sydney. Last year she completed the Wine & Spirit Education Trust Diploma and set up The Somerset Wine Company, located in Castle Cary (somersetwinecompany. com). She is in touch with Emily Laing (Littlemore) AE’90, Charlotte Rawlins AE’90 and Antonia Manoochehri AE’88, who is a close neighbour in Somerset.

Clare Matthews (Schwinge) DH’88 lives in Dorset with her husband, Guy, and their four children: Anna, Benedict, Isabella and Oliver.

Kate Pope (Rock) A’86 was made a Life Peer in October 2015, as The Baroness Rock of Stratton in the County of

Dorset. She is vice chairman of the Conservative Party with special responsibility for business engagement.

Louisa Knights (Evans) DH’86 lives in South Wales and is married with four children. She continues to be very involved in her local church.

Charmian Dadley (Quinlan) W’89 has been living in Melbourne for the last four years and has recently returned from a trip to the UK. She took her three children to see Sherborne, and enjoyed lunch in Oliver’s with Nell Courtenay (Clarkson) A’89 as well as catching up with Katy Gascoigne-Pees (Wills) A’89, Nicola McKean (Welchman) A’89 and Fiona Seddon-Brown (Molloy) T’89 and Anthea Willey (Wood) AE’89 (see photos).

Sevilla Claydon (Rhoads) AW’87 has just joined the national health care law firm Hall Render as a partner. She lives with her children on Vashon Island in the north-west of America.

Fongyee Walker DH’89 has been appointed as wine consultant to Air New Zealand, selecting its business class wines.

She has also appeared on CNN 41

Journal 2015

1991 – 1995 Lucy Ferguson (Costa Duarte) E’89 and her family have moved from London to Haslemere. She regularly sees Annabel O’Connor (Merrylees) AW’89 and Catherine (Bertie) Simpson (Craig-Cooper) T’89.

They are godparents to each other’s children and Bertie is married to Lucy’s cousin.

Leanne Dickerson (Hetherington) T’87 lives in Devon with her husband, two daughters, dog and long-haired hamster. They moved from Cape Town seven years ago.

She is in touch with Zoe Rahman T’87, Cecilia Casella T’87 and Setta Aprahamian (Leefield) T’87, and would love to have news of Kathryn Pearson T’87.

Lucy Bateman (Oliff) AE’87 runs Kivukoni School in Kenya – an International Primary and Nursery School in Kilifi District, 6km from Kilifi town (www.kivukoni.co.ke). In February 2015, Olivia Scarborough E’01 visited for a week with her son Harvey. Jo Newbald W’98 teaches there,

and her son Jack attends the school (see photo below).

Louise Noel (Troup) W’87 married James on 24 October at The Mill at Gordleton in Hampshire. Laura GascoignePees W’87 flew all the way from Brisbane to be maid of honour.

Louise’s daughter Anna, 10, was her bridesmaid. Louise hopes that Anna will be joining SG in 2018, “subject to common entrance!”

Katherine Smithson (Rexhausen) AE’86 lives in Germany and works as a TV commercials producer. She enjoys keeping dogs, and drives a London cab as a reminder of home. The family portrait below was taken as a present for her father’s 77th birthday.

Peer Group Co-ordinator: Alexandra White (Ballard) A’95 News for our peer group is very thin on the ground this year – we can do better than this! If you would like to contribute news for the next edition, please send it to me at any time of the year.

Jemma Phipps (Fenton) W’95 is an artist. She is married to Dr Will Fenton and they have two children: Freya, 6, and Hector, 1.

Jemma says she is still great pals with Charlotte Pyke (Walter) W’95 and Gemma Barnett (Gold) T’95.

Tory Younger (Kargl) W’95 has lived in Whistler, Canada, for 16 years. She is married to Mike, has two children (Zoe, 4, and Jamie, 2), and works in the tourism industry.

