120th Anniversary Edition Stephen Perse Guild Members' News

120

th

ANNIVERSARY

EDITION Guild Members' News November 2023

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Guild Members' News

3 A word from the Principal

Dear Guild Members and Friends Welcome to this special edition of the Stephen Perse Guild Members’ News, marking 120 years since the founding of the Guild in 1903, 22 years after the school first opened its doors to pupils on 17 January 1881.

Over the past 120 years, much has changed in society, in our school and in how education is delivered, but our underlying ethos of education as an instrument of positive social change and emancipation remains as strong as ever. Today, we express our mission as being to educate and inspire the contributors to tomorrow’s world: intelligent young people with the creativity, compassion, confidence and conviction to question, evaluate and improve society.

With excellence and creativity in teaching and learning at the heart of what we do, we value the positive difference our students can make in the world through:

Richard Girvan

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scholarship and the advancement of knowledge and understanding

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kindness, courtesy, inclusivity and collaboration

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diligence, independence and self-reliance

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humility, reflectiveness and the pursuit of self improvement

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character, individuality, wellbeing and confidence

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conserving the environment and living sustainably.

As you read through this edition of Members’ News, you will see that mission and those values are reflected in how you, our Guild members, go on to make a positive difference to those around you, at home, at work and in your communities. You are our best ambassadors and an inspiration to the current generation of students, thank you for continuing to be part of our community and for sharing your stories here.

Yours sincerely

Richard Girvan Principal

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1940s

1st Hockey Team 1946/47 full image on page 9

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1948

Ann Chadwick “Chad” Ann joined the Senior School in 1948 and stayed until Lower Sixth before moving to the Fiji Islands.

“I was in Fiji from 1954 - 1958, working in the Bank of New South Wales and then returned to the UK to read Social Science and Applied Social Science at the University of Cardiff. I worked as a Medical Social Worker in Cardiff Royal Infirmary and then transferred to Glamorgan Children’s Department until 1968, when I moved to Bradford University. There I did an MA in Social Work Education, whilst also being employed at Bradford Royal Infirmary and Bradford Children’s Hospital.

In 1971, I moved to Suffolk as a Senior Lecturer in Social Work, where I worked until I took early retirement and then worked as the co-ordinator at the Parish Pastoral Centre until 1996. During this time, I was also a Magistrate, covering criminal and family courts and occasionally Crown Court. In addition, I was working voluntarily as an Accreditor with the Association of Christian Counsellors, developing some Bereavement Counselling courses and writing a book on helping primary schools deal with bereavement. This work developed out into training Cruse counsellors, running day courses for the organisation Still Birth (now known as SANDS) and similar others.

In 2008, the Holocaust Memorial Trust tracked me down as having been the younger sibling of a child who came to live with us, on the Kindertransport. That led to an involvement

which continues today and having lectured at the Holocaust Memorial event in the Cambridge Guild Hall in 2009, a book was requested, Suzie, the little girl who changed our lives, which is available via Googling “Lulu Ann Chadwick”, which takes you straight to the book. Since retirement, I am frequently in primary schools lecturing about the Kindertransport and giving talks to local groups.

I was invited as an “honoured guest” to the opening of the memorial to the Kindertransport at Harwich in September 2022. Suzie remained in our family until her death and has indeed changed my life, as I am really still quite busy talking about our life together under the broad umbrella of Holocaust education. On 27 January 2024, I shall repeat my Holocaust Memorial Day talk in Harwich.

Having given talks, webinars, videos etc, my local Jewish community has “adopted” me as an honorary friend and invited me to local celebrations - only last week I went to a Bat-Mitzvah and having also been to Channukah, I am witnessing the ceremonies my sister would have attended with her parents, had they not been murdered in the gas chambers. QED, I am still learning.

The school gave me a love of learning and the honour of being an Old Persean, it has been a passport, which has opened many doors for me and I am so grateful.

I recently met up with Gillian Jondort, whose daughter lives near me and who remembered my name from being on the hockey team for school, county and one match for the country in 1953, our tour of Holland was cancelled because of the floods! (What’s new?!).”

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1940s 1941-1952

1943-1950

(Catherine) Ann Johnson

Barbara Graves née Gale

née Percival

Ann joined Perse Girls in First Form and in 1952 completed her Upper Sixth.

During her career, Ann taught for two years and was a Secretary at the University of Ibadan for another two. She married and had a son, then qualified by correspondence course as a practising barrister, following which Ann worked as Court Clerk and joined the Crown Prosecution Service.

After retiring, she volunteered at the Citizens’ Advice Bureau until she was 70. Ann credits Miss Skinner’s teaching at Perse Girls with providing her the foundation on which to complete her History degree at Somerville College, Oxford.

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Barbara was at Perse Girls’ School from 1943 until 1950.

Barbara's grandson writes: “Barbara continues to live at her farmhouse home, where she has been since 1955. She was widowed in September 2021, and now has a fulltime live in carer, to help with preparing meals and housework. She sees her son, Jonathan, and grandson, Sam, every day, as the farmhouse is the hub of the family farm business. She celebrated her 90th birthday in July and her other son, Matthew, comes to visit regularly from his home in the south of France. Other members of her family often call in.

One anecdote she used to tell was how a Scottish mistress in charge of hockey would yell "run girls, run", as part of their training exercises.

She remembered she wasn't too fond of hockey as a result, as her claim was this running would take place in the most appalling of English weather, and the sports kit of the time did not keep one warm or dry!”

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1949-1956

Brenda Jacob née Harding

Brenda joined Upper III Alpha in 1949 and left after Upper Sixth in 1956.

Brenda's update reads: “After university and PhD I trained as an archivist, in due course spending twenty-one years caring for the records of the central organisations of the Church of England. Archives also kept me busy in retirement, helping smaller Church organisations with few resources, but often with very rich record collections. Twentyfive years on, I now lead a peaceful life looking after the library of the retirement complex where I live, and running a Book Club with twenty enthusiastic members!

My time at Perse Girls left me with two benefits in particular - curiosity to find out more (at 85 I've taken up Ancient Greek); and how to get on with those from different backgrounds: my new class had several daughters of professors, whereas my father ran a small village garage, and my first Perse friend had a bus driver dad.”

1949-1958

Catharine Meek née Bean

Catharine joined Class II Alpha in 1949, staying through to the second year of Sixth Form in 1958.

She then gained a Certificate of Education (Bristol) from the Gloucestershire Training College of Domestic Science, which she later upgraded to a BEd (Bristol). Catharine enjoyed a teaching career from 1961-1982 in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, culminating in being Head of Needlework and Childcare at Lord William's School from 1973-1982. In addition to her teaching roles, Catharine was Director and Company Secretary of Bernewode Designs Limited, an engineering design and development company, from 1979-1992 and was Clerk to the Long Crendon Parish Council and a Lecturer in Applied Business for the HND course at Rycotewood College in Thame from 1992-1998.

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1940s Catharine and her late husband, Nigel, were married from 1963 to 1988. Their three sons now work in the electric automotive, renewable energy and teaching sectors and Catharine has six grandsons and a granddaughter. Catharine is greatly involved on a voluntary basis in her local community. She has been a parish councillor and organised the acquisition and conversion of a Victorian school building into a thriving Village Centre in Long Crendon and has been a volunteer organist in many churches over the years. Catharine’s musical interest also extends to running a local choral society and communications for community, church and benefice choirs and catering at large village, church and choir events. In addition, Catharine has volunteered for Churchill Hospital, its League of Friends and Oxford Cancer Centre and is a current Trustee of Churchill Hospital League of Friends.

“Whilst at The Perse Girls’ I played piano to accompany hymns at assembly and was organist of the Cambridge School Members Christian Association, playing the organs of several colleges, including Caius College. The standard of music, theory, singing & piano, taught by Miss Wood was the biggest influence and confidence booster that I took from school.

Her encouragement led to my becoming a church organist at age 16 and gaining places in prestigious choirs. I also stage managed the 1957 (I think the year is right) production of The Merchant of Venice, introducing a new, faster, quieter and more efficient system for scene changes. Being selected for this role was a real confidence booster."

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1946-1950s

(Ruth) Elizabeth Barker née Chapman

In 1946/7 Elizabeth joined Lower IIIA, leaving after Upper Sixth in the 1950s. She then attended Southlands Training College, Wimbledon, for a two year course to qualify as a primary school teacher.

"As I married an RAF officer, we (with our three children) were moving too frequently for a long teaching position - I worked when I was able to as a supply teacher. I have always volunteered unpaid of course - when the need arose.

We lived in France, Belgium, Northern Ireland and many other places in the UK. After my first year at Perse Girls, I was able to benefit from a scholarship. I have always felt privileged to have those years at the Perse School for Girls!"

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Guild Members' News

Image right:1947 Perse Girls 1st Hockey Team Back row L-R; Bridget Thorpe, Evelyn Tudor, Una Austin, Margaret Atkinson, Sarah Ramsay Middle row L-R: Anne Tilley, Annette Buckton, Patsy Matthews, Sheila Holdsworth Front: Eileen Gunn, Joanna (Jo-Jo) Cook

1941-1949

(Joyce) Evelyn Kipping née Tudor

Evelyn joined Class Upper IIIA in 1941 and completed Upper Sixth in 1949.

1944-1950

Elizabeth Joan Taylor née Thompson

Elizabeth joined Upper III Aleph in 1944 and completed Lower Sixth in 1950.

Now in her nineties, Elizabeth has a daughter, two granddaughters and a great grandson.

Sadly, her son passed away in 2005.

Elizabeth volunteered with the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service (now the Royal Voluntary Service) in the Addenbrooke’s Hospital canteens from 1990-2018 and credits her education with giving her a broader outlook.

She became a primary school teacher and taught for eleven years full-time at the Junior School of the Girls’ High School in Nottingham, where she also taught squash to the Sixth Form for several years. Evelyn married Brian Kipping (formerly at The Leys) in 1951 and they were married for 70 years, until he passed away in 2022. Of their three children, one lives in Gatehouse, close to Evelyn.

Evelyn tells us that she has always worked for her local Church of England church and sung in various choirs. She says that Perse Girls had a huge influence on her adult life, giving her confidence in relations with her peers and the ability to discuss many topics in a confident and friendly manner. Evelyn sends good wishes to all at and connected with the school. Evelyn’s photograph shows her enjoying a cruise on the River Seine about ten years ago.

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1946-1955

Helen Parry née House

Helen joined Lower III in 1946 and completed Upper Sixth in 1955.

She shares what followed:

1949-1955

Helen Brown née Todd

Helen entered the Junior School in 1949, joining Class I. Moving up to the Senior School in 1952, Helen continued until 1955, when she left to go to boarding school, but kept in touch with Perse Girls friends.

