Resplendens 2017
Joanna Seldon (née Pappworth), SHHS Alumna 1972
A Cancer Patient Visits Auschwitz
Joanna was a pupil at South Hampstead from 1965
So many ways of setting specific sorrow Against some monstrous tragedy. Look on this map of Europe, where a stain’s spreading Over its once safe towns and fields. Over the white seeps grey, and where plague is most foul Blackest lesions have inked the land: Dark blots of death.
until 1972. She went on to study English at Oxford where she gained a high First and received her Doctorate for her work on Nathaniel Hawthorne. After university she became a teacher and taught English at The Old Palace School in Croydon, James Allen’s Girls’ school in Dulwich, Brighton College and Wellington College. Joanna wrote three novels and several short stories, all of which can be found on her website. Her first book, By Word of Mouth, written with husband Anthony, was published in 1983; Waterloo to Wellington was published in 2015; and The Whistleblower, which tells the story of the battle that her controversial father, Dr Maurice Pappworth, had with the medical establishment over experiments on human beings. She was diagnosed with cancer in 2011, and lived with it bravely for five and a half years until her death at the end of 2016. Some of her finest poems are informed by her experience of cancer. She had three children (Jessica, Susie and Adam) with Anthony, to whom she was married for thirty four years. Opposite is one of Joanna’s poems, selected by her family to appear in this publication.
by Joanna Seldon
My body is a map when, on the screen, I see The grey and black seep steadily, Relentlessly, into the white regions, once safe And strong and healthy. Long ago I watched my baby grow on such a screen. I know We’re all formed both of good and bad Mashed, botched and ditched. Let us not be dazzled by the bright white acres; Let us not be blind to evil. It metastasised from Oslo to Salonika, Its black cells rotting Poland’s flesh. My little grief is tiny in comparison. Just think: For each of us a railway line Stretches ahead And we must walk along it. In the far distance Who knows what beast hunches, waiting. But my view of that ending point, Though growing darker, Is clearer Than some.
Joy Glover, 1926 – 2016 Former teacher at South Hampstead Junior School I can remember being very clingy and needy but was taken under the wing of Miss Glover – a most remarkable and caring woman and so our friendship began. Daughter of a minister in The Lake District, she had decided that teaching was her calling and taught South Hampstead’s preparatory class for several years. In 1961 Miss Glover’s (Joy to me) parents moved to Milnthorpe and she left London to go and do “daughterly things”. Her
On 9th February 1958 I ascended the slope to the Junior School. I can remember that it was snowing. It was the second half of the Spring Term. My contemporaries had started in September and I was a late newbie, at four years old. The magazine for SHHS Alumnae
her in action. She was much loved by her pupils and an inspiration to many. Always cheerful, with a sunny disposition and a twinkle in her eye, she had a charming and distinctive voice which became a little feebler as she grew weaker. She remained single but was very active in the Local Parish Church and used to enjoy singing in the choir and concerts. She passed away on 13th February 2016
mother was lame and her father had a
shortly before her 90th birthday.
slight hunch back. She was a huge support
She has left a legacy of inspiration to
to them. However, she did not let the grass grow under feet. She became a teacher at the local village school in Silverdale and subsequently became Headmistress there. I had the privilege of visiting the school in 1975 and saw
hundreds of young people. All we who had the privilege of knowing her were very lucky. Debby Cumming South Hampstead Alumna 1971 15