Emily Randall (Hardy) DH’93 now lives in Corfe Mullen, Dorset, with her husband and sons, James and Kit. She is starting a career in HR after her maternity leave and is in contact with Sarah White (Clune) DH’93, Emma Cleverly (Tucker) DH’93, Emma Taylor (Morgan) DH’93 and Caroline Titley DH’93.

Thank you to those Old Girls who have already completed the Questionnaire. To request a paper copy, please call Fiona James on 01935 818329, or to complete it on-line please visit www.sherborne.com/SherborneOld-Girls

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1996 – 2000 Peer Group Co-ordinator: Alexa Ramsay (Laryea) E’00 Clemi Kerr A’00 married Robert Sinclair in Sherborne Abbey on 7 June 2014, and they now have a son, Tobias. They were married by Honorary Old Girl Stella Wood. Old Girls in attendance were: Georgie Phillips A’00, Hermione Edwards A’00, Georgie Blake (Millar) A’00, Claire Pelly A’00, Rachel Gubbins A’00, Sarah Williams (Waddington) A’00 and Daisy Harris (Forsythe) AE’01.

1995 REUNION The class of 1995 (35 members and about 15 Old Shirburnians) held a very successful 20-year reunion in Putney, London, on 28 November 2015. The reunion was organised by Sophie Annesley (Taylor) AE’95 and Alexandra Ballard. Sophie writes, “It was lovely to see everyone and remarkable how little people had changed. A huge effort had been made by many to be there – Old Girls coming from all over the UK and even France and Hong Kong. A very good time was had by all, such a good time, in fact, that many were still there catching up at 2am when the bar finally shut. We vowed we would not leave it another twenty years before doing it again.”

Hetty Bright (Dawson) K'95 took lots of photographs which you can see on the website.

Left to right: Georgie Phillips, the bride, Hermione Edwards and Georgie Millar

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Journal 2015

2001 – 2005 Sarah Waddington (Williams) A’00 writes to say that she is currently working as a doctor in North Devon and has links to a hospital in Sierra Leone, where she worked during the Ebola crisis. She and her husband are raising money for solar panels for the hospital and would welcome any support from Sherborne Old Girls.

Please contact her via the Old Girls Office if you’d like to help.

Natalia Rolleston AE’99 (see photo below) is a World Service radio journalist. She has been a reporter for the BBC in Devon and Guernsey and an assistant producer for Inside Out at BBC South West. Since arriving at the World Service in 2011, she has produced for Newshour, The World Today (now Newsday), World Have Your Say and Public Radio International. She currently combines news reading with reporting on cultural subjects for Weekend and producing for Newshour.

Peer Group Co-ordinator: Tess Cavendish A’02 Jess Thorpe A’03 is still representing Great Britain for Triathlon and Aquathlon and has won a number of medals in the past year. She manages to fit competing around a full-time job.

Connie Jackman (Anderson) A’02 and her husband Ross welcomed their daughter Eliza into the world on 11 March 2015. They will soon move to Bristol, having returned to the UK after three years in Germany.

Juliet Tabor (Cleaver) A’01 moved to Sydney six years ago with her husband Blake, during which time she managed a commercial art gallery in Paddington. She is now on maternity leave with their son Otis and they have decided to move back to the UK and return to the West Country.

Annabel Tucker (Chow) T’02 married Garry on 13 September 2014. They sent the photograph below from their happy day.

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Lucy Frankland (Miles) A’01 is now married to Nicholas Miles, and they live in Singapore. She is an associate partner for Bell Pottinger, a global communications consultancy, and is expecting her first child on Valentine’s Day 2016.

Milla Chaplin W’02 has just moved to Yangon, Myanmar, and works for an advertising agency.

Katie Hickmet (Prideaux) K’02 has been living in Hong Kong for more than four years, working as a lawyer. She recently moved from Allen & Overy to the Global Banking and Markets legal team at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Her sister Lucy Hickmet K’04 also lives in Hong Kong. Katie married Alex Prideaux on 5 September 2015. The wedding was held in Somerset and Old Girls Rose Kingscote K’02, Florence Hitchcock K’02, Tess Cavendish and Jessica Philips A’02 attended.

