PETERHOUSE NOSTALGIA

... MEMORIES ...

1993 : MIKE HAMMOND'S FAREWELL PHG SPEECH DAY

Headmasters Speech

It is my great pleasure to welcome you all to our sixth annual prizegiving. I am especially pleased to welcome Alan and Elizabeth Megahey, as our guests of honour, and am very grateful to them for sparing the time to join us only hours before they leave Zimbabwe to return to England. It will be virtually out of this Hall and off to the airport and I should like to wish them both well in their new life at Uppingham School Tributes have been paid elsewhere and I won't repeat what has been said, but I should just like to thank Alan publicly for all that he has done for Peterhouse during his ten years here. The idea of setting up the Girls' School and Springvale House was entirely his and their success has more than justified his original plan. I should also like to thank him personally for giving me the wonderful opportunity to found a new school, an opportunity few people are privileged to have been given. We are also very pleased to have John Carter, the Chairman of the Executive Committee, and Stuart Mattinson, the Chairman of the Finance Committee, with us today with their wives. These two men have borne the brunt of the outrageous financial demands that have been made on the school during this period of massive expansion and we are most grateful to them for the time and energy they give so willingly to keep the financial wheels turning.

Exam results

And so to a brief look at 1993 before we turn the page and come to a new year and a new chapter in the history of the school. Our 'O' level results, announced early in the year, again showed an improvement on the previous year, a trend that I hope will long continue. We achieved a 100% pass rate in Commerce and History, and over 85% in Art, Biology, English Language, English Literature, Geography and Nutrition and Cookery, with an overall pass rate of 86%. In the 'A' levels, the girls' pass rate was slightly better than that of the boys--proof, if it were needed, that girls work harder than their male counterparts!

CHISZ Bursaries

We have had our share of success in other spheres too: for the second year running, two of our girls, Lindsay Shaw and Miriam Denenga, have been awarded a CHISZ bursary to study at Rhodes for four years, after which they will be committed to work in one of our schools for a similar length of time. This is no mean achievement, as there were only twelve awards altogether in 1992 and eleven this year and coupled with congratulations to our winners must go thanks to Mr Bob Williams, the Chairman of the Peterhouse Governors, for his tremendously hard work in persuading companies to donate large sums in sponsorship for this worthy means of ensuring a flow of young teaching staff into our schools.

We were awarded twenty certificates in the Institute of Allied Arts annual prose and poetry competitions; Lisa Bezuidenhout won six Ist class awards in the Eisteddfod as our only entry (we must try to enter more girls next year). Only two of our Vth Formers, Sarah Burton and Hannah Stooks, had the courage to volunteer for the Raleigh International Selection weekend and they both won an International Pass, which was most commendable.

Sport

In the world of sport, we managed to hold our heads high, high-despite our small numbers and our performance in Athletics was as good as we have come to expect, with Tanya Spain, the captain, Eunice Musvasva and Lauren Mutch turning in outstanding performances. Sport at the top of the school has not been very strong owing to the departure of a number of good players at the end of 1992, but our Under 15's have won virtually all their matches, which augurs well for the future. The swimming team has excelled itself this season and the culmination of their success was when they came within six points of beating Arundel in the Interschools Gala. Next year perhaps...

Developments

I must admit to having felt frustrated at times over the last year by the apparent lack of essential development in the fabric of the school because of escalating costs of building, but when one takes a look around the school, an incredible amount has happened in the seven years since we opened After almost 30 years when no new developments took place (the last major one was the building of part of the new quad outside the window to your left), a great deal has happened to improve the quality of life of the girls: seven new accommodation houses (not hostels, please!) for 100 senior girls, a cookery room, science laboratory developments, extensions to the dining room, major renovations in the kitchen and the introduction of self service meals, two new staff houses, a much needed enlargement of the Art Room, a squash court and swimming pool, built in conjunction with Springvale House, six new tennis courts, and a major renovation of a bathroom upstairs this year, which is a forerunner of other improvements in the accommodation for junior girls. This is a pretty impressive list and I hope that by reminding you of what has happened, it will silence the vociferous minority who say that nothing has been done for the Girls' School! In addition, it is a source of pride and of gratitude for the enlightened policies of the Executive Committee that, with the notable exceptions of the Art Room and Squash Court, where parents contributed very generously, all the improvements have been carried out at no extra cost to parents, apart from the depressingly high fees that we have to ask them to pay and which are not used for major development projects anyway.

