VALETE
Mette Turner Vª¨}ÇC}ã» Music tours over the years, including Prague, Venice, Italy, Spain and Dublin, as well as many Chapel Choir visits to Cathedrals in this country. As the College and the Music Department have evolved and developed, so too has Mette’s role in the department. In more recent years, Mette has been PA to the Director of Music and Concert Coordinator, helping to manage the ambitious projects that have been planned for the department. In 2015, for example, a large-scale concert was given in the Chapel at King’s College, Cambridge, followed, in 2016, by the joint Foundation Schools’ performance of Verdi’s Requiem in the Royal Festival Hall with 500 performers. These two concerts will probably last in the memories of many for a significant period of time and it was Mette’s fine
M ette is retiring from the College after 26 years. She was initially employed to assist the Lower School Secretary in managing admissions. In due course, it was Mette’s love of music (which had developed from childhood experiences of singing in her home country of Denmark) that led to the wholly natural career step of being promoted to the position of Music Secretary for the then Director of Music, Michael Ashcroft. Over the years, Mette’s commitment and dedication to the College’s Music Department, its staff and boys, has been unstinting. An endless succession of concerts, competitions, recitals, auditions, Chapel Services and Founder’s Days have taken place over the years and the vast majority have benefited from her considerable administrative and organisational skills. Mette has accompanied numerous overseas
successes that they were. It is of course the case that there will be many other musical occasions recalled by a considerable number of colleagues and boys who are indebted to Mette for her help and meticulous organisation. Mette was part of the team that re-established the College’s Chapel Choir and her work to ensure that the boys are meticulously ‘turned out’ in their cassocks and surplices for their services has been invaluable. Mette has also been an integral member of the Founder’s Day committee and the College has greatly enjoyed her beautiful flower arrangements for many a special occasion. Mette and Graham move to Nottinghamshire to be closer to their children Thomas and Susie and their families. I conclude by thanking Mette on behalf of the Music Department for all she has done and wish her and Graham a long and very happy retirement.
administrative skills that enabled these occasions to be the remarkable
Eileen Fahey V»ÇÐn}ÜÇ (as it was termed in those heady non- PR days) reception, she has tolerated being relocated more than once before settling down in what was formerly the exalted chamber housing Deputy Master Terry Walsh, where recalcitrant Alleynians were disciplined. Nowadays, students will find an altogether more passive atmosphere prevailing in the welcome flowing from behind her desk. As the very first people whom College visitors will encounter, the
F irst impressions, they say, are important. Eileen has been a major part of Front of House (aka Reception) in the College for nearly 30 years in a role that has grown considerably. The qualities demanded include not only administrative efficiency but also pastoral skills of a high order and it is her outstanding personal gifts that will stand as Eileen’s legacy to this place. Brought in in 1987 for the afternoon shift in ‘manning’
receptionists engage in a vital role: nervous interviewees of all ages, interrogatory prospective parents, VIPs, society speakers, OAs reminiscing, a steady flow of Support and Teaching Staff whizzing by to ask whether so-and-so has clocked in; the whole gamut of humanity has been her audience with all its varying demands. With her cheery bonhomie, Eileen has rarely been at a loss in facing the constant barrage of interaction,
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