No . 133 The Trusty Servant
How do you cover the present ?
We are also the ‘ newspaper of record ’ at the moment , while our sister publication The Wykehamist is in ( hopefully temporary ) abeyance . TS records the big events ( Ad Portas etc ), significant achievements and changes , comings and goings in Common Room . When everything is instant , it can easily become ephemeral and quickly lost . On the house honours boards in Freddie ’ s there ’ s a lacuna from about 1980 until 2010 . Similarly there are plenty of books about ‘ College in the 1890s ’, but not very much about how it felt to be here in the 1990s . So I wanted Nick Mackinnon to talk about the Maths department during his 35 years here , for Henry Thompson and Nick Fennell to talk about MFL , for John Brooks to talk about cross-country running in the 1990s , for housespecific notions and ball-games to be recorded . And I was very aware when COVID hit that TS should give the historical picture to its contemporary readers ( a trawl through the archives about previous pandemics ) and also a contemporary picture to its future readers ( trying to sum up what the school was doing ). sic transit gloria fundi
I received a full set of back issues from an OW . He had marked up any errors of English and also recorded on the front which of his contemporaries were listed in the Obits . The handwriting gets steadily more quavery , yet with an increased note of triumph ! When he joined them , I inherited his set . They make very interesting reading . I was delighted when Alex Roe , the previous Director of Win Coll Soc , paid for the back catalogue to be digitised – it is now fully searchable at www . winchestercollegearchives . org . I hope that the current editions will be as interesting to future readers , when they wonder how Win Coll responded to Climate Change or Black Lives Matter – or the introduction of girls !
And gently interviews the incoming editor , Lucia Quinault , before retiring :
How long have you been a member of Co Ro ? I first came to Winchester in September 1999 , 6 months pregnant with our third child , and very happy indeed to be back in a classroom , so I could talk about books which didn ’ t have any pictures , to people who wouldn ’ t try to climb onto my lap ! Before Winchester , I taught in two Girls ’ Day School Trust schools in London . I remember my first div challenging me to claim that I ’ d ever taught anyone like a Wykehamist ; my reply , that they reminded me strongly of girls from Hampstead , was met with indignation from the rustics , and rueful acknowledgement from the Londoners .
What subject / s do you teach ? My degree is in English , but I have also been a VIBk Div don for almost all my time here .
You were Don-in-Charge of The Wykehamist . Where is that at the moment ? I continually lament the decline of The Wykehamist . When I inherited the role of Censor from Tom Lawson in 2001 it was a real features magazine , entirely produced by schoolboy editors , and it came out every half term . Increasing institutional anxiety about public scrutiny of even the censored word took the zing out of it , and the fun and freedom of getting your thoughts published became a worthy chore , undertaken with increasing reluctance . I should love to see it revive – I always thought it the best piece of self-advertisement the school had . Until that happens , we ’ ve decided to pick up a couple of its jobs : for example , it feels wrong that longserving dons should leave without a published tribute .
Do you have any particular plans for The Trusty Servant ? I much enjoy The Trusty Servant , and read it avidly . My main plan is to try to sustain its quality ; I think Tim Giddings has been particularly good at combing the archives for interesting content which is both historical and relevant . Jeremy Douglas ( Coll , 88-92 ; Co Ro , 04- ) said to me the other day : ‘ It ’ s really good , you know …’ I do know , and am trying not to feel intimidated by the weight of my inheritance !
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