Staff

I count myself very lucky to have had the support of a dedicated and hard working staff ever since the school opened. Sue Buckland has been a tower of strength as Deputy Head and Housemistress of Williams House; the number of things that she does in the course of an average day is quite incredible! George Gibson has produced timetables and he has organised exam invigilation and programmes for '0' level, ZJC and internal exams, which involves great accuracy and patience in dealing with a sometimes bureaucratic Ministry of Education, not to mention long hours of preparation far into the night I hope the other members of staff will forgive me for not mentioning them by name (I'd like to list their achievements publicly, but we'd be here all evening!), but I should like to thank them collectively for all that they do for your daughters in so many spheres of school life from pot planting to individual help with 'A' levels.

We say goodbye to two members of staff this year. Lesley Smith, who has been here since September '9l, has done as tremendous amount to keep music going from strength to strength in the school: organising concerts such as the one many of you have just attended, running the choir, teaching the piano and violin to members of all three schools, accompanying at musical shows, and latterly she has run the school orchestra as well. Lesley, "thank you for the music", and we wish you all the best at the International School in the Republic of Bophutatswana, that well-known employer of ex-Peterhouse staff!

Our other leaver is Angela Godwin, who has been in charge of English for two years and who is leaving us for further studies. She has been an Assistant Housemistress in the junior part of the school, she has run debates and public speaking as well as being in charge of tennis and hockey teams--in other words she has been a fully committed teacher and we shall miss her quiet and friendly presence around the school. I am happy to say that all the other staff will be back next year and we have replacements for the leavers.

Prefects

I should also like to thank Tanya Spain and her team of Prefects for all they have done for the school and the girls in their care this year. We all rely a tremendous amount on the service of the Prefects and we have counted ourselves fortunate to have had a caring and dedicated team Prefects and Seniors (in most cases!) in what has been a vintage year at the top of the school.

Others issues

These last few minutes must have sounded like a paean of praise and I should not like you to think that we have been without problems. As mentioned in a newsletter earlier this term, the arrival of ESAP and the opening up of Zimbabwe to the world have brought a number of new pressures that young people have to face: less censorship, more undesirable books, magazines and videos, drugs and so on. This has caused some minor ripples even in our small closed society and our pupils must be made aware of the danger to be faced in the outside world. A strong Christian conviction and background is the most obvious way to combat all this and two things give me hope in this respect: in the school we have a strong Evangelical movement, which is organised and run entirely by the girls, which is not achieved without a strong sense of commitment Secondly, a new Chaplain is due to join the school in January. We have undoubtedly felt the lack recently and in fact, there is more than enough work for a Chaplain on each side of the road, if suitable people can be found, who are willing to help with the pastoral and counselling side of the pupils' lives.

Before I sit down, I would like to pay tribute to my wife, who, for someone who grew up in a boys school and who swore that she would never marry a teacher, has been closely involved in all I have done over many years, both socially and latterly professionally as the Secretary. My job would have been impossible without her support and assistance.

Finally, still on personal note, as you know, I am about to hand over the running of the school to Jon Calderwood, a man of great drive and energy who will certainly put the school's interests at the top of his list of priorities. I should like to wish him the very best of luck as he takes over the reins of what is a fairly unpredictable young colt (or should I say, filly!) If he has half as much fun, amusement and job satisfaction as I have had, he'll never regret taking on the job, though there will doubtless be moments when he will wonder why he did! We look forward to hearing news of the continued success of the school and thank you all-- Executive Committee, parents, staff and the girls for your support and encouragement over the last seven years.

A M Hammond

27 November 1993

PRIZEGIVING 1993

This was a rather special day, as it was the last occasion that the Rector and Headmaster would appear in an official capacity at Peterhouse. There was a very large turnout of parents and a number of the girls had to watch the proceedings through the windows of the Hall. After the Headmaster had given his report, the prizes were presented by Mrs Megahey, after which the Rector spoke about the expansion and achievements of the last ten years and concluded his speech with the lovely Gaelic Blessing, which was very moving. They were, as he said, the last words that he would deliver as Rector of Peterhouse. The Headgirl, Tanya Spain, gave a short address, in which she urged the girls returning to maintain high standards and commit themselves to God's care. Mrs Sue Buckland, the Deputy Head, paid a generous tribute to Mr Hammond, our founding Headmaster who was retiring at the end of the term. He was then presented with gifts from the parents and girls in recognition of his seven years as Head of the Girls' School. Immediately the proceedings were over, the Rector and Mrs Megahey jumped into a Hi-Ace minibus, which was reluctant to start, and headed for the airport to return to England. We were very grateful and honoured that they had agreed to spend their last few moments in Zimbabwe at our prizegiving. The Rector's brilliant talks in Chapel and Elizabeth's patient help for the remedial readers will long be remembered in the school and we wish them every happiness in their new life at Uppingham School.

