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Valete This edition of The Alleynian contains more farewells to staff than usual. In addition to articles that say goodbye to members of the Common Room who left during the academic year 2013-14, we have also endeavoured to include pieces on everyone who will have departed the College by Summer 2015. This means that in future editions we can publish a Vale as colleagues leave, not a year later. Tributes to some colleagues have also been missed in Alleynians over the last few years, and we have taken the opportunity to remedy this here.
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY For more information, visit oa.dulwich.org.uk/eventscalendar Saturday 5 September: Recent Leavers’ Barbeque (2012- 2015 leavers) – a chance to return to the College and catch up with both classmates and teachers Saturday 3 October: OA Reunion – this year’s event, held at the College, is open to all OAs and their partners Friday 30 October: Alleyn Club Dinner – the ever popular Annual Dinner will be held at the College, with more than 200 expected to fill the Great Hall Friday 15 January: 40 & 41 Years On Reunion – for those who left the College in 1975 and 1976 Friday 18 March: 10 Years On Reunion – for the class of 2006 Friday 13 May: 30 & 31Years On Reunion – for those who left in 1985 and 1986 Thursday 9 June: Five Years On Reunion – for the class of 2011 CLASS OF 2015 We wish the Class of 2015 all the best for their A-level results and the year ahead, whether this involves university, work or a gap year.You can now begin to benefit from your membership of the Alleyn Club, including invitations to our growing range of professional interest groups as you look forward to the start of your careers. To ensure that you receive these invitations, as well as regular updates from the College and Club, please make sure that we have your up to date contact details. If you have not yet completed the Leavers’ Questionnaire then please register online at oa.dulwich.org.uk
CLUBS & SOCIETIES There are now 11 clubs and societies that provide sporting and social opportunities for OAs. Several welcome non-OAs and run activities for children. Details can be found at www.dulwich.org.uk/oldalleynians KEEP IN TOUCH If you would like to share your news with the rest of the OA (and wider College) community then please get in touch – contact details can be found below. Details of forthcoming events, including those of our professional interest groups (City, Law, Arts & Media, and Healthcare), can be found online at oa.dulwich.org.uk/eventscalendar. We always welcome offers of support from OAs interested in volunteering their time and expertise. If you would like to help with the further development of the OA network – for example, by serving as an overseas representative or by working with us one on of our professional interest groups – then we would like to hear from you. If you would like to benefit aspiring Alleynians by sharing your professional expertise then please contact Mrs Elizabeth Soare in our Careers Office: soaree@dulwich.org.uk. However you want to be involved, please make sure that you keep us updated when you move home or change email address.This will allow us to share College and OA news with you through the Alleyn Club Newsletter and OA e-Bulletin, and to ensure you receive invitations to the events that will be of interest to you.
Ian Senior
Robert Weaver
I n France, Ian would be dubbed ‘un grand fromage’, in Italy ‘l’uomo universale’, while in his native Yorkshire he would be considered ‘a rarity’ – a clever local boy not blowing his own trumpet. Over his 40 years’ service to teaching at Dulwich, Ian established an enviable reputation as something of a Renaissance man, accomplished in a number of distinct fields, straddling the Arts and Science divide lamented in CP Snow’s ‘Two Cultures’ warning of 50 years ago. In our current knowledge explosion, most teachers can afford perhaps to be specialist in a single field: not so Ian. Picked out as a sixth former of exceptional promise for a Cambridge place in Natural Sciences by the Chief Education Officer, he added research at Bristol before joining a Dulwich Biology department sharp enough to deal with the razor minds of the Dulwich Experiment boys; here he quickly made Biochemisty and Genetics his forte and colleagues appreciated his ready availability to advise in that supremely unflappable, understated and affable manner that characterises his dealings with others, from junior boy to senior governor. He clearly relished the academic atmosphere here: he pushed the most able pupils in his Special Subject course in Microbial Genetics and they in turn thrived; but he gave equal measure to the rank and file boys who appreciated him for his patience, steady logic and quiet humour in getting many through to top grades. The individual needs of his charges were always important to him and he shared colleagues’ worries when A-level became modularised, limiting opportunities to tailor teaching to pupils’ strengths; but he used the
sharing of sets that this entailed as an opportunity to mentor younger colleagues. It was a mark of respect from his colleagues that Ian was often the one selected to advise the powers that be on department feeling when critical decisions had to be taken; indeed, he possessed all the qualities needed to run a department in his own right but had other demands on his time and energies within the College. Having gained a First from Birkbeck College in his spare time, he expanded his teaching to embrace A-level Art History. He gave his knowledge widely, becoming an Associate Lecturer for the Open University and a Principal Examiner for the Cambridge Examination Board. Over his career, Ian reached many audiences and his gentle conversational style – treating his listeners as fellow experts – ensured an easy rapport in his Evening Classes where a devoted band of Dulwich Ladies would sign up for his sessions on Architecture, be it the mysteries of Rayonnant Gothic one week or the more familiar Quattrocentro Italy the next. Alongside lecturing, he turned his ever-fertile mind to writing and 2012 saw an impressive foray into military history with his analysis of Germany’s Schlieffen plan of 1914 published to critical acclaim. It is characteristic of Ian that the mass of military detail was tempered with anecdotes of basic human kindness such as bereaved mothers communicating across the warzones. Aside from this busy intellectual commitment, there were the demands of boarding house duty, first as House Tutor in Orchard under Terry Walsh’s watchful eye, and then to run Bell in its final phase from 1987 to 1992,
CONTACT US
Post: Alleyn Club & Development Office, Dulwich College, Dulwich Common, London SE21 7LD
Email: alleynclub@dulwich.org.uk Phone: +44 (0)20 8299 8436 Web: www.dulwich.org.uk/oldalleynians Twitter: @Alleyn_Club LinkedIn: Join the ‘Old Alleynians in Business’ group
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