“Now retired - I taught in a comprehensive school in Northumberland - my husband Philip and I celebrated our Diamond Wedding Anniversary recently with our three children, six grandchildren, our great grandson and other family members. We learnt there we have two more great grandchildren on the way! I am still an active county botanical recorder, member of the WI and member of other groups. I am still in contact with the close friends I made during my years at Perse Girls and know those years have been important and influential in my subsequent life.”

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“After three happy years at Oxford studying English, I married a doctor, Eldryd Parry, and sailed to Nigeria on our honeymoon. We lived in Nigeria, Ethiopia and Ghana for a total of twenty-five years. I lectured in English at universities where my husband taught Medicine.

We have four children and came back to London in 1985, where Eldryd set up the Tropical Health and Education Trust (THET), of which I was a trustee.

I also taught at the London School for Contemporary Christianity and retired in 2016. Eldryd and I were active congregation members of Holy Trinity Brompton and St Paul's Hammersmith, where we were both lay preachers. Eldryd was knighted in 2010 for services to medicine in Africa. He died in November 2022. I still live in London, enjoy reading, visits from my children and grandchildren, and going for walks along the river."

“ The lasting positive effect that my time at Perse Girls had on my life was a belief in school!”

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1942-1951

Janet Wetherfield née Walsh

Janet joined Perse Girls in1942 in Second Form and left in 1951, in Lower Sixth.

She nursed at Middlesex Hospital from 1953-57 and married Michael in 1958. They had four children. In the 1970s, Janet completed a Certificate in Adult Education in Medical Studies and a Diploma in Student Counselling.

She co-wrote Terminology for Medical Administrators, Radcliffe Medical Press, 1994.

In retirement, Janet has been counselling for the charity Cruse Bereavement Care for twentytwo years and achieving self-sufficiency in fruit and vegetable gardening. For Janet, the positive effects of Perse Girls were diligence and love of words and their derivatives, thanks to Latin.

1941-1947

Jean Mason née Dyke

Jean joined Lower IIIA in 1941 and left after Lower Sixth in 1947.

“I worked as a Samaritan for thirteen years and also ran the WI market for several years. I have three children, five grandchildren, and one great grandchild. From my school days, I am left with a great interest in music, and literature. I boarded

Jean Mason

at La Ruche, the boarding house, until Maddie who ran the house died. I learnt fluent French from this experience.”

Jean attended the Guild’s 120th anniversary reunion in June 2023 and is pictured here on the day and also with Veronica Greenwood and Stephen Perse Principal, Richard Girvan, alongside Veronica’s update in this publication.

1946-1954

Jennifer Molyneux-Berry née Faircliffe

I gained a scholarship from my village school to the Perse Girls in 1946 and entered Upper III Alpha, leaving at Easter 1954 having stayed for part of third year Sixth Form.

I am currently long retired from working as a dyslexia specialist, but now am an Authorised Preacher at St John the Baptist, Danbury, and a volunteer for Red Balloon Essex.

My experience at the Perse enabled me to gain a State Scholarship and entrance to Bristol University to read Honours English. It built my confidence which led to my following a teaching career, including five years in Uganda in the 1960s and ‘70s.

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1940s 1947-1953

Judith Davies Sands née Davies

I came to the Junior School in 1947 in Form II and left the Perse Girls in 1953, when I was in the Upper III. (The reason was my mother was married to my stepfather in that year. He was American and after getting his PhD at Cambridge, taught at the University of California in Los Angeles.)

I would like to contribute to the 120 commemoration of the School largely out of gratitude, because I believe that the work and intellectual habits I learned there enabled me to graduate from Radcliffe College (now part of Harvard) and Columbia Law School two years ahead of most of my American classmates.

I think it may be quite interesting for some to learn how different the Perse Girls was from Marymount, the convent school I attended in Los Angeles.

My first most vivid memory of beginning at the new school in Los Angeles was that one of my classmates seemed to run through three cars in three weeks. At the time in England 1953, cars were considered luxury items (largely because of the price of petrol) and only people who needed them for their work, such as doctors who then made house calls, had them. Our classmate was a generous young woman, glad to give anyone a lift, but I admit to being nervous when she drove down Sunset Boulevard, which is famous for its sharp bends. When one of my classmates'

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mothers learned that I walked to school, as I had done when at the Perse Girls, she immediately asked me to come to her house so I could go by car. In Los Angeles walking is definitely not a local sport. Happily, Mrs Atherton was a better driver than my classmate. Initially my classmates found me to be a bit of a curiosity, but subsequently they were kind and friendly, witness Mrs Atherton’s offer and the fact her daughter, my classmate Arlene, taught me to dance.

At the Perse Girls, we commenced the formal study of French and Latin as soon as we got to the upper school. Then, if we did well enough at both, we could add German, or Greek. My Marymount classmates started with only one language when they entered the school at fourteen. One of the reasons I went to Marymount was that they offered not only French, German and Latin, but also Spanish. This was largely due to a particularly good language teacher, who knew not only the four languages she taught, but also her native Hungarian and one or two other tongues besides. In addition to that, I took courses in American history and Civics, as that was all that prevented me from attending an American University.

At the Perse Girls I remember that we only got as far as the American revolution. I remember Mrs Chamberlain, then Miss Brothers, teaching that period. Through the good offices of Kate Varney I was put in touch with her shortly before she died. We had a delightful correspondence.

My Californian classmates were staggered by the number of classes I attended. In fact, my mother and stepfather kept me in Marymount for one more year, being wisely, I think, reluctant to let me loose on an American campus at 15.

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that her brother, Sir Hilary Scott, was a partner in the London law firm of Messrs Slaughter & May. I subsequently learned that Slaughter & May had a high reputation internationally.

They represented Bristol-Myers, one of the pharmaceutical companies I worked for, and when I had lunch with one of their partners I mentioned my connection with Sir Hilary’s sister, and he responded that I had come to the firm with excellent connections.

In addition to continuing my language courses, I took the only science course available. I remember conducting the experiment in which you mix hydrogen and oxygen in a test tube.

Everyone else in the room was terrified that I would blow up the school, but we had already done the same thing in Cambridge under the supervision of the highly experienced Miss Taylor.

I should include in this little memoir a little story about Miss Scott. When I was applying for admission to the bar, I was required to submit a letter from the principal of the high school I attended, attesting to my good character.

When the court clerk heard that I had started high school (or the English equivalent thereof) in Cambridge he insisted I get a letter from the principal of my English school. I remember feeling a bit put upon, as I had to go back to age 11 whereas my American future colleagues had three years less, since high school here begins at 14. With some trepidation, I wrote to Miss Scott requesting the necessary reference.

Not only did Miss Scott vouch for my character from 11 on, but also wrote me a charming letter congratulating me on my qualifying for admission to the New York bar, with the assurance that she had given a good reference to the court clerk. In addition, she mentioned

I have one more experience which I thought would be interesting because of its relationship to the musical life of Los Angeles, compared with Cambridge. Miss K M Wood brought our singing to a good level, but she had strong opinions which she did not hesitate to let be known.

One of them was that no English composer had been much since John Ireland. More modern works were characterised with scorn as ‘film music’. Little did she know that within days of my attendance at my new school I would be singing “Somewhere over the Rainbow” under the direction of Mr Hagerdorn, who tried vainly to get us to behave by calling us ladies. In point of fact musical life in Los Angeles was quite rich, although not in the same way as Cambridge.

At the time I was there, every film studio had a full symphony orchestra. Consequently, many refugee musicians from Europe flocked to Los Angeles, where they could find work. Much of what they played was film music, which some of them no doubt called dreck, so they were only too happy to play the music in which they had been professionally trained, namely the classics. They did this in chamber music groups, usually for minimum or even no pay. UCLA had a “Friends of Music” club, which had excellent concerts and similar events would occur elsewhere.

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1940s 1948-1958

Kate Laura Varney née Leavis

In 1948, Kate joined Perse School for Girls Junior Dept at 52 Bateman Street, aged 9, in Class II Alpha and left after Upper Sixth in 1958, going on to take a BA in Modern History at Somerville College, Oxford.

From 1961-1990, Kate worked in what was initially London Council and saw various reorganisations of her departments during that time as it became the Greater London Council (GLC) and the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA), until the abolition of the latter in 1990 under Mrs Thatcher’s government. In 1990, Kate moved to Norwich and was Administrator of the University of East Anglia’s Extra-Mural Studies until 1997. Kate married Peter Varney in 1988.

Kate has shared a wonderful memoir of her time at Perse Girls, too long to print here, but please contact the Development Office for a copy, which we also hope to publish in an edition of the Principal’s newsletter. It contains a wealth of memories of staff, students, Cambridge, the school bathing place, new school buildings and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. As a taster, this is how Kate writes about Cambridge in the 1940s and ‘50s.

'Many lived in Cambridge, affordable then before the expansion of the city and university into the surrounding countryside and villages. I heard the cuckoo from our gardens off Chesterton Road and then off Trumpington Road, both within a @SPFschools

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mile of the city centre. There were safe commons and green places to play on unsupervised.

Cambridge in the decade after the War was probably not vastly dissimilar from that of Gwen Raverat’s Period Piece. She was of course still alive in the 50’s, her daughters had attended the school and her granddaughter, Emily, three years younger, later joined me as a flautist.

New buildings in the city (which gained its status in the Coronation Year) had not yet sprung up, the motor car had not taken over. Horses were not a strange sight. Opposite the Fitzwilliam Museum in a hidden yard was a livery stable from which riders would emerge on hired hacks and trot along Trumpington Street into the country. There was another stable in King Street. The milkman delivered by horse and cart.

A greengrocer drove his horse and cart from Landbeach to Cambridge, calling at houses for orders, sometimes buying surplus produce from one household to sell to others (he was a

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Guild Members' News

Image left Cambridge prepares for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. King Street Cambridge May 1953

1949-1957

Lucy Ismail née Deas

Lucy joined Class IIA in 1949 and completed Upper Sixth in 1957.

Lucy writes:

“higgler”). Shops closed by 5pm. They shut on Sundays except for a few backstreet ones selling the few goods which could be legally sold over the counter (and "illegal" ones under the counter to known trusted customers). Around the school were small shops – a bakery and cobblers opposite and corner shops in the side streets, a fishmongers in Lensfield Road.

Some pupils lived in this immediate area.

The Greene King brewery next door, served by horse drawn drays, noisily puffed out fumes, in two different rhythms, heard and smelled (without comment) from the school grounds and new classrooms on that side. There were no supermarkets, computers unheard of, and long distance (“trunk”) telephone calls had to be made through the operator, quality of sound not guaranteed. Televisions (black and white), watched behind closed curtains, were a rarity when the Coronation was televised in June 1953.'

“My Perse Girls education gave me confidence and after graduating from Somerville College Oxford, I joined the Diplomatic Service, for which I worked until 1979, when I retired on becoming the mother of twins. My foreign postings included New York (British Mission to the UN), Islamabad and Dhaka, where I met my husband.

After my children were born I trained to teach EFL [English as a Foreign Language] and ESOL [English for Speakers of Other Languages] (two separate trainings in those days though now sensibly amalgamated) and continued to do this until retirement age and subsequently as a volunteer.”

“ My Perse Girls education gave me confidence and after graduating from Somerville College Oxford, I joined the Diplomatic Service.”

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1940s 1947-1956

Mary Quarmby née Mara Bozic

I joined Perse Girls’ class Lower III Alpha in 1947, leaving Upper Sixth in 1956 and then trained as a teacher, married and had four children, the fourth being an adopted half Iranian girl.

Mary writes: "I have lived in a market town for fifty years, teaching till 60 in a Primary school, while my husband was Head of the local high school.

Two of our children went to Cambridge, one to Durham and one to medical school. Now one is clinical director of surgery in Derby and Burton on Trent, one is in business, one has retired from teaching maths and Duke of Edinburgh's award scheme and one is a journalist and writer.

Since retirement, I have chaired a planning committee, been a cathedral guide and on four committees, LibDem, Arts Society, Historical Society and Bridge Club. I enjoy Scottish dancing, reading, knitting and music.

Of my seven grandchildren, one is a partner in a big American financial firm, one is a counsellor in a prison, one is in law graduate training, one training to be an architect, two are at university reading English and languages and one is applying to medical schools. As a family, every few years, we all go away together for a week.

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Perse Girls was a direct grant school at the time and because of my mother’s financial situation she didn’t pay for my schooling.

Having been born in Belgrade, been there during the war, coming to England with nothing in January 1946, only speaking Serbian, which I forgot in three weeks and briefly had no language, I have to say that I have had a very good life with long-term good friends and a good family."

“ My experience was that the teaching was sound. The person who made a big difference to my life was Miss K M Wood. With her I sang, sang in Queens’ College choir, in CUMS and later, while teaching, in a madrigal group.”

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Guild Members' News

Image left: 1946-47 Perse Girls Lower VI Back row: L-R: Susannah Welbourne, Claudia Gilleband, Joan Tolliday, Rita Schlossman, Valerie Humberstone, Claudia Grigson (?), Molly Layton, Ann Tilley, Ann Heywood, Evelyn Tudor Middle row: L-R: Molly Claybyn, ?, Marigold Storr, Emma Anderson, Miss Garrett, ?, Shirley Dean, Ruth Fowler, Caroline Dobson Front row: Elizabeth Vernon, Marianne Friedenthal, Una Austin, Rosemary Cripps, M. Bedford, Doreen Howman, Diana Birkhill

Nativity plays, teaching junior church choirs, producing puppet plays, supply teaching, planning and leading children’s holiday clubs and much more.

While in the Manchester area, I fostered children on a short-term basis and we then adopted two babies, but not at the same time! On moving back to Cambridge, we had our own baby born to us.

1947-1952

Mary Barber née Griffiths

Mary joined Lower IVA after half-term in March 1947, leaving after Upper Sixth in 1952.

“Prior to marriage in 1961, I taught in primary schools in Kent and Cambridge and then in an independent Anglican convent school near Hastings. I sang in Hastings Philharmonic Choir while there and in Christ’s College Choir while teaching in Cambridge and also Clare ‘Canaries’ Choir. I have often taught Music and Art, apart from teaching my own class.

I married a curate and so was a vicar’s wife until retirement in 1998. This involved starting pre-school playgroups and running them, teaching and starting Sunday schools, producing

I continued teaching and doing all the things that clergy wives do. In retirement, I became a guide at Ely Cathedral and I led a Cathedral ‘Home Group’ for many years and led a meditation group and still do. Our adopted son is Vicar of Halifax, our adopted daughter is a successful businesswoman.

Our youngest daughter is a talented musician and sings in Newcastle Cathedral, as do her 13-year old twins. We have six grandchildren.

Rosie has just got into Edinburgh University for Further Maths with 2 As and an A*. Sam is doing a PhD in Medieval History at Manchester. Josh has graduated at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He is doing a PGCE to teach in primary schools this coming academic year. Seth will do GCSEs next year. Alice will start at high school this coming term, but her twin, Gabriel, will continue being home schooled.”

“ I have often taught Music and Art, apart from teaching my own class.

I married a curate and so was a vicar’s wife until retirement in 1998.”

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1940s 1946-1956

Mary West née Page

Mary joined Class I in 1946 and left school in 1956 from Upper Sixth. She gained her Teaching Certificate in1959 and a BA with the Open University in 1986.

Mary married in 1963, her son was born in 1965 and her daughter in 1969. Her son has two degrees and was a Farm Manager and is now a Baptist Minister. Her daughter gained a degree in Landscape Architecture and then her Nursing Certificate and works with food banks and charities for asylum seekers. Mary has one grandson and four granddaughters and is very proud of their various achievements including their degrees (one PhD) and the youngest is training to be a surgeon.

After leaving teaching, Mary undertook a variety of work connected with children and families, church work and bookshops. She helped to run a small Christian bookshop, also selling Fairtrade products. She reflects on her time at Perse Girls, saying:

“ It influenced my adult life by giving me confidence and knowledge in a wide base of subjects. Learning Latin has been very useful.”

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1944-1953

Norma Katherine Hunter née Hartley

Norma started at the school in 1944 and completed Upper Sixth in 1953. She boarded at La Ruche in Panton Street and then elsewhere in Cambridge after that boarding house closed.

After leaving school, Norma gained a BA in History from Bedford College and a Diploma in Social Sciences.

She worked as a counsellor for MIND in Barnet, in private practice and for GP surgeries and has also been a magistrate in Barnet. Norma married Hadley in 1969 and they have two children and four grandchildren. She enjoys singing in a choir and plays viola in a small orchestra.

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1942-1947

1944-1953

Patricia Burrows

Phyllis Maxwell

Patricia, who was known as Pat, joined Upper III Alpha in 1942 and completed Lower Sixth in 1947.

Phyllis joined Lower IIA in 1944 and completed Upper Sixth in 1953.

née Patricia (Pat) Langford

She then had a career in education, teaching Geography in one grammar school, two independent boarding convent schools for girls and one comprehensive with 2,000 pupils. Patricia also worked as the Road Safety Organiser for an UDC, in the bookshop at Hatfield Technical College (now a university) and had several other diverse occupations. A widow of fifteen years, Patricia has a son who lives in America and a daughter who is a primary school teacher.

Patricia has also been an active volunteer. She participated in the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service (now the Royal Voluntary Service) for seventeen years, finishing as CESO for three counties and Plymouth City. For seven years, Patricia was Art Tutor to a class in a local school and for seventeen years to Winscombe Community Centre Art Group. In addition, she served on the Committee and as Souvenir Secretary (for fetes, shows, etc) for the Winscombe Branch of the RNLI.

Phyllis says: “I taught Religious Education for 32 years, firstly in grammar schools, then in two comprehensive schools in the North East. During this time I ran holidays for deprived children, 'camping' in church halls. This opened my eyes to the chaotic state many families live in, and the effects this can have on the children.

I took early retirement, and was licensed as a Reader in the Church of England, and can lead worship and preach. At present I have 'permission to do this' as I am over 70. This means that I am heavily involved in church work.

I took up painting as a hobby, and join a group once a week. I also enjoy my garden.”

Patricia credits her Perse Girls education with giving her the confidence and ability to do so many things.

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1940s 1943-1952

1942-1953

Shirley Hoggart

Wendy Steadman

Shirley attended Perse Girls from 1943 to 1952, leaving at the age of seventeen after an abrupt operation for acute appendicitis.

Wendy joined Second Form in 1942, completing Upper Sixth in 1953 and went on to read Modern Languages at Somerville College, Oxford.

née Taylor

née Ratcliff

She then attended the Ruskin Art College at Oxford and completed an apprenticeship at Heal’s, Tottenham Court Road, both of which she says were very interesting.

Following this, Shirley had her own furniture shop, Joshua Taylors on Trinity Street in Cambridge, selling Danish furniture and kilims for many years. Shirley now lives in Norfolk and is in touch with family and friends.

Wendy writes: “After graduating in 1956, I worked at the British Embassy in Bonn in a locally employed capacity.

In 1958 I returned to the UK and worked in ICI Head Office in London. In 1959, I married Fred Steadman, a widower with three children and moved to Northwich in Cheshire.

Our daughter Jo(sephine) was born in 1960.

After Fred’s retirement in 1979, we moved to Chester. After his death in 1999, I became a Reader in the Church of England and then was ordained, at the age of 71.

I still work as a priest in my local parish and community, with Permission To Officiate in the Diocese of Chester. Positively my time at school was the bedrock of my life.”

Image above: Perse School for Girls teachers enjoy a picnic on the River Cam

@SPFschools

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Guild Members' News

120th Anniversary reunion for the Guild in June 2023 L-R: Veronica Greenwood, Richard Girvan, Jean Mason

In memoriam 1943-1952

Pat Palmer White née Palmer

Pat was at Perse Girls from 1945 to 1951.

Her family shared this tribute to her:

1945-1951

Veronica Greenwood née Griffith

Pat died on 30 December 2020, just short of her 87th birthday. She was born in Cambridge and parents were Master and Matron of the Harvey Goodwin Home run by what is now The Children’s Society and she grew up with 40 boys.

She went to Milton Road Primary School before winning a scholarship to the Perse School for Girls.

After her schooling, Veronica worked for the Foreign Office from 1953-1977 and after moving to Cambridge in 1980, she worked at the World Conservation Monitoring Centre on Huntingdon Road from 1982-1994, as well as volunteering at Cambridge Hearing Help from 1982.

Her main passions in life, apart from her family, were archaeology, local history and English literature. Pat was an active member of the Cambridge Rescue Archaeology Group under the auspices of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, becoming involved with the excavation of the Castle Hill Cambridge Roman site and the route of the M11 with Professor John Alexander, and the sites of two Roman villas at Manor Farm, Teversham.

She has twin grandsons, aged 16, and says that she enjoyed her school life and has benefited greatly from her education in her life. Veronica and Jean Mason attended the 120th Anniversary reunion for the Guild in June 2023 and are pictured here on that occasion with Principal, Richard Girvan.

With her friend Mary Symmonds, Pat compiled “The Teversham Chronicle”. Pat also served as the longstanding Honorary Archivist of the Fulbourn Village History Society and was often to be seen at village events with a display of interesting photos and memorabilia, sharing her knowledge of the village’s history.

Veronica joined Upper III in 1945 and completed Upper Sixth in 1951.

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1940s Behind the scenes, she worked diligently, accessioning all material received in an ever expanding series of registers, indexing everything thoroughly on cards so it could be found, and storing it safely. She was always helpful to those wanting information and would go above and beyond to research the queries she received.

