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OPUS • Issue 4 • Spring 2011
Portsmouth Grammar School • www.pgs.org.uk
Where are they now? – former PGS Science staff They may have taught about dormant genes, inert gases and hibernation, but life beyond PGS for two much-loved former members of the Science Department, has been anything but sedate. Here, Jackie Smith and Bill Taylor tell Opus how it felt to hang up their lab coats for the last time and the experiments that they’ve been up to since… Jackie Smith arrived at PGS over 25 years ago as the Chemistry technician, undeterred by the original response to her request for employment which stated that “the school only employed men or retired members of the armed forces”. She retired as Senior Science Technician in 2009. Jackie’s son Howard, an OP (1986-1995), is a practising GP at Guildhall NHS Drop-in Centre in Portsmouth. “It was with considerable trepidation that I faced the thought of life after PGS and it took a few weeks to become accustomed to a non-working lifestyle. In fact it was probably on the first wet, cold and miserable Monday morning when I just snuggled deeper into the duvet that I realised retirement was ok! The cliché about not having enough time to go to work is so true. We seem to have done so much in the past eighteen months. We started with a three month trip to Australia to visit our daughter, staying in Thailand en route, marvelling at the palaces and sights but being uneasy with the poverty that is obviously still very apparent. During our stay in Oz we travelled the Great Ocean Road, stayed in Melbourne, saw whales, penguins on Philip Island as well as kangaroos, koalas and huge numbers of wild birds. We also spent time in Sydney, Moreton Island, the Hunter Valley and of course Brisbane. The caravan has been well used in both France and Spain. It is less crowded and so much cheaper outside of school holidays. There has also been time to enjoy the company of friends walking in the Peak District, the Isle of Purbeck and on the South Downs. We now find that there is more time for culture (even for scientists!), so in 2010 we ticked Venice and Istanbul off our city hit list. It’s also lovely to be able to visit museums and galleries in London when again they are less crowded and surprisingly to bump into other Old Portmuthians doing the same”.
BILL TAKES CENTRE STAGE (WITH BEN) AT THE KINGS “My final few months to retirement were filled with fear and relief in equal measures”, recalls former Chairman of Science Bill Taylor. “How will I cope without the routine of thirty six years of waking up to another day at the chalk face; how enjoyable will it be to have a lie-in? I will so miss the minute by minute interaction with bright young minds; I’ll love the relaxed read of the morning paper over another cup of coffee or perhaps an early morning sail down the harbour. I know I’ll badly miss my colleagues but some of those expeditions will need proper planning. What will I do: paint the house, mow the lawn again or just fade away?” The reality bore no resemblance to expectation. “ ‘Prepare for the unexpected’ should be the motto of the newly retired, or perhaps ‘The Big Society awaits you!’” Bill’s departure from PGS prompted an immediate response from another much loved local organisation who were keen to harness his talents: “I was very quick to point out that I had no artistic talent whatsoever, when I was invited, nearly a year ago, to the position of Trustee and Education Director of The Kings Theatre in Southsea .” He is the first incumbent of this new role and has even teamed up with his successor as Head of Science, Ben Goad to become their very own flowerpot men! ‘Bill’ and ‘Ben’ took to the boards at the Kings last year to launch its first ever Open Week, which he masterminded.
Far from wooden, their fun-filled presentation aimed at Key Stage 2 children demonstrated the science behind theatrical special effects and was designed to both educate and entertain with experiments never before seen on stage.
The show was the first in a planned series of specialist science lectures starring ‘Bill’ and ‘Ben’ and PGS, a programme designed to provide a vital contribution to engaging youngsters with science. In an interview at the Kings with The News Chief Reporter Chris Owen, kindly reproduced with his permission here, Bill spoke of his new role and life after PGS and began by declaring: ‘I am not a luvee’. Chris wrote: In the silence of this wonderful old palace of a thousand dreams you can almost hear the voices, sniff the greasepaint and glimpse the ghosts of countless performers in the 103-year-old ‘drama and opera house’ – as it was dubbed originally. And if it is ghosts you are after, Bill Taylor is your man. For Bill is the new Albus Dumbledore of the Kings – the man whose wizardry could turn the place into a Hogwarts-style academy for young magicians. Well, that’s his burning ambition. Bill is a scientist. Quite a distinguished one. He’s an expert on gamma ray dosimetry He’s also a bit of a renaissance man who loves nothing better than mixing his love of science and the arts with a passion for getting young people inspired by both.
When he is not indulging his love of the outdoors (he was an alpine climber before the joints started complaining), rugby and sailing, he likes conjuring with smoke and mirrors. ‘That, after all, is what so much of the theatre is about,’ he says looking down wistfully at the stage. ‘If you want to create a ghost shimmering across that stage you do it with mirrors and by bending light. That’s how the Victorians did it and amazed audiences. There’s no magic, although the audience think it is magical. It’s all science. ‘Just look around you at all the science there is in here,’ said Bill with all the effervescent enthusiasm of the teacher he once was.
‘There’s the tricks you can play with the lighting, learning how sound travels so those at the back of this marvellous theatre can hear every word from way down there on the stage, and the mechanics of how heavy loads such as backdrops and scenery can be lifted with weights and pulleys.’ Bill, who lives at Emsworth with his wife Marion and his two step-children, spent 36 years teaching physics at Portsmouth Grammar School becoming Head of Physics, Chairman of Science, Senior Teacher (teaching and learning) and acting Second Master. In his ‘spare’ time he was an inspector for the Independent Schools Inspectorate.
‘To my knowledge the Kings is the first theatre in the country to have someone in my role with a specific interest in science,’ said Bill. ‘You know, most kids have a desire to get up on stage and perform – you only have to look at television programmes like Pop Idol, The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent to see that.
‘But there are many, many children who are terrified of going up there, yet there are so many different aspects of the theatre which would interest them behind the scenes.’ He knows because he has seen it work, helping hundreds of youngsters live the performing dream. ‘Over two nights we had more than 800 kids on stage. They brought their parents and friends. One of the things which struck me afterwards was how many of those parents said they’d never been to the theatre before and how much they enjoyed it. If the parents hadn’t been what chance was there of the children making it? Shaking his head sadly, he said: ‘When you think that this place nearly became a pub a few years ago... ‘But the people of Portsmouth said ‘no’. They were not going to allow it. They wanted a theatre and they were determined to keep it and put on shows that the people wanted.’
Picture courtesy of The News, Portsmouth
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