AMHG

MRS S. BUCKLAND'S ADDRESS ON PRIZE DAY TO PARENTS ON THE OCCASION OF MR AM HAMMOND'S RETIREMENT

It is my privilege today to say a public farewell to Mike and Barrie Hammond on their retirement as Headmaster and Mrs Headmaster of Peterhouse Girls' School

Michael Hammond was appointed Headmaster at the beginning of 1987. It was an awkward start. The Peterhouse Boys were still in residence in the Lower School so the 27 girls were given a single classroom at SVH, accommodated in a staff house, taught by peripatetic staff from Peterhouse Boys' largely, and tolerated by the Headmaster of SVH who was heard to mutter darkly about the disrupting effect they were having on his impressionable Grade 7's. I think he has changed his mind since...

At the end of 1987 the boys moved out, the girls moved in and Mr Hammond began to discover what being a girls' Headmaster was all about At that time, one might have wondered why the Board had appointed a man whose career experience up to this point had been almost exclusively male.

Mike had attended an all boys prep school and gone on to an all boys senior school. He had spent two and a half years in the army in the Signals, Intelligence and Education Corps, from which he emerged as a captain and a competent typist. He taught at two boys pre schools in England, after training as a teacher, and then accepted a three year contract to teach at SVH in 1956. This must be one of the longest three year contracts ever, stretching to 1973. During this time he met and married Barrie, had three sons, taught French and carpentry, acted in plays, coached the cricket teams and for seven years was Estate Manager in addition to his normal teaching and coaching duties. As he says himself, he must have been mad. After rising to the position of Second Master and having been acting Headmaster twice, he moved with his family to Mutare to take up the Headship of Eagle School in the Vumba in 1973. When that school was forced to close as a result of increased insecurity, Mike and Barrie returned to Peterhouse and shortly afterwards Mike became Housemaster of Malvern. Five years later he was appointed Head of the Lower School, when the old SVH buildings were reopened as a junior section of Peterhouse, and when the boys moved into Tinokura, Mike was asked to take on the wholly new concept of a FEMALE Peterhouse. From this quick resume of his past experience you will see that Michael Hammond was exactly the right man for the job.

Firstly, he had trained up through the ranks to become an excellent administrator, ably seconded by Barrie who has a memory like the proverbial elephant and never forgets anybody's name or face, or whether they did write to give permission for their child to do something or not Mike has the ability to get right to the point of a discussion and staff meetings are dispatched with speed, before we can all waffle on and on about trivialities. He is also a very good diplomat and with tact is able to get us all to do what he wants while keeping us under the impression that it is what we want St James lost out when Mike decided to become a teacher, but we have gained immeasurably. He is also very practical. It is Mike who is often seen peering into the fuse boxes with which he has an intimate understanding, or crawling into the roof to check on suspect wiring. He has been seen in dressing gown and gum boots clearing the shower drains late at night, and suffered the indignity of being mistaken for a prowler as a result.

He is adaptable. His duties range from the ordinary to the extremely unconventional. Not many Headmasters are called away from their end of year reports to comfort a weeping Vth Former who doesn't like her wedding dress, and to find her another one (last year's pantomime). During his period of tenure the school has grown more than tenfold and every year there have been new adjustments and adaptations to make, and while Mike has a healthy respect for the continuity of tradition as a stabilising force, he has never shied away from necessary change. His imagination ranges from the future growth of the school to the use of a transistor radio and the BBC news to explain the difference between God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost And he has a rare ability to communicate on all levels.

He has a sense of humour and we have all been amused by his character pans on stage and in various entertainments, and his famous "end of term letters" with name puns at the Christmas Dinner and with Valentine Day cards for the VI Form.

He is very caring. Not for nothing is he known as "Daddy Bear." The girls have always been very close to his and Barrie's hearts' and he champions them against all-comers. The girls might not think that he has their welfare at heart when he bans them from the telephone booth or insists on correct school uniform, but this is done from concern not convenience. Not only is he caring in a disciplinary manner, Mike's service to the school has been absolute. He takes services in Chapel, stands behind the tuckshop counter, officiates at sports functions, drives the V and VI Formers to their afternoon exams, rescues the D Blockers stuck in Room 1 by a faulty door handle and attends almost everything that the girls are involved in, if it is humanely possible. Occasionally he is exasperated, like the time when he shut the bus door on a group of dithering sports spectators and shut Tanya Spain's finger in the door, but even late at night at the most inconvenient times, he has never refused help or advice to anyone who needed it.

This selfless duty to service is his best attribute and the best reason for the choice of Michael Hammond as our first Headmaster. If we can follow his example and do half as much for each other as he has done, then there is no doubt that we and the whole community will be the better for it.

