Page 19 - Luce 2016
P. 19

Develop ment





            From the                                           her parting thoughts and

            Director of                                        reflections:
            Development                                        “I just wanted to express
                                                               my most heartfelt gratitude
                                                               to all of you for giving me
            Reflecting on my first year                        the opportunity to become
            in this new role, it has been                      a part of life at JCH, and
            an enjoyable and enriching                         for making my three years
            experience – a period of re-                       here so wonderful and
            acquaintance with the College                      fulfilling…
            that I left back in the early
            1970s but also an introduction
            to the wonderful community                         I have been thinking over
            that is JCH today.                                 my time here and how
                                                               much it has become a
            At the same time it has been my great pleasure to meet and   part of my being. At first I
            talk with alumni from as far back as the post-war years who   expected my time at JCH
            have shared with me their fond memories of a time when Miss   to end as if we would be
            Joske strode the corridors, freshers shivered and slept on the   severed apart. Instead, it
            balcony overlooking Ormond and Trinity, and students shelled   is almost as though I have
            peas on the lawn on Sunday mornings. In the article below   grown another limb, and
            (on pages 22-23) I have endeavoured to capture some of the   JCH is that limb. At first,
            reminiscences from Jenny Taplin (1948), Floranne Everson   I thought I was leaving.
            (1956) and Mary Playford (1953). Their affection for JCH and   But I’ve recently realised
            for the enduring friendships created here shine through.   that instead, rather like the
                                                               mind and the spirit, JCH
            Over the past year I have met and chatted with today’s   is knit in myself and is
            students in the Dining Hall, on the stairs or in the JCR kitchen   coming with me.
            over steaming mugs of coffee. Without exception, they have
            impressed me with their warmth, intelligence, good humour   …. I feel that JCH has    Janet Clarke Hall Society Choral
                                                                                      Scholar Georgie Kirkham
            and consideration. Whether preparing a fantastic activities   given me the confidence
            programme for College freshers, rehearsing for the College   and foundations with which to grow myself and explore what
            play, toiling over assignments or swotting for exams, the   I can do out in the wider world. I am so much internally
            students have demonstrated a maturity, generosity of spirit and   richer for my place in this community. Through JCH, you have
            lively enthusiasm that reflects the values of the College.   shown me what I now realise I desired most of all: to learn
                                                               how to carry out my determination to do the right thing by the
            I was moved by a beautiful letter of thanks sent to Dr Powell   world.”
            and his team in November 2015 by Georgie Kirkham, a
            student departing after three years in residence at JCH. In   Georgie’s wonderfully reflective letter expresses more
            2014 Georgie was awarded the Constance Tisdall Memorial   eloquently than I can, the reason why supporting the
            Scholarship (College) and in 2015 the JCH Society Choral   College through our Annual Giving Appeal or leaving a gift
            Scholarship. With her permission, I am keen to share some of   in your Will is so important and meaningful. Scholarships
                                                               and bursaries made possible by the generosity of donors
                                                               enable the brightest and most deserving students to become
                                                               part of the very special community that is Janet Clarke Hall,
                                                               regardless of their personal and financial circumstances.
                                                               Georgie’s words are testimony to the power of the ethos
                                                               to which our Principal referred in his introduction to last
                                                               year’s Luce. Dr Powell wrote, ‘it is not what our students will
                                                               become in terms of future prosperity but rather who they
                                                               will become in terms of outlook and values that focuses my
                                                               mind as we build this incredibly intensive and rewarding little
                                                               community year by year.’

                                                               It has always been a privilege to experience being part of the
                                                               JCH community. By supporting the College, those of us who
                                                               have had that privilege in the past can have the pleasure of
                                                               knowing we are enabling others to enjoy that experience in
                                                               the future.
                                                               Ms Shelley Roberts
            The reason for philanthropy: rural leadership students Tom   Director of Development
            Skinner, Kelsey Hayes and Ruby Jacobs
                                                                                                  J anet Clarke Hall  19
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