She also had been a member of the Fulbourn Village Library committee at its inception and helped to run the monthly book sale for many years. Pat was an avid reader and always keen to encourage others to read widely.

Pat also loved visiting churches and took part in the Cambridgeshire Historic Churches Trust sponsored annual event to visit as many churches as possible in a day for many years, only stopping in the last couple of years before her death. Pat’s husband, John, died in December 2022, and they leave two daughters Philippa Smith née White (also an alumna) and Catherine Mason, who lives in Newfoundland, Canada, Their son, Johnny, died in 1992.

Pat met her husband, John White, through his sister Sheila, who was at school with her. She had a lifelong interest in literature, history and ideas, and a sustaining intellectual life even though when she left school her family expectation was that she would not go on to university. Rather, she studied for a typing qualification from Cambridge Technical College and School of Art and then worked as a secretary in the admissions office at Newnham College, Cambridge, until she married John, from a Fulbourn farming family, in 1957. She gave up paid employment when she married, as many women did at that time, though later worked as

@SPFschools

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a care assistant in a care home when her three children were older.

Her intellectual influence has passed down the generations with her two daughters being the first on her side of the family to go to university (she was very determined that they would have the opportunity that she hadn’t) studying history and archaeology respectively. Of her six grandchildren, two have PhDs, another is working in academia, studying for a PhD in history and is a published author of fiction, and a fourth is studying for an MPhil in ancient history.

She had a lifelong interest in literature, history and ideas, and a sustaining intellectual life even though when she left school her family expectation was that she would not go on to university.

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1950s

Lower Sixth 1951-1952 full image on page 25

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1950s 1950-1959

Ann Gooch née Brown

Ann was at Perse Girls from 1950 until 1959. Today Ann is a retired accountant, who reflects on her time at the school as giving her a good education and the ability to make friends.

1950-1959 1958-1965

Christine Spanu

Christine Dymond

née Calvert

Christine joined the First Year of Junior School and completed Upper Sixth in 1959.

“After A level, I started an integrated nursing course at Hammersmith Hospital in London, where one of the tutors was an old Perse Girl.

However, the course was not recognised in Italy, so I eventually qualified as a teacher of English as a Foreign Language and worked in Turin, Rome and Milan. For the past twenty-three years, since my husband and I retired, I’ve lived in the so-called Waldensian Alps 50 kms from Turin.

Besides looking after my house, garden and visitors, I am a volunteer in the local Waldensian Care Home. I have three sons, the eldest Pietro is a lecturer at Imperial College, Sergio is a producer for the Italian television company RAI and Alessandro, like his father, is a Baptist minister. Three of my grandchildren live in the UK and the two youngest in Turin.” @SPFschools

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née Littlechild

I entered Upper III in 1958 and left after Upper Sixth in 1965. I was a prefect and Captain of Street House.

"I benefited from a heavily subsidised place at the school through the direct grant scheme.

Afterwards, I went to Maria Grey Teacher Training College and became a primary school teacher and, apart from one year in Philadelphia and two years in high-end fashion (thanks to our excellent needlework teacher), I chose to teach in Inner London’s toughest schools. I finally graduated with a 1st in 1996 and went on to be an Ofsted inspector. The Perse School for Girls, as it was then, opened up a whole new world to me.

I most value my life-long love of learning, music and the arts and my friends. My parents were from serving families and received no education

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Guild Members' News

Image left: Lower Sixth 1951-1952 Back row: L-R: Cynthia Stephen, Judy Barrance, Ann Hughes, Tessa Jones, Anne Gould, Josephine Voadim, Ann Linderman, Margaret Knight, Ann Robins, Margaret Mitchell Front: Sally Thurlow, Janet Walsh, Janet Hart, Diana Crow (+ Juliet Ansell, Joyce Butler, Shirley Drake, Rosemary Foster)

desk and chair, and it became my study. The only thing that was difficult for me at school was current affairs because, unlike everyone else’s families, my parents didn’t take a newspaper and we had no television or radio until much later.

In my professional life I focused on helping bright children from poor backgrounds to achieve their potential and, as a Governor of three schools, I always championed provision for gifted children.”

1951-1960

beyond age 14. From age 12, my mother had helped the village school teacher. She knew that education was the only way out for me; an only child. She sent me to the Morley Memorial School because it was a teacher training school and then entered me for the Perse Girls’ School.

Following my interview with Miss Scott I was offered a place, but not before my mother was also interviewed by Miss Scott. She had established that we lived in one basement room with one separate bedroom, no bathroom and an outdoor lavatory. The accommodation was in a large house in lieu of working as the housekeeper. She explained to my mother that I would be expected to do homework and would need a space to do it. My mother promised to make a space for me.

There was a coal cellar in the basement, so my father built a new coal bunker in the back garden and made a small window in the cellar opening onto the staircase. My mother painted the cellar white, put in electricity, bought a second-hand

Christine Rider Christine arrived at Perse Girls’ Junior School on Bateman Street in 1951 and, after 11+, moved to the Senior School in Upper III. In 1960 she left school from Sixth Form; but having only taken one A level course, which was not enough for university entry and government financing, went to evening classes at Cambridge Tech for another A level, while working at a paper factory in Sawston. She attended London School of Economics from 1961-1964, leaving with a BSc (Econ.) and from the 1960s onwards has been living in New York City in the United States. Christine continues: “My first jobs were mainly editorial, mostly on finance magazines, and during a period of unemployment, a friend suggested that I could use the time to take a Masters degree, so I completed an MA at Queens

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1950s College, City University of New York under my then-married name of Christine Pinches.

I completed a doctorate in 1979 at the New School for Social Research, which was required for promotion to Assistant Professor and entry on to the tenure track at St John’s University, New York, where I had been employed since 1976. I resumed my name, Christine Rider (married twice, divorced twice) and taught at St John’s, ending as a Full Professor, before taking early retirement in 2005. During that time, I wrote journal papers, two books, co-edited several articles, mostly on economic history, economic change, labour market analysis, and co-edited the two-volume Encyclopaedia of the Age of the Industrial Revolution.

The University encouraged its faculty to continue research, and so I attended many academic conferences; because these were held in various locations, I was able to visit more places in the US than if I was on my own as a tourist (e.g. Hawaii, San Francisco, Big Sky country Montana, Florida, Charleston, Montreal…). Since retiring and completing a few independent research projects, I have been able to travel, this time internationally, with a colleague who retired a few years after I did; we just missed out on Easter Island (the cruise was cancelled for obvious reasons in March 2020) and one including the Russian Far East was cancelled last year, but have crossed both Atlantic and Pacific oceans; we both have bucket lists, and are working through them!

At school, I feel that as a “village girl” I was not encouraged as if I had lived in Cambridge; I got far more encouragement to stretch myself and attain goals, such as aiming for a doctorate, @SPFschools

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from my professors, who recognised my talents and abilities, rather than focusing on my background.

My biggest regret: not being able to learn dancing when young: although it can be done, taking ballet lessons in one’s twenties is not the easiest!

Now I do ballroom and Latin dancing, which comes in useful on cruises!”

1958-1969

Claire Milne née Orlans

Claire joined Form I at Bateman Street in 1958 and completed Upper Sixth in 1969.

“Trying to retire but still pretty busy with residual bits of "work", much of it voluntary, and three wonderful grandchildren. Plant-based food has taken over much of the space in my life previously occupied by telecoms policy! " 1951-1960

Diana Gendle née Gibney

I have been Diana Gendle since I married in 1968, but was Diana Gibney at school.

I have lived in Bath since then. I joined Form I at the Junior School in Bateman Street in 1951, when I was eight. I moved with about half the class into Upper III Alpha at the Senior School in Panton Street. I left school at the end of my year

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in Lower VI Alpha in 1960 and went to work in the library at EMI, the record company. When we moved to Bath I worked in the University of Bath library. During this time I attended courses in librarianship to get my library qualifications.

I am still in touch with Elisabeth Joyce (now Brown), and Susan Gray (now Anderson), but as I am now 80 I am unable to travel long distances.

1959-1966

Diana Wright née George

In 1959, Diana started at Perse Girls in Upper IIIA and progressed through the school, completing Sixth Form in 1966.

She lives in Cheltenham with her husband of 47 years, within easy visiting distance of her two grown-up children, and enjoys spending time with two lively grandchildren. Diana is now retired after a long career in primary schools and as Head of Primary Teacher Training at the University of Gloucestershire. She spent many years as the Chair of a school governing body and as additional Ofsted inspector of schools and of teacher training courses.

1955-1961

Dorothy Ann Sneddon née Cheney

Dorothy joined class Upper IIIA in 1955 and finished Upper Sixth in 1961.

Following this, she graduated in Modern Languages from Manchester in 1964 and completed her training as an academic librarian in 1966, working as a cataloguer in the Bodleian Library from 1966-1974.

Dorothy married in 1970 and brought up her family in St Andrew’s from 1975 onwards. Her daughter is a translator with the German Foreign Office and her son works for Apple. Dorothy has a granddaughter in secondary school in Berlin and she enjoys campaigning for the local Liberals in her community. Of her time at Perse Girls, Dorothy remembers that she particularly enjoyed talking to her French teacher as they walked to school along the same route.

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more college lecturing, part time. When I broke my leg in 1996, I started theatre reviewing on the internet. Various office jobs followed alongside the theatre reviewing.

1958-1969

(Elizabeth) Lizzie Loveridge née Mitchell

(aka Fizzy Mitchell)

Lizzie joined the Juniors First Form in 1955, leaving from Sixth Form in 1965.

“I took a gap year, as with decent A levels I didn't want to go to the school's idea of teacher training, "We do like to send a fair share of our girls to teacher training". I worked in the Department of Applied Economics at Cambridge University, proof reading psephology and was filmed at the BBC election programme in 1966, delivering results when the computer broke down. I then got into university at clearing. From 1966 to 1970, I took a thin sandwich degree in social sciences at Brunel, then in 1971 trained as a Careers Advisor, courtesy of the ILEA on a trainee salary (Dip Careers Guidance). I became a college lecturer and was awarded my PGCE with distinction in day release. In 1972, I married Dr David Loveridge. Our first child, Adam, was born 1979 and Charlotte followed in 1980 and I was a stay at home mother for about six years. Then I became an Open College Advisor and took on @SPFschools

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David and I separated in 1999 and divorced in 2004. In 2000, I joined CurtainUp.com and in 2004 took a job in student support at the University of Greenwich, by the time I left the University of Greenwich in 2017, I was University Complaints Officer. What tales I could tell!

I continued reviewing theatre, having been admitted to the Critics’ Circle in 2011, until the pandemic meant I lost the New York job. In 2020, I started Theatrevibe.co.uk. Today, in 2023, I have four granddaughters, aged from seven years old to two years and in 2019, after thirty-nine years in Blackheath and Greenwich, I moved to Sarratt in Hertfordshire, with Malcolm. I am really interested in family history after discovering at 23 that I was adopted and tracing my birth mother and father. I used to organise a local history group in Quentin Road, Blackheath.”

