The Wykehamist
departure of the Rev’ d Ross Maidment. With quiet determination and considerable flair, SHJ maintained a full and vibrant spiritual life for the school, sustaining the rhythm of compline in Chantry; morning chapel three times a week; and the rotating Sunday X / Y / Z services. With the welcome arrival of Rev’ d John Storey in Cloister Time 2023, the chaplaincy team regained its full strength, but SHJ’ s steady hand during the interregnum left a lasting mark on the life of the College. Under her direction, congregation numbers recovered significantly from the pandemic years, and the standard of liturgy and choral music flourished anew.
Yet, SHJ’ s influence reached far beyond the chapel. Her literary precision and sharp analytical mind inspired not only her pupils but also her colleagues in the Common Room. Thoughtful, measured, and generous with her advice, she became a trusted sounding board for many. Everpresent in Bethesda, she offered a listening ear to the wide array of reflections, questions, and musings that passed through its doors, in so doing placing herself— quite literally—
VALE SGM
Shanti Mosher came to Winchester College in April 2024, meaning she has spent only a little over a year as a member of the Common Room: the relative brevity of her tenure at the College, however, belies the force and magnitude of her impact. A voracious reader, a dedicated scholar, and a mainstay of the Chaplaincy team, Shanti is – as those of us who have had the privilege of working closely with her will attest – a force of nature.
Arriving to us from postgraduate work on Coleridge at both Oxford and Cambridge, she brought with her a formidable intellect and a freshness of perspective, both of which have evidently filtered down into her pupils: one can often tell which pupils are taught by Shanti, as – more often than not – they are the ones who are still reading before lights out in their galleries. Tirelessly committed to curating a literary sensibility in the College, she has run the Junior Reading Group, invited academics to speak to pupils, assisted with the appointment of the Poet Laureate, and participated nobly in this year’ s many and various Jane Austen anniversary projects.
Her work in the classroom has been exemplary. Most of the Common Room would recall their own first year of teaching with shiftiness and embarrassment when measured against Shanti’ s. Combining at the spiritual and scholarly centre of school life.
SHJ’ s time at Winchester was marked by numerous highlights, which comprised, inter alia, joyful confirmand day trips to New College, Oxford; thoughtful and eloquent sermons at the cathedral; and presiding over formative services, from the solemnity of Founder’ s Obit to the grand traditions of Domum and the shared worship with Eton College. Nevertheless, it is perhaps the more informal memories that capture her true spirit best, not least moments of conviviality at the Wykeham Arms, post- Evensong, in the company of quirister parents, dons, and friends alike.
At the end of Short Half 2024, SHJ left Winchester to take up the exciting role of Rector of Witney. She goes with our admiration, gratitude, and warmest wishes for the future, having left a lasting impression on the religious and intellectual life of the College.
MJB
academic rigour and an infectious passion for literary study with a knack for teaching young people how to write essays, she is the kind of English teacher one might expect to encounter after years in the profession. That her pupils have excelled is unsurprising, and I am sure every member of the English department will breathe a sigh of relief next year on discovering that an incoming pupil was taught by Shanti – they have been in the safest of hands.
The classroom has been only one of Shanti’ s arenas for success, however: she has a real talent for putting together spiritually and intellectually enriching Cathedral services. Her knowledge of liturgy and wideranging familiarity with religious verse have yielded services that are excellently curated, well-paced, and engaging. Notably, too, she has taken a lead in encouraging more pupils to read in these services – yet another example of her thoughtful and well-executed initiatives.
Shanti leaves us to undertake ordination training at Oxford: the classroom’ s loss is most definitely the Church’ s gain. That said, I suspect all of us who have worked closely with Shanti will hope – quite earnestly – that this is not the last Winchester College sees of her.
AGH
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