Helen Bourne T’02 has taken a break from teaching to have a second baby and is currently in the process of moving out of Battersea to a country life in Kent.

Jessica Gibbs A’02 has given up her job as a tax lawyer to start a glamping business (see photo).

For more details, visit www.homefarmglamping.com.

A memorial service for Old Shirburnian Alex Simon was held on 11 April. Alex died in January and the service was attended by a number of Old Shirburnians and Sherborne Old Girls (see photo below).

Poppy Lord AW’03 married William Tuke at Boconnoc House, Cornwall, on 31 December 2015. Fellow old girl Katherine Regan was Maid of Honour. Poppy and William have a daughter, Matilda Florence Susanna, born 9 March 2015 at King’s College Hospital, London (see photo).

Olivia Scarborough E’01 is engaged to Christopher Hopkins (The Green ’00).

They have yet to confirm a wedding date.

Felicia Line DH’04 (see photo) is working in Mexico as an independent consultant in ecological development and has published a number of articles about her specialist subject. To read some of her work, please visit the links below: www.ecosystemmarket place.com/articles/homegrownexpertise-could-be-the-missinglink-to-saving-mexicos-largestintact-rainforest/

Claire Dickinson A’03 married Robin Hardy on 6 September 2014. Louisa Kayll A’03, Sarah Gray A’03, Anna Neill A’03 and Cheskie Harland AW’03 were bridesmaids (see photo). Other Old Girls in attendance were: Kathrine Regan A’03, Jessica Thorpe A’03, Harriet Gidney E’03, Annabel Lintott E’03, Ruth Byrne DH’03, Serena Forbes W’03, Emily Stephenson A’03, Rosie Armitage T’03 and Sarah Metcalfe AE’03.

Lucy Stewart-Richardson K’05 married Simon Lukas on Saturday 8 August 2015 at St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Charlton Horethorne. Old Girls attending were Harriet Curtis W’05, Flora Spencer DH’05, Francesca De Watts DH’05, Eve Harris DH’05, Marianne Park DH’05, Frederica Findlater DH’05 and Caroline Franklin DH’05. (Photo)

Photo: Caroline Pilling

Left to right: Helen Burke RH’07, Emily Barran AE’07, Vicky Simon A/RH’07, Olivia Mackie DH’07, Izzy Lockhart Smith AE/E’07, Clementine Budge A’07

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Journal 2015

2006 – 2010 Peer Group Co-ordinator: Bella Hussey A/RH’06 Louisa Graham A/RH’06 married Edward (Ted) Cameron on 8 August 2015 in Sherborne Abbey. Her sisters Isabella AE’11 and Tattie M’04 were bridesmaids.

Left to right: Emily Lane A/RH’07, Lucinda James RH’07, Lydia Ashby W’07, Tiggy Goodwin A/RH’07, Alice Moseley K’07 and Tash Coates A/RH’07

Photo: Louise Adby

Jessie Richardson W’07 married Old Shirburnian Jamie Excell (Wallace House 2008) on Saturday 13 June in the Church of St Peter and St Paul, Cattistock, Dorset.

Left to right: Alice Cave W’07, Jessie, Jamie and Emma Strachan W’07

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Tanya Lawrence RH’09 and a group of five Sherborne Old Girls (and one Old Shirburnian) completed a 10k run for The Simon Trust (www.thesimontrust.org) in 2015 (see photo). The Surreybased charity was founded by her family, and supports young adults with autism.

2010 REUNION – 19 September 2015 Sabrina Stanley K’10 writes “We had a great evening in a pub in London. It was lovely to catch up with lots of people, some of whom I hadn’t seen since leaving and others I have seen more regularly. Thank you so much to the Sherborne Old Girls Society for organising it and generously sponsoring the event.”

2011 – 2015 Peer Group Co-ordinator: Louise Moseley K’11 Holly Hamlyn K’11 lives in Cape Town and works as a designer specialising in restaurants. She enjoys South Africa’s outdoors lifestyle, and regularly hikes and runs in the mountains (see photo).

