181
VALETE
jewel in the crown has perhaps been the yearly trip to King’s Wimbledon to take part in the Kids Lit Quiz. Brilliantly coached in the weeks running up to the quiz, with practice sessions taking place in the Library, the College’s teams have always performed well at the KLQ and were memorably victorious in 2012. Liz inherited responsibility for the Lower School newspaper, the Dulwich Despatch , and under her guidance the publication flourished, with a generation of eager contributors providing news stories, sports reports, quizzes, artwork and creative writing. The Despatch was used to promote all Chandler Library events, and featured many interviews with visiting authors, including YA author ‘royalty’, such as Marcus Sedgwick and Chris Bradford. One of the earliest and most notable editions featured the displays celebrating the Library’s first Black History Month. There was a huge amount of interest and involvement when the winners of the BHM poster competition were printed in the paper. In addition to her role in the Chandler Library, Liz has also worked in Information Services (later, the Communications Office) where she established the College video library. Initially, this mostly involved digitising videos, but the role evolved to include liaising with teaching staff about additional recorded content. This aspect of her job enabled Liz to master every new piece of equipment, item of software, and digital system that came along over the years. Liz brought her librarian skills to the task, ensuring that every piece of content was catalogued and appropriately tagged. Liz’s colleagues in the Office, particularly Deborah and Natalie, always enjoyed her good company and generous support, along with her words of wisdom and occasional mischief! Liz’s two sons, Dom and Josh, attended the College, and Liz was a keen supporter of the activities in which they were both involved, including sport and music. Liz could often be found early in the morning at the boathouse, assisting with the rowing. Along with her husband, Paul, she regularly volunteered for a range of activities, from feeding cold and hungry rowers as they came off the river, to manning the Founder’s Day tent, and helping to organise the formal dinners. One of Liz’s favourite memories of being a parent here is of all the wonderful concerts, and she particularly loved the yearly musical highlight of the Founder’s Day Concert. Liz also served as Secretary to the Friends of Dulwich College under the presidencies of Mary Able and, subsequently, Angela Spence. This was at a time when the Friends were becoming even more active, arranging grand events such as the annual Christmas Fair. Liz’s role involved her in plenty of late nights at Board Room meetings, but she has fond memories of these, and says that the role offered her a great way to be involved, both as a member of staff and as a parent. Liz’s contribution to the Libraries and to the wider life of the College over the past 16 years has been immense. She has made many friends along the way, who will miss her greatly, and we all wish her well for her retirement.
Liz Rowing
PAUL FLETCHER
Liz joined the Libraries team in January 2007 to work with Gail Bottomley in the Raymond Chandler Library. She also worked as Media Librarian, transferring the College’s audio- visual resources onto a state-of-the-art video library. Right from the start of her career at the College, Liz showed herself to be a great team player, establishing fantastic working relationships with her colleagues. In the Lower School, this included working with her job-share partners, Gail and Kate, and with a wonderful group of volunteers. She also worked alongside Deborah and Natalie in the Communications Office, as well as doing a stint in the Wodehouse Library, where she displayed her versatility and ability to work with the older pupils. Liz and Gail formed a formidable team, helping to cement the Chandler Library as a hub for pupils in the Lower School. Working closely with the English Department, they created two new reading schemes – The Reading Wheel for Year 7, and Around the World for pupils in Year 8. The latter was particularly unique, as it was established as a form competition, requiring pupils to compile a class folder full of reviews and creative responses, with the prize of a cinema trip for the form with the best folder. Reading through the completed folders and seeing how the pupils have engaged with the project is always one of the highlights of the year. In recent years, the scheme has successfully been rebranded as One World, Many Stories , and continues to engage pupils with books from different places and cultures, broadening their horizons and developing a love of reading. In addition to her role in producing and supporting the more formal reading schemes, Liz has been central in encouraging a love of reading amongst Lower School pupils, with ever-popular perennial book groups generating spin-off groups such as the Carnegie Medal Reading Group and the Trinity Schools Book Awards Group. Liz has also worked recruiting and training quiz teams in preparation for taking part in the CWISL quiz. The
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker