Thoga newsletter Spring 2012 #thoga

THOGA Newsletter TALBOT HEA TH OL D GIRL S A SSOCIATION

Spring 2012

Diamond Jubilee Celebrations You are cordially invited to join us at Talbot Heath to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee on Friday 29th June 2012. From 3.00 to 5.00 pm, there will be a garden party in the style of the Social Services parties held at school during the ’50s and ’60s. We would encourage the wearing of 1950s inspired clothing – remember the paper taffeta petticoats, anyone? Did we not think they were gorgeous? So pretty after the rather grim wartime fabrics.

There will be stalls and games, ice-cream vendors, lots of bunting and a tea laid out for the Old Girls in a marquee between the main school and the Boarding House/Junior School. The cost of the afternoon, including tea, will be £5 each. Parking for Old Girls will be on the playground, to make it easier for those who cannot get about so easily.

Please complete and return the reply slip on the back page if you will be attending – we look forward to seeing you there!

Annual General Meeting of the Talbot Heath OGA This year’s AGM will also take place on Friday 29th June, at 2.30 pm in the Main Assembly Hall, before the Diamond Jubilee Garden Party commences.

Successful Events Dr Lee Durrell (widow of Gerald) gave a most fascinating talk on the history and work of the Gerald Durrell Foundation founded in Jersey for the conservation and preservation of endangered species.

The supper that followed was attended by about 20 people and guests moved around after each course, which enabled them to chat to each other and Dr Durrell. A Vocal Soirée on 24 November featured the Talbot Heath Chamber Choir and other soloists.

The OGA Christmas Tea Party was held in the Jubilee Hall, complete with Christmas decorations. Fourteen Old Girls attended and we were joined by Mrs Holloway. We had excellent singing from current pupils. The sale of calendars, raffle tickets, etc, made approximately £100 in

Does anyone have an inspirational life story that they would like to share? A team of budding Sixth Form journalists is looking for people who would be willing to be interviewed, either face to face or on the telephone.

If you are interested in participating, please let me know.

Celia Wood: cwood@talbotheath.org

aid of the Guild of Help. It was a delightful and festive occasion.

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THOGA Newsletter

The Guild of Help - a new focus When Mrs Holloway asked me to bring the Guild of Help to your attention, I asked a few ladies of my acquaintance what the Guild meant to them. The responses were varied: memories of fund-raising, mufti days, collections in school; sales of home-made cakes, book and bottle stalls, Christmas cards sales and so on. Others remember receiving help towards the purchase of books or items of uniform or a grant towards travel costs for a school trip. Basically, though, it was a private arrangement between the Trustees who ran the Guild and the recipient. But it offered a feeling of security because we were aware there was an “emergency fund” that could help if the need arose.

Perhaps in recent years, with full employment, rising house-prices and business booming, the unmet need for a pair of shoes or a text book seemed old-fashioned, even unlikely. Material goods were cheap, comparatively speaking; the mood was buoyant. Those of us who had seen recessions before knew it was unlikely to last. The economy is now taking a “dip” which may last a few years; parents are losing their jobs and their companies are having to downsize to meet the new conditions.

The loss of a job or, worse still, of a beloved parent is a hard blow for any family, but for a teenage girl studying for exams, the spectre of having to leave school suddenly is very frightening indeed. Just as the need is beginning to arise again, the Guild of Help Fund, designed to help those in particular need, needs replenishment to cope with these new demands.

The Guild of Help is one avenue of help that we should endorse, if we possibly can. Whether you can afford to donate a small regular amount or a one-off lump sum, it could make all the difference to the life of at least one young woman (and hopefully more) whose potential contribution to Society may be in jeopardy if her school career is interrupted.

If you’ve had a helping hand along Life’s journey and are now in a position to help the next generation of girls benefit from the wonderful education at Talbot Heath, your gift will set a good example of service to others. Remember, it can be even more valuable if you pay tax because that tax can be reclaimed to the benefit of the Fund. Alternatively, if you can make a regular payment, please contact me and I will send you the appropriate forms. Let’s show we can help, girls!