Lizzie would love to hear from classmates, please contact the Development Office for her details in the first instance.

1958-1969

Jane Williams née Little

Jane joined the school in 1958 and stayed until December 1969, leaving after third year Sixth Form.

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1951-1960

Marion Turnock née Bean

Marion joined the second year of Junior School in 1951 and left after Upper Sixth in 1960, going on to qualify as a teacher at Balls Park Teacher Training College.

1956-1965

Liz Overstall née Veal

Liz joined Class II in 1956, staying on until Upper Sixth.

Liz writes: “I spent twenty-five years working for Anglia Television’s “Survival” series, producing wildlife films. Then I ran an IT company specialising in medical training. Now retired, I am a gardener, forester and farmer. I’m the Tree Warden for my parish, in delightful Herefordshire. I did, eventually, learn to overcome what would now be called Attention Deficit Disorder, but this was not recognised or understood at the time.”

She enjoyed a teaching career in Cambridgeshire, Aberdeen and Leicester, taking a BPhil Ed from the University of Leicester in 1994 and being certified as a Royal Scottish Country Dance Society teacher in 2001. Marion was a Scottish Dance Teacher and Accompanist for two dance groups in Leicester for twenty-two years, as well as being Chair and a Committee Member.

In her school teaching career, Marion was a member of the School Management Team with responsibility for the Middle School and a large number of subjects.

Marion and her late husband, David, married in 1965. David was Professor, then Professor Emeritus in Geography at the University of Leicester, specialising in Eastern Europe, especially Romania. Their sons, Graham and Andrew, are now a European Space Agency Special Advisor (and former Head of the ESA) and the Head of Grafton School in Islington respectively. Marion has two grandchildren.

During David’s career, Marion was active in supporting his research projects in Eastern Europe, including travelling to many Eastern European destinations, both pre and post the 1989 Revolution.

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1950s 1952-1960

Pamela Scott née Radmore

Pamela joined IIA in 1952 and left after Lower VI in 1960.

She went to the University of Manchester to read English and History of Art and still keeps up with three or four friends from her school days in Cambridge.

1950-1960

Rosalind Robertson In 1995, Marion set up a charity - Patarlagele Villages Romania - to support Patarlagele Hospital by providing medicine and for many other local needs, including funds for schoolchildren in the area to continue their education after the age of fourteen and clothing and other items for less well-off families.

Amongst all this, Marion also found, and still finds, time for many other home activities, including tutoring her own children, piano, painting, sewing and gardening.

She says of her own school days: "I was profoundly influenced by my Perse Girls’ Education - through confidence in interview situations - ability to do research communicating with academics - leadership skills - love of books - writing skills etc.” @SPFschools

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née Lyon

Rosalind joined the Perse School for Girls in Form IIA in January 1950, when she first moved to Cambridge.

Ten years later, Rosalind sat the University Entrance exam in the 3rd year Sixth in 1960 (a year late due to previous illness) and in 1963 graduated with a BA (Hons) from University College, London. In 1964, Rosalind married P J M Robertson, a graduate of Clare College, Cambridge and an alumnus of Shrewsbury school. Two daughters followed, Lucy in 1966 and Flora in 1968. From 1963, Rosalind taught in the UK, and from 1968 in universities and colleges in Canada with occasional journalism and ESL consulting.

When time allowed, she also did volunteering.

Today Rosalind and her husband are retired, living in Canada, south of Ottawa on the St Lawrence.

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Image right HRH Princess Margaret receives an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of Cambridge, 1958

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1953-1960

Sue Miller née Allsopp

Hello from Mrs Sue Miller; Susan Allsopp when at the Perse Girls from 1953 to 1960, but always known as Sue. "I entered as an Upper III Alpha thanks to gaining a scholarship at Eleven Plus. My parents could not have afforded the school fees and so I fully appreciate the importance of the availability of bursaries for bright children from low income families.

my employments as well as in producing a community magazine, a local history book and dabbling in freelance journalism. Latin and Greek O levels have also been very useful!

I left from the Upper Sixth and, having failed to gain an Oxbridge place, went straight into employment as a trainee Town Planner, moving on after two years to assist the Manager of the new London Building Centre branch set up in Trumpington Street.

And I must not forget the social side. I went through the school with a lovely group of girls, of varied interests and backgrounds and have had great pleasure, since we all reached our sixties, in arranging annual reunion lunches in various Cambridge colleges.

Marriage and children followed, from 1963, with a part-time job in the British Antarctic Survey library and I finally gained my Cambridge place, at Wolfson College, in 1987 and had three happy years reading history. My degree helped in landing a post at the wonderful Saffron Walden Museum, documenting the collections and staging exhibitions. My husband and I have lived in Orwell, about eight miles from Cambridge, for forty years and I have always been very involved in community affairs. We have just downsized into a bungalow close to all the village facilities.

We are scattered around the world now and mobility is a problem for some of us, but when twelve eighty-plus Perseans met this July at Wolfson, the years fell away as we exchanged news and views, chatted and laughed for hours.

We'll be there again next year, hopefully in greater numbers.”

Positive effects of my time at Perse Girls?

A thorough grounding in English grammar and composition, which has helped me in all

“ And I must not forget the social side.

I went through the school with a lovely group of girls, of varied interests and backgrounds and have had great pleasure, since we all reached our sixties, in arranging annual reunion lunches in various Cambridge colleges.” stephenperse.com/stephenperseguild

1960s

HRH Prince Charles arrives at Trinity College Cambridge 1967

Guild Members' News

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1960-1970

1968-1980

Caroline Johnson-Seiter née Johnson

Caroline joined Form I at Rosedale House in 1968 and progressed through the junior and senior schools, completing her seventh-term Cambridge entrance examinations in 1980.

She read Classics at Newnham and worked for a couple of years as a retail manager, before marrying and moving to Germany in 1987, where she requalified in marketing and business management with a 25-year career following in sales and marketing for industry, founding and running her own company for ten years.

Caroline then requalified again, this time as a practitioner of complementary medicine and has been running her own successful practice for ten years now. She says of her time at Perse Girls that it: “...taught me to be flexible but to follow my own inclinations with determination, even if my interests were not always mainstream.

I shall always be grateful for the staff who managed to timetable my four unusual A Levels (French, German, Latin, Greek), allowed me to take Hungarian as an optional subject and indulged my musical efforts in school orchestras, arranging harpsichord lessons etc."

“ I made good friends, some of whom

I am still in contact with over 50 years on, despite living in Germany.”

Caroline Smith I joined during Junior School in 1960, Upper II Alpha. The other beginners in my form that year were Diana Nottage and Jean Hutchison, and I left in 1970 after Upper Sixth.

From school I went to Moorfields Eye Hospital in London to train to become an orthoptist. I continued to work within the NHS as a state registered orthoptist until October 2020, astonishingly for a period of 50 years. After qualification my early professional years were spent in London working at Moorfields and The (now “Royal”) London Hospital in Whitechapel.

These were very enjoyable years, particularly the time at The London. Since then I spent a few months in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Unfortunately the job was not a happy one. My next post was in Cumbria, at the southern part of The Lake District and close to Morecambe Bay. Since then, I have lived and worked in Kent for about 28 years. The last three have been spent in retirement; having worked through the first lockdown, I decided it was time to stop. I have no children but share my life with three Maine Coons, a Standard Poodle and two Lusitano horses. Now I have time to explore and learn the art of classical horsemanship, a long-held ambition. I love my small garden and I also knit socks.

On reflection I believe that my time at The Perse Girls showed me the value of giving and receiving friendship, the pleasure, strength, enrichment and support that this brings.

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1960s 1964-1975

Christine Andrews née Bugg

Christine joined First Form in the Junior School (aged 7) in 1964 and stayed until 1975 and the end of Upper Sixth.

"Having taught Maths and Further Maths for many years, Christine was Chair of all mathsbased A levels within AQA for many years, but says “my passion is for the EPQ” [Extended Project Qualification]. She is also Chief Moderator for AQA, in post since 2009, a textbook author and teacher trainer. Christine goes on to say, “However, the greatest achievement must be my family. My husband and I have four children and seven grandchildren.”

“Perse Girls was a strong influence on my life, for example it encouraged me to take up the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) scheme and I then ran DofE for many years….but the best, the very best was that we took our O levels in November and had two terms to simply exercise our academic muscles without fear of assessment. The best two terms of my academic career. During these two terms we were all encouraged to produce a project…to undertake independent research…..so where did that take me?

Eventually, in 2009 to the EPQ and I firmly believe this is the best addition to the UK assessment programme at Level 3 during my lifetime. Perse Girls can take credit here for my passion!! I was in a year group of incredible young women and we were rarely stifled.” @SPFschools

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Image above: Oxford Cambridge annual punt relay race River Cam May 1957

1968-1976

Claire Lovegrove Claire joined the school in 1968, entering class Lower III Alpha, and left in 1976 after Upper Sixth.

She is now retired from working in pharmaceutical research as a formulation scientist and continues to play the violin in string chamber groups, keeps an award winning allotment and volunteers at Benslow Music Trust library.

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1969-1978

Helen Farr Helen writes: “I started at Rosedale House in the Upper II year group in 1969/70,went on to the Senior School in Panton Street and left at the end of Upper Sixth in 1978.

After leaving school I went to the University of London to study Biological Sciences and, after graduating with a BSc (Hons) degree, worked in the pharmaceutical business as a medical representative for a few years until I had my children.

In 1998 I decided to become a teacher, so completed my PGCE at Homerton College in Cambridge. I was a primary school teacher for 20 years, mainly teaching Year 4, but retired from full time teaching in 2019. I now still do a bit of supply teaching, just at the school I retired from.

I married in 1983 and went on to have three children, two girls and a boy - Katie, Emily and Thomas. We have just recently celebrated our Ruby wedding anniversary (40 years)! At present I have three gorgeous grandchildren aged five, three and one. After living in Essex and then Suffolk for a few years, we moved back to Cambridgeshire and live in a village near Newmarket, where we have been for the last twenty-seven years.

1960-1968

Jackie Jackson-Smith née Balls

Jackie joined Upper IIIA at the Perse School for Girls in 1960 and completed third year Sixth Form in 1968.

She then went onto Sheffield University, where she was awarded a 2.1 BA (Hons) in PreHistory and Archaeology. Jackie then returned to Cambridge and completed her PGCE at Homerton College, becoming a teacher. She writes: “In 1982, I moved to Leigh-on-Sea in Essex and I still live there today. I continued my career as a teacher and I also gained an MSc in Education Management. I then worked as a special needs adviser with Essex County Council. Later I worked as an adviser, both regionally and nationally, before eventually working as a lecturer with Wolverhampton University and as an Ofsted School Inspector. I have three children and two grandchildren. I now volunteer at our local library and I have paid work as an exam invigilator and as a local election returning officer.

