|
A.O.S.A. 2005 ANNUAL REPORT - NEWS OF OLD SCHOLARS |
||
 |
[page fourteen]
|
|
|
Go
to: |
Last February, I received a welcome phonecall from Peter Whittle, during the course of which he promised to write me an update on the Family for the 2005 AR. As I had heard nothing by late Autumn, I dropped him a line……. “Thank you for your postcard, a note beyond the call of duty as editor, but a salutary reminder of the need to write something for the magazine as I have intended for far too long without doing anything about it. Here goes: MARGARET (1974-79) and PETER WHITTLE (1960-79) have now lived on the edge of the Cotswolds for almost as long as they lived in Great Ayton, but they are still nostalgic for the north and revisit about once a year. Since leaving the school and working for Quakers at the UN in Geneva, they ran an arts studio in the village, taught yoga, got back into teaching and librarianship, ending their professional careers as Central Learning Resources manager at the North Oxfordshire FE college [Margaret] and teaching English and Drama at Shakespeare's old school in Stratford upon Avon [Peter] both jobs being very much to their satisfaction. Their cottage in Tadmarton, near Banbury, though looking genuinely ancient, was reconstructed from 1971 onwards and is conveniently habitable, the garden manageable, though somewhat neglected, and the village a friendly one. Margaret still teaches yoga to a faithful band and Peter is Parish Clerk. Apart from some travel their chief occupation for the last twelve years has been preparing for their annual sale of craftwork in aid of the local hospice. SARAH (1968-72), married to Peter MILES, lives and teaches in Macclesfield and is well settled there; they support their local football team, visit St. Ives and Finland quite often and travel some distance to the theatre. FELICITY (1969-72) works at the Palace of Westminster where she is in charge of the Parliamentary online indexing service. She lives in London but has a partner who lives in France, so they too travel a good deal. DEBORAH (1970-72) works for the Educational Advisory Service and OFSTED in Buckinghamshire and spends her weekends doing interesting things in various places around the country - another great traveller. URSULA (1973-80) and her partner manufacture and sell essential oil soap at most of the larger craft fairs, so they too move about the country and across to the Channel Isles when they are not at home in London in the flat below Felicity. All of them come to help at Cottage Crafts, the aforesaid annual sale at the end of October. So far this sale has raised over £60,000 for the hospice, primarily from craft goods made by Peter and Margaret. This has proved a very satisfying way of spending retirement and has generated about sixty different craft products. Margaret specialises in practical goods made of log-cabin patchwork inspired by visits to Amish country in Ohio. Peter characterises his output as Neo-Victorian, as for instance a carved Jack-in-a-box. Cottage Crafts, held in the cottage, is always and only at the weekend the hour goes back. So far it has attracted over 9,000 visitors. Do call in.” |  |
|
Return to: |
||
A.O.S.A. 2005 ANNUAL REPORT - NEWS OF OLD SCHOLARS |
||