Celia Wood, Editor

Bequests received for the Guild of Help since Summer 2011:  Barbara Osborne (neé Gawith) £1,000; at school

1931-1936, Group P  Judge Margaret Cosgrave (known as Daff) £3,000.

Born in Cheltenham in March 1920, died aged 91 in August 2011 after a short illness; at school 1933-1938, Group Q.

Other gifts:  Mrs Joyce Mason (formerly Mary Noakes), at school

from September 1939-1941.

Ways in which you can help: Set up a standing order for the Guild.

The details you need are: Bank: Lloyds TSB Bank plc, Branch Code: 30-91-08, Account No: 01851395.  Send a cheque at any time to the Finance

Director at School, made payable to “The Guild of Help”.  Add a codicil to your Will.  Don’t forget, if you pay income tax, apply

for a form so the school can reclaim tax under the Gift Aid Scheme.

Summer Newsletter 2012 In order to save costs, we aim to send out just one mailing to members per year. Therefore the annual Summer Edition of this Newsletter will be published online towards the end of the summer term. You will be able to find it on the school website www.talbotheath.org under the heading Old Girls Association. We will also use this area to publish information about the OGA. I would encourage everyone to let me know your email address, if you have one, as this is the most convenient way to contact you. Simply send an email to me at: cwood@talbotheath.org.

Spring 2012

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Obituaries Judge Margaret Cosgrave was born in Cheltenham in March 1920. Her mother was back from India at the time and wanted her christened Daffodil because she thought the daffodils in bloom were a wonderful sight. At the font, it is said, the vicar refused to christen her Daffodil, so the name Margaret was added. At work she was formally known as Margaret but family and friends called her Daff (although some of the latter assumed it was short for Daphne).

Daff went up to Oxford before the war to read History. She played hockey and cricket for Oxford but was always quick to point out that she did not get a Blue for either sport.

She did a correspondence course in Law at London University during the war and then taught in South Africa and Rhodesia. She became a solicitor in 1956 and was a partner at Griffith Smith Dodd Riley in Brighton from 1975 to 1980.

In 1975 she was the first woman solicitor to be appointed as a Recorder and was appointed a Circuit Judge in 1980.

She was president of Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland in 1976-77 and President of the Sussex Law Society. She retired in 1993 and took a correspondence course in Theology, gaining a First in 1998.

From about 1980 she lived in Ninfield, the village to which her parents had retired after their return from India. She was very active in the church.

Gabrielle Mary Holyoak passed away in April 2011. Known as Gabby, my godmother remembered her time at Talbot Heath with much fondness, and followed the progress of the school with a keen interest through the newsletters.

Born in 1924, she attended TH at the outbreak of war and, more interested in cricket than academic studies, was keen to leave school and join the war effort. She served as a WAAF radar operator during the war and after abandoning her parents' preferred career of nursing, for which she was clearly unsuited, eventually became an air traffic controller at the fledgling Heathrow airport, where she remained until her retirement in 1984.

She was also a member of the FANY, reaching the rank of captain before standing down in 1985.

After retirement and the loss of her lifetime companion, Margaret Reynolds, she embarked on a series of adventures that encompassed the Monte Carlo rally for Grannies, hiking up the Eiger, walking the West Highland way and sailing on the Tall Ships. A series of illnesses in the 1990s curtailed her adventures somewhat, but she remained active until the last year of her life and valued above all her membership of Hampshire cricket club.

In 2010 the breast cancer she defeated in 1997 returned and spread to her hip, and she passed away in St Mark’s nursing home, Maidenhead on April 13th. Gabby had no surviving family, but is remembered with great affection by her friends.

Caroline Toomey

In Memory of Memeika Jellicoe 1916 - 2011 Memeika was a pupil at Talbot Heath in the 1930s, after spending her early childhood in North Wales where her father was a music teacher and organist. After school, she underwent secretarial and other training, and worked in a children's hospital in Southampton. In 1956-58 she travelled in East Africa with her sister, sketching and painting (and climbed Mt Kilimanjaro twice!). Her portfolio from these travels gained her a place and qualification at Bath Academy of Art, and then she taught at Petworth School.