My academic education at the Perse certainly gave me a sound foundation for my later studies - and I’m sure it gave me the disciplined outlook which led to my career successes. I do appreciate the excellent teaching that we received at the Perse and the high academic excellence that was expected of us.”

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1967-1974

Josephine Sharples née Dodd

Josephine (Jo) joined Upper IIIA in 1967 and completed Upper Sixth in 1974.

She went on to graduate from Warwick University 1977 with a BSc in Pure Mathematics, then completed her PGCE at Manchester Polytechnic in Primary School teaching in 1978.

Jo has been married to Derek Sharples, a Lecturer in Pharmacy at Manchester University, since 1978.

They have three children, Ben (1981, an engineer working for Thalys), Timm (1984, a computer networks manager) and Rachel (1984, currently working for the Royal Collection in Windsor). She has spent many years private tutoring all ages in Maths and English and retrained as an ESOL teacher in 2000 and taught asylum seekers and refugees English in Manchester until 2012.

Jo has been an active member of various choirs since leaving school, including twenty-five years with Manchester Cathedral Cantata Choir, and is currently a member of the Halle Choir (since 2008).

Jo says: “The School enabled me to pursue my love of choral singing; from all the choirs in school, joint projects with other schools in Cambridge and the opportunity to audition successfully for Sidney Sussex Chapel choir during my Sixth Form years.”

Image above: Miss Tice photographed by Miss Milne in January 2023, as she wrote a greetings card to accompany the bowl of birthday hyacinths.

@SPFschools

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Guild Members' News

37

1965-1981

1966-1977

Rosemary Tice

Ruth Dixon

Miss Tice joined Perse Girls School as a staff member in 1965.

Ruth joined First Form at the Junior School in 1966, staying until the end of Upper Sixth in 1977.

For two years Miss Tice taught Geography and Biology (if there was a need) and was Deputy Head for three years, when Miss Bedson had a three-year rotary appointment, from 1968-1971. She then became Examinations Officer, a post she held until her retirement.

In 1981, Miss Tice ably ran a wide range of activities to celebrate the centenary of the School’s opening. In addition to her many commitments in school, Miss Tice has also volunteered for Cam Sight and a local Methodist church.

Following her retirement, Miss Tice has remained interested in news and events in school and amongst Guild members. Every year she presents the Senior School with a bowl of blue hyacinths to mark its birthday on 17 January, a role that she inherited from Miss Graham Campbell (known fondly by many as “Gramble”) and with which she is assisted now by Miss Katie Milne, more recently retired Head of the Junior School.

She comments that her time at Perse Girls gave her the understanding that women can take up any subject or career and continues: “After leaving Perse Girls I read Natural Sciences at Cambridge followed by a PhD at Warwick University. I then worked in the Chemistry and Biochemistry Departments at the University of Oxford, developing magnetic resonance techniques for biomedical research.

I spent 1991 in Germany on an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship. A break from work in the early 2000s was followed by a career change: I joined the Department of Politics and International Relations at Oxford to study the UK civil service. With Professor Christopher Hood, I co-authored an academic book, A Government that Worked Better and Cost Less?

Evaluating Three Decades of Reform and Change in UK Central Government, which won the 2016 W J M Mackenzie book prize from the Political Studies Association.

Since then, I have continued to work on aspects of UK public administration, most recently at the Blavatnik School of Government. I am married to Jonathan Jones, Professor of Physics and Fellow of Brasenose College, and we have a son, Stephen.”

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1970s

Dame Alice Rosemary Murray, DBE, DL, who was the first female Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge from 1975-1977

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1971-1978

Ann Peters née Tiplady

Ann joined Upper III Alpha in 1971 and completed Upper Sixth in 1978.

Ann writes: “Update of the last 45 years! After leaving school, I qualified from Wolverhampton School of Physiotherapy. This experience and environment widened my outlook enormously; it was so different from Cambridge, in so many ways, and I loved it!

In 1981 I married a man in the RAF. A year later we were posted to Germany, where the British military authorities refused to employ me as a physio because I was a civilian. This minor set-back rapidly became an enormous benefit, as I was forced to seek employment in the German health system.

I joined a private practice and was told to learn the language or lose my job. Fortunately, I had studied German to O Level while at Perse Girls’ and although this was far from my strongest subject, it did give me a sound basis from which to develop and I rapidly became fluent enough to take examinations to gain the German qualification of Krankengymnastin (Physio). This was thoroughly enriching, as before my marriage I had never been abroad and while at school it had never occurred to me that I would ever do so, nor did I think I would ever have either opportunity or need

to make use of the languages I had learnt.

Mrs Roseblade and Mrs Davenport would be amazed, as I was not their most able pupil and my narrow attitude to this and many other things was sometimes problematic when I was young! After spending two and a half years in Germany I returned to the UK in 1985 and lived in rural Staffordshire. I found myself employed once again in Wolverhampton, this time in my dream position as a Community Paediatric Physio, working with children with long-term disability. As a teenager, I had been active in the Red Cross and had participated in several annual holidays for children with disabilities.

Alongside this, I had spent my post O Level workexperience placement at Roger Ascham school, in Cambridge, for children with physical disability and had loved every minute of it. I remained in this working environment until retirement in 2015.

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1970s Very soon after returning from Germany and taking up my dream post, my family began to arrive. Three children were born within the next 3+ years. The eldest and youngest were girls and the middle one a boy. The eldest was born with Downs Syndrome, which included having a severe heart malformation. We spent 19 very happy years with her, she was hilariously good fun most of the time but extremely challenging on occasion, especially when her oxygen levels were a bit low! My personal understanding of living with a child with disability enhanced my professional skills and vice versa. I am sure she sometimes found it more of a nuisance than an asset to have a paediatric Physio for a mother!

When my children were very small, the youngest only five weeks old and the eldest some months shy of being four, my husband had the opportunity to gain a Commission in the Royal Air Force, which necessitated him spending much time away from home. This was a challenging but exciting period as I continued to work part-time, as well as bring up the three children.

The extra effort involved for all of us was very much worthwhile to secure our futures, as my husband’s career as a Commissioned Officer was fulfilled and he remained in RAF uniform until 2013, a total of over 39 years.

Due to my thoroughly positive experience of secondary education at Perse Girls’, I opted for a similar style of education for my children.

My son attended a boys’ Haberdashers’ school followed by an Engineering Master’s degree at Warwick. He is now married with two daughters and working in the development and engineering of industrial gas systems. My younger daughter

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attended a selective girls’ grammar school, followed by a Chemistry Master’s degree at Leicester. She is an industrial Chemist and has added a Biochemistry Master’s degree, to widen her field of work.

When my parental duties became quieter, I took on voluntary work for the local Emergency Ambulance Service. This included being pivotal in setting up a local group of volunteers, gaining several qualifications and becoming a blue-light driver. The situations I went to were wide and varied, covering all age groups and all types of cardiac, medical, trauma and maternity emergency work. I spent many hours each week on-shift. For the first eleven years it was extra to my Physiotherapy career, after I retired, I continued for a further three years, spending increased hours on-duty. The experiences were both exciting and challenging; some were, of course, sad, but many were fun. It was very rewarding work.

In 2015 my husband and I moved house from Staffordshire and returned to the East of England. I now live in a very rural area of Lincolnshire, some miles from Boston. I enjoy playing netball most weeks. Having not played since UV at school, I had the opportunity to join a group when aged 58 and haven’t looked back.

I also enjoy weekly games of badminton."

“ I still play all sports in the same manner as I did when at Perse Girls’; to quote my PE/Games report: “Ann participates with more enthusiasm than skill!” Miss Pumfrey and Mrs Powell clearly knew me well!”

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Psychology in Nebraska! I have kept in touch with many of my friends from Perse Girls days and we regularly meet up in Cambridge or elsewhere. Despite our varied career paths and life experiences, we are lucky to share the unique bond created from our time at the school.

Annabel Webb

The positive effects my Perse Girls education has had on my adult life are numerous, but the main ones that spring to mind are my love of sport, my maths and English grammar skills (a rare thing these days!), and the ability to sing hymns and carols properly in church at weddings (and funerals) and Christmas!!!"

Annabel joined Class I Alpha in 1977, with Miss S Cubitt as her Form Mistress and left in 1986 from Upper V Alpha, with Miss T Gorman as Form Mistress.

“ I can also remember most of my O Level French and Italian, which is very useful living in Switzerland.

I just wish I had learned German as well!”

1977-1986

née Ballantine

Annabel updates us: “I completed a degree in Physiology at the University of Sheffield and have spent my entire career working in the pharmaceutical industry, specifically in clinical research. I am currently working for a US biotech company managing a large global trial of a new drug designed to delay the progression of disease and prolong the life of people living with ALS (or MND, Motor Neurone Disease). I have been living in Zurich, Switzerland for almost five years and absolutely love the outdoor lifestyle here.

I am married to Phil and we have two daughters whom I am proud to say were also 'Perse Girls'!

One is now studying languages in Edinburgh and the other is a varsity athlete (diver) studying

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I loved being a Sixth Former in Central Cambridge and hugely enjoyed making lots of University friends, going to numerous parties, singing in Trinity Hall Chapel Choir and was very fortunate to be cast as lead in the Footlights panto alongside Clive Anderson and Griff Rhys Jones: a wonderful and very privileged education.”

1972-1975

Anne Atkins née Briggs

Anne completed her Sixth Form, including a Bye Year or third year Sixth Form, at Perse Girls from 1972 to 1975.

Image above: Stephen Perse Laboratory date unknown

“My latest and fourth novel, An Elegant Solution, is a literary thriller set in Cambridge in 2018 and twenty-year-later sequel to Cambridge-based On Our Own, which in turn was loosely a sequel to my first, The Lost Child. (My third novel, A Fine and Private Place, was not part of the series although also set in Cambridgeshire.)

Clare Champion

I am planning to bring out the next in the sequence, Never Too Late, next year, followed by the last (in this series), The Fox. I regularly contribute to Thought for the Day on Radio 4's Today programme as well writing poetry, song lyrics and my first play (scheduled for The Theatre Royal Windsor, but alas cancelled in Lockdown).

The academic skills acquired during that time, particularly in the sciences and English, set her up well for her career in aerospace engineering with Rolls Royce in Derby. Clare is now once again living in Cambridgeshire and enjoys a variety of volunteering work.

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1975-1986

Clare joined class IA at the Junior School in 1975, staying through to the end of Sixth Form in 1986.

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1970-1980

Jenny Drey née Hardaker

Jenny joined Class Lower IIA in the Perse Girls Junior School in 1970 and completed Upper VI in 1980.

