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2 Term 3 Week 7
In black and white
WITH sAm Adler And jAson cHAng
Goodbye Mrs Marsh
This week, B&W interviewed a muchloved
Cranbrook icon, Mrs Marsh, who
has announced her retirement after thirty
years of devoted teaching, librarianship
and Housemastering.
You’ve been at Cranbrook for thirty years.
How do you feel about leaving? What are
your plans for retirement?
I’ve got very mixed feelings about leaving.
When you work at a place for so long, it’s
very hard to work out what else you’re going
to do. It’s really hard to leave all those things
that have become so important to you,
particularly the friendships I’ve made with
the staff and the boys.
I have a couple of plans; I’m going to sing
in a choir, perhaps write a book, I’m going
to learn how to swim (I can swim, I’m just
getting stroke correction at Waverley) and I
plan to travel.
You work as a librarian, a teacher AND
a Housemaster. How do you manage to
juggle all these elements?
I think it’s probably easier for me than those
who are teaching throughout the day and
are in the classroom most of the day. I only
teach two or three periods a day and so
that gives me plenty of time where I can be
flexible
What has been the most rewarding part
of the job?
Definitely being a Housemaster. Probably
because you get to know the boys so well;
you get to know the boys’ families and I think
you will find most Housemasters would tell
you the same thing.
Would you say it’s like being a mother?
No. Thank goodness you can give them back
at the end of the day!
And the most challenging?
I think when boys reach Year 11 and they
are going for leadership positions and
they don’t get them, when they try out for
various teams and aspire to get somewhere
but don’t get there, usually they don’t
understand why. That’s one of the hardest
things to help boys get through.
You would have many stories from
working across many areas of the School
and some, no doubt, you won’t be able to
put to paper. However, what would be one
story or memory you will treasure from
Cranbrook?
I think probably one of the best teaching
moments of my life was on Outward Bound
back in the 90s. There was a guy called Basil
who had a sort of physical disability that
meant he couldn’t walk very well and back
then, there weren’t all the medical forms to
fill out and so no one knew much about the
kids at all. So, Basil and I found ourselves
out in the bush, falling miles behind the
rest of the group, he holding my arm until
we would finally reach the camp where he
would let go of my arm and walk into camp
on his own. Back then, Year 7s did a rather
challenging abseil down a rock face, rather