Laura Jardine Paterson WD’11 graduated from Edinburgh in June 2015 and is now artist in residence at Marlborough College, Malaysia. You can find out more about her work at www.laurajardinepaterson.co.uk

Florence Mugerwa WD’11 writes: I have completed my time at Durham and graduated with First Class Honours in Law. I will be studying the Legal Practice Course (LPC) in London from September 2015.

Camilla Russell RH’11 travelled around Kenya with Matilda Thompson. They worked on two riding safaris, and climbed Mount Kenya, as well as making the most of the Kenyan coastline. Now back in London, she is working for a luxury travel company.

Isabella Graham AE’11 ran the London Marathon this year with her father, raising money for Combat Stress – the UK’s leading veteran’s mental health charity. She has now worked in Knight Frank’s Mayfair office for two years.

Georgia Benney RH’12 (photo) I studied Fashion Communication and Promotion at Nottingham Trent University and undertook internships to gain experience in PR and Event Production. I was lucky enough to be taken to Singapore with the International New York Times to work on a conference for a week at the start of my second year. I graduate this summer and will be returning to The White Company as Press Assistant. I am really looking forward to getting stuck back into my role and to become part of the permanent team.

Charlotte Roe RH’11 completed a two-week trek to Mount Everest’s Base Camp with Leeds University (see photos). The trip raised money for a Nepalese children’s charity called Kidasha (www.kidasha.org).

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Journal 2015

News From

HONORARY MEMBERS Katharine Stringer Physical Education Katharine joined Sherborne Girls, for the first time, in 1972 as a L5 member of Dun Holme. She gained a Katharine Stringer with her passion for all sports, art wire haired Hungarian vizsla puppy called Saffron, Saffy for and music and would short rather have spent her time out on the games fields or singing in the choir or the madrigals or learning the bassoon than pursue any academic work.

In 1986 she was welcomed back as a member of the sports department by her mentor, Caro Macintosh. Katharine was an immediate success with the girls – inspiring them with her love of sport, good humour and friendly smile. Her role as Head of Tennis has seen the numbers of girls participating in the sport grow annually.

Katharine’s involvement in the full life of the school is legendary. With her love of music, she has regularly supported the musical concerts and joined two madrigals tours. She has run the Focus group and even had a short spell as Housemistress of Kenelm.

She never has a bad word to say about anyone. The number of Old Girls who are still in contact with her today speaks volumes and is testimony to the support she has given her students over the years.

We wish Katharine well in her retirement.

Liz PorajWilczynska Housemistress – Aldhelmsted East Liz PW became Housemistress of Aldhelmsted East in 2003. She always described the role as the best job in the world, as it was like being part of a big family. During her 13 years as housemistress at Sherborne Girls she created a sense of community that made every girl in her care feel individual and special.

Liz was also a member of the Sports Department – beneath her warm and bubbly exterior she was fiercely competitive – and took great pride in the many sporting triumphs for East. She also took on the role of co-ordinating the PSE curriculum and always encouraged girls to participate in school life. She set up longstanding charitable links with two charities: one in Africa (The Nest) and the other in Sierra Leone (Educaid).

Liz was part of the Sherborne community for many years, as she worked at Sherborne Prep School before coming to the Girls’ School and her sons were boarders at Sherborne Boys.

We would like to wish Liz well for the future.

She has touched so many lives with warmth, and made the school experience a genuine home away from home.

Other staff leavers: Nicky Alper (English & Learning Support); David Buck (Physics); Mark Chapman (DT); Rebecca Curtis (Mathematics); Siobhan Jones (Head of Classics); Rowan MacNeary (Director of Sixth Form); Juliet O’Neill (Matron – Dun Holme); Kathy Pinsent (Housemistress – Kenelm); Peter Woolway (Religious Studies).

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Sherborne Girls – ‘Stronger Together’ – The school theme for 2015/2016 Photograph by SIMON JONES

www.sherborne.com/Sherborne-Old-Girls