She now lives in London, works in publishing and has two grown-up children. She says of her time at school: 1974-1978

Jennifer Maine née Gathercole

“ There was a clear value placed on knowledge and learning, which has stayed with me.”

Jennifer joined Upper IV Alpha in 1974 and completed Upper Sixth in 1978.

She joined the National Westminster Bank straight from Sixth Form and had an eighteen year career in the bank, during which time she had two children. After the birth of her second child, she joined the NHS as a project manager.

Jennifer has had an extensive career in the NHS and obtained her Masters whilst working. She has retired twice and returned to the NHS again recently, working part-time as the Programme Manager for the Nursing Workforce for the East of England. She is planning to retire for the third time once her eighteen-month contract comes to an end. Jennifer has two grandchildren and another on the way. She adds: “I made a great set of friends at Perse Girls and we still meet up most years in London for lunch. The school introduced me to pottery and I have recently picked this up again as a hobby.”

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1970s 1970-1977

Philippa Smith

née Philippa (Pippa) White Philippa joined Upper III Alpha in 1970 and completed Upper Sixth in 1977.

Philippa tells us: “I retired from my job as an archivist as Head of Collections at London Metropolitan Archives on 31 March 2022 after a 40+ years career in archives. I am still involved professionally, as I continue to volunteer as an assessor for the Archives and Records Association Continuing Professional Development programme and as a panel member for the national Archives Revealed cataloguing grants scheme. I also now have my mother’s extensive family and local history archive to go through and catalogue.

I very much enjoy gardening and being in the fresh air so as well as spending more time on our own garden, I have become involved as a core volunteer with my local Barnes Common community growing project which has been very rewarding and I’m learning a lot about sustainable vegetable growing!

I have been able to pursue my love of reading with family and friends and last year read the Booker long list and this year the Women’s Prize for Fiction long list. I keep up with former colleagues and friends including those from university days to enjoy trips out, as well as good coffee and cake.

My two sons are now in their 20s. Our eldest son Gareth is currently pursuing an MPhil in Ancient History at Oxford, and I live at home in London with younger son Emrys, husband Geraint (retired journalist), and cat Tasha.

“ My time at Perse Girls enabled me to fulfil my ambition to become an archivist (and very specifically by being able to study Latin).”

It gave me the opportunity (through a grant) to learn a musical instrument to a high standard and then to enjoy playing and singing with others. It further developed my appreciation of the arts, culture and heritage. It gave me a sense of belonging and continuity (my mother and aunt had also attended the school on scholarships).”

Image above: Panton House 1920

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Guild Members' News

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1972-1983

Fiona Sellens née Leake

Fiona joined Class I Alpha in 1972 and left after Upper Sixth in 1983.

Fiona tells us: “After leaving Perse Girls, I went to Oxford to study medicine, choosing to specialise in General Practice. After a few years as a partner, I became involved in GP training, and am now the Primary Care Dean for the West Midlands.

Fiona Sellens

In this role I am responsible for the quality and delivery of training to the wider primary care workforce in the West Midlands, including 1400+ doctors training to be GPs, and the many GP nurses, pharmacists, physios, occupational therapists and other roles that are vital to modern primary care.

I have been married to Tim for thirty-five years and have three grown up children.

“ My education gave me a strong sense of public service, and the confidence to aim high.”

Philippa Smith

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1970s 1978-1986

Fiona Irwin née Macfarlane

Fiona joined Lower IIIA in 1978 and completed Upper Sixth in 1986.

Fiona writes: “I am married to Rob with two grown up daughters, Jess and Sally, who are both doctors.

I am an accountant working part-time for a grant-making charity. I swim as much as possible, both in the pool and outdoors, often in the Thames. I am a youth group leader at the local church and I do voluntary accounting jobs for several local charities.”

1972-1979

Hilary Webb née Townsend

Hilary joined Upper III in 1972 and completed Upper Sixth in 1979.

Hilary shares her news: “After a long and varied career in IT with the John Lewis Partnership, I am now thankfully retired, happily married to Steve and enjoying living by the sea in Whitstable.

My education gave me a real boost at the beginning of my adult life, but the best thing about Perse Girls was that I met my best friend Alison Silk who has helped and supported me through the ups and downs of life. We are still close after 50 years.”

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1971-1972

Julia Weertman Julia joined Upper IV Alpha in 1971 and was at Perse Girls for a year.

Julia writes: “I got my undergraduate degree (Biomedical Engineering) and my doctorate from Northwestern University. And yes, I did get to see Princess Diana when she visited Northwestern; her photos didn’t do her justice. I became a dentist and had my own private practice for more than 30 years.

I retired in 2017. I am married to Nic Zerebny who is a retired high school social worker. We have no children, but have had lots of wonderful dogs and cats over the years. We currently have a delightful rescue Aussie named Jack. I volunteered with a therapy dog group for many years with our old Border Collies, Kate and Nellie.

We worked in a school for children with severe and profound disabilities and we visited patients at Chicago’s Children’s Memorial Hospital. I currently volunteer (without a dog) at our local hospital.

After my first day at Perse Girls I came home feeling utterly defeated and not up to the academic challenge. We went out to lunch, me still in my uniform. I was crying and whining when an older lady approached our table and gave me a stern dressing down. “Young lady, do you have any idea how lucky you are to be attending such a fine school?” That shut me right up. Fast forward to our departure nine months

later. More histrionics. I didn’t want to leave Perse Girls and my classmates. I have such fond memories of the school and all the wonderful friends I made and my patient teachers.”

“ I was crying and whining when an older lady approached our table and gave me a stern dressing down.

“Young lady, do you have any idea how lucky you are to be attending such a fine school?”

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1970s 1972-1983

Rachel Moody née Pinhey

Rachel joined Class I Alpha in 1972, and completed her seventh term of Sixth Form in December 1983, after taking A levels in June 1983.

Rachel says: “After my Oxford degree in Physiological Sciences, I trained first as a Science teacher, and taught on and off over the years, taking a long career break to raise children. During that time I helped to set up and run a Pregnancy Crisis Counselling Centre and a national programme of Sex and Relationships education.

When my children had left school, I took another degree in Psychology and became an A level Psychology teacher, having a satisfying career for seven years as teacher, head of department, examiner and author, contributing to the OUP A level Psychology revision book series.

When Covid hit I didn’t enjoy teaching any more and took the opportunity to move to Western France with a new partner, where we are living a busy, healthy retirement, restoring ancient stone farm buildings and planting a permaculture food forest farm, aiming for climate resilience and as much autonomy as possible.

I think the excellent teachers [at Perse Girls] gave me a very solid foundation for learning, and inspired me to try to be an excellent teacher

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myself. I’m currently very grateful for the high level of French I learnt for O level, which has allowed me to learn quite quickly now I’m in France.

The musical opportunities were really important to me and I have always enjoyed playing in an orchestra or singing in a choir, a social and creative context I first experienced at Perse Girls.

And I think that being in an intense female social structure for eleven years gave me many soft skills around selecting and nurturing healthy friendships.”

“I think the excellent teachers gave me a very solid foundation for learning, and inspired me to try to be an excellent teacher myself.”

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1973-1984

Sarah Murley née Wedd

Sarah joined Form I in the Junior School in 1973 and left after Upper Sixth in 1984.

Sarah writes:

I am a keen gardener and member of the RHS and visit Wisley regularly. I enjoy sewing and often undertake commissions of cushions and other soft furnishings for friends.

I made lifelong friends at school - we still meet up regularly. Single sex education was very positive for me, it instilled confidence and self belief. We were very lucky to have a wide range of experiences at school and on trips.”

“I have been married for 32 years to Tony Murley (a distant cousin of Helen and Kate Murley).

We have lived in West London all that time and raised three children - Toby, 28, Annabel, 26, and Freddie, 21. After leaving Exeter University in 1988 I started teaching in a prep school in Hampstead.

When we had our family I stopped full-time work and have held a variety of part-time roles, paid and voluntary. I have been an exam invigilator, a homestay host for a foreign language school, and volunteer in a local charity shop.

I have enjoyed being involved in the children’s schools as a member of various parent associations over the years and have organised local community activities, such as charity coffee mornings and street parties for the jubilee and coronation.

I love visiting art galleries, exhibitions and historic buildings. Our youngest son worked at Buckingham Palace last summer and I visited five times with various friends!

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1980s

Market Square, Cambridge, England, UK. Circa 1980s

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1981-1988

(Elizabeth) Liz Rymill née Belson 1983-1990

Alison Stacey née Benton

Alison joined Upper III Aleph in 1983, leaving in 1990 after Upper Sixth.

“I have spent most of my life since leaving school working in various academic libraries in Cambridge. Supporting students and other library users to find the resources they need has been a really fulfilling role. I also completed a Master's in Archive Administration in 2019 and have been the Honorary Archivist at Tyndale House in Cambridge for more than ten years.

I enjoy mounting displays of archival material for open days there. The main positive effect of being at the Perse School for Girls is the friendships I made, a few of which still endure forty years on. That is very precious.

Liz joined Upper III Alpha in 1981, leaving after Upper Sixth in 1988.

Liz says that she now spends her time teaching Mathematics in Cambourne, Cambridgeshire and wrangling twin six year olds. Liz comments of her time at Perse Girls,

“ I still have a passion for learning that I believe was fostered at the school.”

The musical activities in which I had the opportunity to participate (choirs and orchestras) also sowed a seed that had gradually developed over the years into a deepening appreciation of classical music. I'm not sure that would have happened without all the happy memories, especially of singing in Singers and the Madrigal Group in the latter years of my time at Perse Girls. I'm really grateful for those opportunities.”

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1980-1990

Jenny Fraser

Jenny joined Mrs Dalton’s Year 2 class in 1980, remaining at Perse Girls until the end of Upper Sixth in 1990 and making several friends for life.

1984-1995

Fiona Murray née Wilson

Fiona joined Form I in 1984 and completed Upper Sixth in 1995.

Fiona comments: “Finding myself in my mid-40s (how has that happened?!) has made me take stock. The past few years have been challenging personally for me after enduring a high number of miscarriages. However, 'my pain has become my purpose' and as a result I am drawing on my Psychology degree and working as an online coach to support other women who've experienced recurrent miscarriage and secondary infertility to help them with the complex grief of this journey. This is a much needed area as the NHS has very little provision for the emotional healing required with these kinds of fertility challenges. I feel very honoured to be able to support others with the help I wish I had, had available to me.”

Following school, Jenny graduated from the University of St Andrews and works as a freelance journalist and author. Her debut novel was longlisted for the Comedy Women in Print unpublished novel prize. She lives in south-east England with her family. Guild members may get in touch via www.jennyfraser.co.uk

“ For me, being at the Perse Girls meant being surrounded by enquiring minds in a safe learning space, which I can now see as highly inspirational.”

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1981-1988

1981-1990

Mitali Peckham née Dasgupta

Mitali joined Form I, Mrs Begg’s class, in 1981 and completed Upper V in summer 1990.

