FULFILLING THE FOUNDER’ S VISION W
e may be conducting our interview over Zoom near the turn of the year, but soon, in my mind’ s eye, I am standing in waders in the sunny River Itchen on a lazy summer afternoon, admiring‘ the beauty of the translucent water and tussocks of emerald green water crowfoot’, such is Clare Talks’ s palpable and infectious enthusiasm for the school’ s local chalk river, one of her many life passions. Her conversation brims with references to the river’ s‘ spawning gravel’ and the joys of discovering invertebrate river life.
A Geography don, Clare Talks combines her duties running the College’ s Community Service( CS) programme with her own private passions for the natural world; she’ s a keen walker and runner whose personal‘ Everest’ ambition is to complete the recently designated England Coastal Path. At 2,795 miles long it is the longest footpath in the world.
With so much outdoor activity in mind, we begin our conversation with the merits of the CS programme during the COVID period— presumably the outdoor life has been immensely valuable for senior pupils in the school?
EVERYBODY’ S GIVING WHOLEHEARTEDLY TO SERVICE, AND THEREBY MAINTAINING A WYKEHAMICAL TRADITION; IT WAS PART OF WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM’ S MISSION AND ONE OF THE KEY AREAS OUR PUPILS SHOULD DEVELOP; HOPEFULLY INSTILLING A LIFELONG DESIRE TO SERVE OTHERS IN THEIR FUTURE LIVES.
Opposite page: In front of the fishing hut waxing lyrical about the king of the chalk stream, the wild Atlantic salmon
Examining a water sample; 500 local pupils participate annually in the College’ s chalk stream programme
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