It has been an honour to serve with you, and I know I speak for everyone here when I thank you for everything that you have done for Our School I should like to ask Mrs Pru Huck to present you with a token of appreciation from the parents, the old girls of this school and your colleagues at Peterhouse Boys' School.

S. Buckland

HOUSE REPORTS

Eland House

Eland generally had a fairly successful year in 1993. In the first term Eland won the Interhouse Relays and achieved some individual victories, such as Eunice Masvasva winning the Adas Trophy for the Junior Pentathlete, and also the Junior Victrix Ludorum. Tanya Spain broke three records at the interhouse athletics and she won the Senior Victrix Ludorum.

Eland also won the interhouse basketball and we came second in the interhouse cross country and second in the interhouse hockey.

We also featured in the cultural part of the school, winning the Baxter Trophy for the Best Interhouse Play. Overall, Eland fared well throughout the year. All the best for 1994.

BB

Impala House

Impala had a fairly successful year both on and off the field. During the first term we won the award for the best technical production for our play, as well as the individual athletics. In the second term we won the interhouse hockey and the Hussy Cup for Chess.

At the end of the year we came second in the gala, but won the 'Jumbe Trophy' for the most points gained overall throughout the year.

Sable House

1993 for Sable was a year of success. In the first term the girls worked hard in training for the interhouse cross country and athletics. Although we came last by a few points in the cross country, we not only came first in the interhouse athletics, but we also showed the other houses how to perform on the athletics field and how to win in style. Special mention must go to Charity Chikaura, Paula Mitchell, Michelle Willis, Merryn Dobb, Ginny Dobb, Barbie Gurnell and Kate Dale who had an outstanding athletics season. Although we did not win the Interhouse Play Competition, Sable produced a very good play overall and we came last by only a few points.

In the second term we came second overall in the interhouse hockey and third in the interhouse basketball, but we made up for our losses by winning the Arts Competition. In this competition Sable won most of the categories and although we won only by a small margin, it was a well earned victory. Special congratulations go to Norma Moremong for her performance in the Sable senior basketball and also to Sarah Burton for Sable house hockey. In the third term, the girls trained hard for the interhouse swimming gala The term ended on a victorious note with Sable winning the Gala Congratulations go to Kate Mellon, Ashleigh Webster, Brenda Cartwright, Kai Linnell and Shelley Lock, who swam virtually all their age group races very willingly and with great team spirit. Congratulations to Kate Dale who won the Victrix Ludorum for the fifth year running.

At the end of the year we bid farewell to the Stooks sisters Sarah and Hannah. Sarah was our House Captain for 1993; she did her job cheerfully all the time, we will miss her and Hannah, who was a very keen sportswoman.

Special thanks go to Kerryn Jahme, Sarah Burton, Kate Dale, Lara Vandoros and Norma Moremong for all their efforts as Sable seniors. On behalf of all the girls I would like to thank Mrs Buckland, Mrs Pratt and all Sable staff for all their hard work towards making Sable a very successful House.

Chapel Notes

In 1993 the Chapel at Springvale has been in regular use on weekdays and at weekends by the Girls' School and we hope that some of the teaching and worship that have taken place will have been taken to heart by the mainly captive congregation. Very sincere thanks are due to the Rector, Derek Williams, Robert Tandi, Ken Anderson, Richard and Jacinta Norton and John Sellers, all of whom have lightened the load of the Headmaster by taking services throughout the year. The Scripture Union has met and worshipped together on Friday evenings and there is a report elsewhere in the magazine on their meetings, which have been arranged and organised by Lisa Gibson, Robyn Millar and Tanya Spain. Our grateful thanks to them: the fact that a large voluntary group attended these meetings regularly is proof that the SU fills a much needed want among our pupils of secondary school age. Regular Bible study sessions have also been held.

I must admit that after a lifetime of attending and working in Church schools, I am still no nearer a solution to the problem of the best way to bring young people into a long lasting and meaningful relationship with God and one another. The old cry that compulsory Chapel puts people off going to church for life has some validity, but we have discovered here at Peterhouse that making attendance voluntary means a virtually total dropout at school services. The cynical schoolmaster will say that as Mathematics lessons are compulsory, for example, it is even more important to compel young people to hear the world of God, despite the fact that this can and does put people off keeping up religious observance later in life. 1 think that we have perhaps overdone the daily compulsory worship and if I had my time over again, I think I'd cut down on the number of services, whilst retaining an element of compulsion, so that the need for religion in our lives doesn't pass unnoticed by our pupils in this Christian school.

It is good to know that a new Chaplain is coming in 1994 and we wish him all success in filling a vital need in the spiritual lives of our girls.

AMH