“I teach in a maintained nursery school, have just celebrated mine and my husband’s 25th wedding anniversary and have four children - two of whom have left home for uni/travelling and two who are still at school, doing GCSEs and A levels.”

1989-1996

Natalie Shenker

Victoria Collis Victoria Collis joined class Upper III Aleph in 1981 and successfully completed Upper Sixth in 1988.

“After a classics degree, I spent the 90s working in public relations and singing with the London Symphony Chorus. More recently, I've specialised in international development, supporting education and health ministries to deliver stronger services to citizens. I've spent many years based in countries including Pakistan, Nigeria, Turkey, and Lebanon, but now live in Italy, where I am learning to relax. I am vice chair of a UK-based academy trust of special schools."

“ Being at Perse Girls gave me three main things, I think. Self confidence, self reliance, and decent writing skills."

née Morris

Dr Natalie Shenker, MBE, attended Perse Girls from 1989 to 1996.

Natalie writes: “I'm delighted to share that I was awarded an MBE in the King's Birthday Honours in June 2023 for services to Charity and Human Milk Banking.

You can see more about the charity I co-founded in 2018, the Human Milk Foundation, here: https://humanmilkfoundation.org/.”

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1990s A Midsummer Night's Dream Titania1990s

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1991-2001

1995-2003

Brittany McCrimmon née Thompson

Brittany Thompson joined Lower III in 1995, completing Upper Sixth in 2003.

“I live in the Merion Station suburb of Philadelphia PA in the USA with my husband Devon and daughters Skye (6) and Pippa (2). I have spent the past fifteen years working for a regional health system and recently took a new position fundraising for The Wistar Institute – the first independent biomedical research institute in the US and an NCI-designated basic research Cancer Center. As a family, we chose to live in our neighbourhood because it was the closest thing we could find to the walkability of Cambridge! Skye just started first grade at The Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr PA – an all girls school which at one point had an affiliation/ exchange program with Perse Girls. In fact a Perse Girls’ alumna – Sally Powell – is a former head of The Baldwin School.

Charlotte Locke Charlotte joined Perse Girls in 1991 and completed Upper Sixth in 2001.

"I have worked as a Chartered Secretary in London for more than 10 years, following a career change in my late twenties. I have recently built a home in Essex and am keener on gardening with every day that my forties advances!"

“ The Perse Girls gave me confidence in my own abilities, especially when it came to starting a new career path in my late 20s, and taught me that by encouragement and kindness you can help people achieve more of their potential.”

I believe wholeheartedly that my experience as a Perse Girl shaped me into the person I am today.

I treasure the gift of lifelong friendships that were established during my time at Perse Girls and my independence, confidence, work ethic, comprehension skills and love of learning were honed there over the years. It is my fondness for my childhood at the school that caused me to seek out a similar experience for my daughter’s education, here in the States.”

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1990-2001

Emma Reiko Easterbrook

(married name 'Collister') Emma joined Lower V in 1990, staying until the end of Upper Sixth.

1990-1998

Daniela Bowker Daniela joined Lower IIIA in 1990 and studied at Perse Girls until completing Upper Sixth in 1998.

“I completed both a BA and MA in Ancient History at the University of Bristol, before moving on to a PGCE in history. I am no longer teaching, but am a writer in the photography and tech spaces. I've written three books on photography, which have taken me around the world, only to end up back in Newmarket. I have a lurcher called Oscar, six ex-battery hens in the garden, and an allotment. side from the friendships that I enjoy to A this day there's the curiosity it fostered, the foundations it laid with such a broad spectrum of subjects we were offered for study, and the confidence in me and my abilities this subsequently built. But there's also Latin. It sounds so peculiar, but Latin underpinned my degree, my fascination for the written word, and one of the first articles that I wrote as I transitioned from teaching to writing. I think my life would have been very different without the Classics department.”

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“After going on a Gap year, I read Egyptology at Trinity College, Cambridge. I then accepted a place on the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme as an Assistant Language Teacher in Monobe village, Shikoku island. On my return I qualified as a barrister and I am still a door tenant at 5 Pump Court, Temple, London.

I soon left private practice and joined the Civil Service (Ministry of Justice) as a Legal Adviser at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court before redeploying back to Cambridge. I finally left the Civil Service in 2014 and I have been the Assistant Bursar and employed barrister at Clare College, Cambridge ever since. I have also had a number of part-time jobs on the side, including Assistant Bedell for the University of Cambridge's ceremonial team, which included leading the procession for the Proclamation of Charles III with a 400 year old silver mace last year.

On the family front I have just moved back to the Cambridgeshire villages together with my husband and two children, and my mother has also joined us too. My two children are currently pupils at the school. My hobbies include ice skating at the brand new Cambridge Ice Arena, and occasionally competing as part of the XS Latin Formation Team.

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Next year I am concluding the blue plaque campaign for Richarda Townsend formerly Morrow-Tait (née Routh) (1923-1982), another Perse girl, who was the first woman to fly around the world between 1948 and 1949.

Three positives I took away from my time at the Perse Girls were 1) It is possible to have a community where everyone accepts each other for who they are; 2) I was surrounded by other girls who enjoyed learning and were good at learning; and 3) When my personal circumstances changed the school stepped in to provide financial support.”

1996-2003

1992-2003

Jane McMullen Jane joined Form I in 1992 and completed Upper Sixth in 2003.

She is a London-based, multi-award-winning documentary filmmaker. Her films, which include Escape from Dubai: The Mystery of the Missing Princess, the Emmy-nominated Fire in Paradise, and Peabody-winning Power of Big Oil, have been broadcast by the BBC, PBS and many broadcasters worldwide.

She has a particular interest in global geopolitics, human rights and womens' rights, and climate change. She lives in London.

Tikva Blaukopf Schein née Blaukopf

Tivka joined Upper III in 1996 and completed Upper Sixth in 2003, she says: “Trying to be with my kids 24/7 while also working on my various professional demands.

Proving a little impractical even if enticing.

Let's see..” and goes on “I knew Perse Girls was a good school at the time. Now that I'm looking for a school for the next generation, I see just how good it was."

“ I'm grateful for the supportive teachers I met along the way, who encouraged my approach to learning and who had a hand in paving my path.”

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2000s University of Cambridge, King's College Chapel 2004

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2000-2005

Beth Collett Beth Collett, who joined Lower II in 2000 and was at the school until Lower IV, leaving in 2005.

“I am involved in a number of schemes and programmes intending to widen access to the bar, and in particular am involved in an intersectional feminist organisation aimed at promoting the needs of women at the bar. Having moved out of London, I have returned to Cambridgeshire, and Cambridge will always hold a special place in my heart! I loved my time at Perse Girls, and credit it with giving me the confidence to be curious, and the belief that the harder you work, the luckier you get. I also credit Perse Girls with my strong feminist principles, which have allowed me to champion feminist causes with confidence, both in my career and personal life. I will always be grateful for the time I spent at Perse Girls, and the people I met there.”

(L to R) Jessamy Besson-Jones, Lily Bowden, Phoebe Stone, Heather Milbar (née Rosengard), Tiffany Tasker, Harriet Ashton (née Reynolds), Lottie Ainscough, Izzy Brooke, and Emily Bradley at Harriet's wedding in Majorca!

2003-2007

Heather Milbar née Rosengard

Heather joined Lower V at Perse Girls in 2003 and graduated from Sixth Form in 2007.

“I attended Princeton University for my undergraduate degree, then Tel Aviv University for my MPH, and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine for my MD. I subsequently completed Dermatology Residency at the University of Pennsylvania, where I now work as an attending Dermatologist.

I am married with one son (and one dog!) and reside in Philadelphia, USA. Perse Girls introduced me to some of my most inspiring teachers and many of my closest friends (with whom I am still in touch to this day). The school instilled values of academic curiosity and critical thinking.

We were encouraged to be strong, independent women and I am grateful to everyone I met during my years at the Perse Girls!”

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120th Anniversary reunion for the Guild in June 2023

2010-2020s

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2011-2017

Frankie Webb Frankie joined Year 3 in 2011 and left from Year 8 in 2017 when her family relocated away from Cambridge.

2011-2019

Cecily Webb Cecily joined class 5A at the Junior School in 2011 and stayed until Lower Sixth, leaving in 2019. She is currently reading Russian Studies and Spanish at the University of Edinburgh and says:

She is currently a diver on the Swim & Dive team at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, studying Psychology and says of her time at Stephen Perse:

“ I made friends for life and discovered my love and passion for sport.”

“My education at Perse Girls has definitely prepared me for working under pressure at the standard expected at university. Additionally, at Perse Girls I was able to meet students from all kinds of cultural backgrounds and my time at the school sparked an interest in travelling and foreign languages and cultures.

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to study Russian and Spanish at GCSE, and through my language studies I have had the opportunity to travel to many different countries including Spain, Mexico, Ukraine and Azerbaijan, and next year I will be spending four months in Kyrgyzstan as part of my year abroad.”

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2021-2023

Marc Müller Marc attended Stephen Perse Sixth Form from 2021 to 2023 and is now reading Mechanical Engineering at the University of Leeds.

2018-2020

Holly Parker Holly joined the Sixth Form (Year 12) in 2018 and finished in 2020 (Year 13).

Holly comments: “I’ve just finished my Paramedic Science degree and am now a fully qualified Paramedic! I am planning on doing a Masters after some time working on the ambulances, in order to become an Advanced Paramedic Practitioner. On the side of all of this, I am a Captain of a Women’s Basketball Team called Falcons and we won last year's London League, which I am very proud of.

“My Stephen Perse education has positively influenced my academic life, providing quality education with excellent teachers, such as Mr Oliver and Mrs Yarnell, who were a joy to be taught by and who proved that studying could be fun and rewarding. dditionally, Stephen Perse gave me the A opportunity to engage in different extracurricular activities, such as the Young Enterprise scheme and the Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.”

I feel that the hard work that I learnt to put into my A Levels prepared me massively for university in terms of studying independently.

My psychology A Level in particular had lots of really useful connections to my degree that made assignments easier to complete. I have also come away from Stephen Perse with a lovely best friend whom I meet up with from time to time - he’s doing Art History at Cambridge, which is exciting!”

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Guild Members' News

Many contributors to this edition of members’ news were the recipients of bursaries and scholarships which enabled them to study at our school. You can read more on our website about the impact of philanthropy in our school, from our founding through to contemporary donors making gifts of all sizes. stephenperse.com/youmakeadifference The next Guild reunion will take place at the Senior School on Saturday 15 June 2024, bookings will open in 2024.

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If you would like to know more, or to enquire about being reconnected with old friends, please contact: Helen Cornish Development Manager Development Office Union Road Cambridge CB2 1HF t: 01223 454700 e: development@stephenperse.com

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@SPFschools

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