A.O.S.A. 2007 ANNUAL REPORT

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Tessa Mary Snowdon (Greenwell) ended up at Friends' School, Great Ayton due to friendship. At Roseberry Junior School her best friend was Heppy Sessa (1981-86), daughter of Fred Sessa (Headmaster 1975 to 84). When the time came to move to Senior School the two best friends were heartbroken that they were to be separated and so Fred Sessa invented the “Wennington Bursary” which enabled Tessa to join the school.

Sports and music were always prominent in Tessa's school life and she could quite often be found with a hockey stick or oboe in hand. Her house was Swarthmore and they certainly used her height to their advantage in as many sports as possible.

My lasting printable memories of Tessa are of the plays that we took part in together. We were both Pharaoh's Groupies in “Joseph and his Technicolor Dreamcoat” (1981) screaming as Dennis Goodall (teacher 1979 to 93) made his Elvis like entrance. Tessa made a beautiful goose (or was it a duck?) in Bookworms and Bunions written by Bryan Cleary (Teacher 1979 to 86). Best of all, was the lovely moment in Oliver (1985) where Tessa's character was supposed to calm me down by throwing water at me. The first few nights it was polystyrene beads, but on the last night she surprised me by replacing it with real water.

Tessa enjoyed Ayton so much that she even stayed on part time for 6th Form, whilst also studying Sports Studies at Longlands College. As part of her college work she had to video us in the Sports Hall flicking Hockey Balls at the wall. Although this didn't win Tessa any Film Awards it has certainly provided amusement for future generations.

Having finally left Ayton in 1988, Tessa moved to the Lakes and worked in Booths' supermarket, Windermere Manor Nursing Home and the Beatrix Potter Exhibition in Bowness. In fact she was on the first shift when it opened.  She moved back home briefly in Jan 1992 and then went to Sunderland June 1992 to study Nursing. It was during this time that she met her husband Andy Snowdon. Tessa and Andy got married in April 1994 and have 3 children, Maisie (11), Owen (9) and Madeleine (5).

In between maternity leaves Tessa managed to qualify as a Nurse and then moved back to Ayton in May 1996.

She worked in Neuro-Plastic theatres as a scrub nurse, then Westmoor View Nursing Home, Ward 12 James Cook and finally Oaklands Nursing Home until June 2006 when she became what she had always desired to be, a lady of leisure (as much as looking after house, husband and 3 children can ever be described as such). As a sideline Tessa is rather adept at scouring the local Auctions and junk shops and then selling her spoils on E-bay.

Recently Tessa has joined the Angrove Singers (whose Conductor is Jeremy Harbottle (1988 to 95 ). She sits next to Jane Campbell (Bye 1953 to 60 ) and Rohan Hill ( Campbell 1988 to 91) is in the soprano section)

1997 saw the closure of the school and the auctioning off of memorabilia. Tessa was one of the first in the queue and purchased several items, including her old oboe and the framed postcards from the Headmasters Study.

After the closure of the school, the future of the AOSA and our reunion location was in jeopardy. Tessa was the one who came to the rescue and re-designed the entire format. She negotiated with Whinstone View, sourced a marquee, designed tickets and fliers and the rest, as they say, is history……

Her love of Ayton and her continuous support and involvement with Old Scholars make her in my opinion an ideal choice for AOSA President 2007.

Jenny Summerfield (Smith 1981-1988)

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