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off sick for two or three weeks with shingles, so I was really in at the deep end! The<br />
best way to get to know a job …<br />
JS: There’s one particular incident I remember from Janet Walker’s time. The Syme<br />
Lecturer was staying in <strong>College</strong> and decided to go for a swim at the Ferry Pool<br />
before the lecture. Janet got a call from the pool staff to say that he was stranded in<br />
the changing rooms in a towel as his bag had been stolen from his locker. So it was<br />
Janet to the rescue!<br />
SH: It was me that persuaded you to apply for the <strong>College</strong> Secretary post when Janet<br />
retired and I never regretted it.<br />
JS: Oh, thanks, Sue.<br />
SH: From then on we were partners in crime. David Smith was President by then<br />
(Jim Kennedy having held the fort for a couple of terms before he arrived). David<br />
was wonderful to work for – calm, kind and with a great sense of humour.<br />
JS: And Lesley Smith chaired the Arts Society during that time. She was very keen<br />
on art and crafts and made an excellent chair. One of her initiatives was an exhibition<br />
about the building of the <strong>College</strong> which the architect Philip Powell attended.<br />
SH: And Lesley and David, with a lot of help from us, organised Halloween parties<br />
for Wolfson children in the Buttery. My son Nick, then about 15, was the ‘entertainer’<br />
riding his unicycle and juggling with various items including squash rackets and fire<br />
balls – wouldn’t be allowed now with Health and Safety restrictions.<br />
JS: I also remember the children’s Christmas parties in Bill and Margaret Hoffenberg’s<br />
time – they were held in Hall. Jim Kennedy was a very convincing Father Christmas<br />
and Bill Bradshaw organised the party games. But you mentioned Health and Safety<br />
– that wasn’t such an issue twenty years ago: I remember when my boys (then about<br />
9 and 12 years old) used to come and help Ian Purvis (<strong>College</strong> Engineer) set up the<br />
fireworks ready for the evening display. They loved that.<br />
SH: Talking of Ian Purvis, I remember the time a duck hatched her ducklings – all<br />
twelve of them – in the front quad and the doors of the Lodge were opened for her<br />
to lead them through to the harbour, down the steps and into the gutter in front of A<br />
Block. But every one of them fell down the drainholes, and Ian had to go into the<br />
bowels of the <strong>College</strong> to retrieve them and reunite them with their mum.<br />
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