OR News

Josephine, who as well as being a former member of staff, is also the niece of ORs Sheila, Jean and Patricia Beynon, and granddaughter of former school doctor Constance Beynon, has written a children’s book – How to say I Love You. The book was a family lockdown project, inspired by Josephine’s whacky childhood pet chicken Pioupiou. In the book Doodle-do (Pioupiou’s name in English) travels the world asking how other creatures say, ‘I love you’. As Josephine’s family is Franco-English, the book is bi-lingual in French and English. It also features detailed illustrations by Josephine, and is perfect for 2-6 year olds (and their parents!). Sales of the book are in aid of SEEd (the Sustainability and Environmental Education charity). To order a copy please contact Josephine on Josephinebeynon@yahoo.co.uk, and in return, the team ask that a donation is made to SEEd by going to: www.se-ed.co.uk and clicking ‘Make a Donation’. The suggested minimum donation is £10). Josephine is now taking a year out in Provence to develop other story ideas and projects based around sustainability in education, and would be delighted to hear from anyone in the Roedeanian Community with advice in these areas.

Sarah held an exhibition of her 100 Goddesses painting series at the Lansdown Gallery in Stroud in July. Alongside the exhibition, she also held creative workshops for children and adults, and had an opening night featuring poetry readings by fellow artists. The series began during an artist residency at Hawkwood in January 2022. Sarah began making the paintings of Goddesses using locally collected spring water and earth materials, as a way to celebrate and explore many aspects of femininity, femme-being, and connecting with the natural environment. The commitment to make 100 paintings, was a way to stay committed to painting, which she has always loved since her days in the art studio at Roedean. The 100 paintings draw on intuition alongside spiritual and religious traditions to create new identities and possibilities for us all to imagine, they also reflect on the history of Goddesses in culture. As you walk around the exhibition, you finish looking in a mirror, which reflects back to you the 100th Goddess – yourself. You can find out more about the show, watch a virtual tour, and claim a Goddess for yourself via: https://100Goddesses.Life

We have thoroughly enjoyed the huge variety in answers that the ORs interviewed this year as part of the “10 Questions With …” series have given to our questions. The answers, and the professions pursued by our interviewees really demonstrates the breadth of talent and life paths amongst the OR community. If you would like to catch up on any of the interviews, you can find them all here: https://community.roedean.co.uk/news/ alumnae-interviews

We are now looking for our next batch of interviewees, so if you would like to be featured – or you would like to suggest a fellow OR to be included, then please get in touch on alumnae@roedean.co.uk. The questions we ask are: 1. What is your favourite memory of

Roedean? 2. What was the best piece of advice you were given whilst at School? 3. When you were at Roedean, what did you want to be when you ‘grew-up’? 4. What are you now you’ve grown up? 5. What does your job involve? 6. What have you done that you are most proud of? 7. What are the three objects you would take with you to a desert island? 8. What books have had a significant influence on you and why? 9. What is on your bucket list? 10. If you had one year and unlimited funds, what would you do?

Now a teacher in Switzerland, Milly is also an experienced trail runner, having achieved success in several races, including just recently coming 1st woman in an international race in Lausanne.

Her latest challenge, the SwissAlps100, was very personal to her, as she ran it to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support, specifically the Horizon Centre in Brighton, who are currently caring for her mother as she undertakes treatment for an aggressive breast cancer. The race is a 100km ultra trail endurance race, which includes an ascent of 6,570m, and took place on August 13th. Milly had a target of £10,000 and but has to date raised £11,000, she was the 4th woman to finish the race. Donations can still be made via her JustGiving page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/millyvoiceruns100. “One of the hardest things is watching someone you love suffer and feeling powerless. I am so grateful to the Macmillan Horizon Centre, a place of sanctuary for those going through very rough treatment, as well as offering a kind space for close ones affected. I went along to the centre during one of my mother’s chemo sessions and was moved by the loving and hopeful atmosphere for people experiencing a truly dark time. “So, my way of standing up to Ma’s cancer is through the best way I know – running.”

Anita is an award-winning writer of radio; theatre plays and podcasts. All her 60+ scripts have been staged or broadcast. Her latest play, End of Transmission aired on BBC Radio 4 on 4th July, and is now available on BBC Sounds. Anita is a Positive Voices speaker with Terrence Higgins Trust, and the play was created with their support. End of Transmission tells the story of HIV from the point of view of the virus. Jude has lived with HIV for 20 years but never knew for certain how she caught the HIV. But the virus does. He begins in Kamerun (German Cameroon) in 1916, skipping across countries, continents, decades, and diverse hosts in a chain of transmission that ends with Jude.

To develop the play, Anita called on her own experiences, and those of others she has met through the Positive Voices programme, but she also undertook a huge amount of research, she watched films and documentaries, read books, and carried out web research from sources ranging from virologists to denialists. After her first draft was ready, she also had it fact checked. But this isn’t a documentary, and it cleverly weaves fact and fiction throughout.

We are delighted to have partnered with the Oriental Club in London as part of their OC7 scheme, to offer reduced membership fees to ORs. For ORs aged 18-25 and 25-30, there are special one-off membership fees. If you are aged 18-25, the fee is £500, and this covers your membership until you turn 26, and for 26-30-year-olds, the one-off fee is £500. There is also no Entrance Fee, and you don’t need a proposer or seconder, but instead simply a reference from the school. In addition to this, all ORs are now able to join the Oriental Club with no Entrance Fee (currently £1,800). The Oriental Club have a beautiful Clubhouse in central London, as well as reciprocal arrangements with Clubs around the world. They offer a varied events programme throughout the year, as well as delicious food and drinks, and comfortable en-suite bedrooms. For more information about joining, please contact the Membership Department on 020 7629 5126 or membership@orientalclub.org.uk.