A further award at Goldsmith's College led to the post of art teacher in a Zambian Girls School.

Memeika and her elder sister retired to live in Cyprus, but fled when war broke out in 1974. Her final home was in the Bothenhampton, near Bridport, where she continued to paint and travel, and tend her garden, into old age. She took an active part in her village community, where she was much loved and respected. Warm tributes were paid to her at the Thanksgiving for her life, in Bridport in May 2011.

Memeika's neice Heather (whose mother Phyllis was also at TH) kindly provided these details of Memeika's long and interesting life. I was privileged to meet her only a couple of years before her death, and was amazed to find that we had shared several teachers, notably Miss Rowe.

Heather pays tribute on behalf of Memeika and her younger sister Phyllis to their schooling at Talbot Heath, and I gladly join in that tribute.

Nancy J Gordon (TH 1948-54)

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THOGA Newsletter

Diary of Events

THOGA Officers

For the first time we were able to send out paper copies of the Events Diaries for the Autumn and Spring terms to more than 400 Bournemouth-based Old Girls, who are not on the internet. Others were sent a copy via email.

Secretary/Editor: Celia Wood (F2) tel: 01747 870930 (home), 01202 761881 (school) email: cwood@talbotheath.org Treasurer: Janet Stone (K2) tel: 01179 586666 email: info@stoneandpartners.co.uk

If you are not in the Bournemouth postcode area but might like to attend school concerts, plays, talks and so on, please let Celia Wood know and she can include you in the future, by post or email (preferably). If you live in the area but don’t want to be included, do let her know, as it would obviously save on postage.

Staff Rep: Judith Habgood (K2) tel: 01202 424540 email: jhabgood@talbotheath.org

Deaths notified since las t Newsletter Group Miss Catherine Alley Dr Jill Campbell (Adam) Mrs Gillian Bedingfield (Thunder) Miss Pamela Chanin Mrs Helen Collins (Farthing) Miss Margaret Edwards Miss Margaret Eyre Mrs Jean Freeman (Forbes Irving) Mrs Mary Hamilton (Phillips) Mrs Pam Harvey-Richards (Harvey) Mrs Alison Wilson (Sutcliffe)

X B2 D2 S P R Q P T

Group Mrs Betty White (Collins) Miss Mary Hayman Mrs Joanna Horton (Phipps) Mrs Mary Jackman (Wilson) Mrs Pauline Knight (Sinclair) Miss Angela Marris Mrs Susan Potts (Crowley) Mrs Beryl Shaw (Seward) Miss Barbara Tucker Mrs Alison Wilson (Sutcliffe) Mrs Betty White (Collins)

S X M M O L W S

 Change of Contact Details / Jubilee Celebrations reply slip Do we have your correct contact details? Please complete and return this slip to: Mrs Celia Wood (THOGA),

Peel House, High Street, Tisbury, Salisbury, Wiltshire Friday 20th April.

SP3 6PS or email: cwood@talbotheath.org by

Name …………………………………………………………………........ Maiden Name……………………………………………….

Group/Year of leaving school ……...........…... Address …………..………...........……..…………………..................................... ……… …………..……………………………………………………………….........................………… Postcode ……….................

Telephone (home) ………………........………… (work) ………......................…………… (mobile)….........................................

Email ……….................................................…………………………………….

I would like to attend the Diamond Jubilee Garden Party on Friday 29th June 2012. I enclose a cheque for ......... at a cost of £5 per person, plus a stamped addressed envelope for receipt. Cheques are payable to “Talbot Heath School Trust Ltd”. Please PRINT clearly the name(s) of person(s) attending: ........................................................................................................................................................................................... ...........................................................................................................................................................................................

Please tick the box if you WILL be attending the Old Girls Association AGM at 2.30pm