The Newsletter of Homerton College, Cambridge & The Homerton Roll

strategic direction was intuitive, Tim
provided the carefully calculated basis on
which strategic success depended. When
in 2001, he became Dean in the University’s
new Faculty of Education, his grasp of
finance and planning were essential parts
of that Faculty’s success and his talents
were respected and appreciated by the
University’s senior management.
Tim remained a Fellow of Homerton,
moving to become our first Emeritus
Fellow when he took early retirement
from the University. Despite the lure of
becoming a publican in York – a longheld
ambition – he remained closely in
touch with Homerton and was at our
Charter Garden Party in June 2010. His
death is untimely. No-one deserved a
long, unhurried retirement more than
Tim, for his energy and commitment
were unbounded. Homerton owes its
present status to his efforts and we shall
remember him with huge affection.
Dr Kate Pretty
Principal
Tony Robinson (1945–2010)
Senior Lecturer in PE, 1982–2010
Tony was
appointed as
PE Lecturer at
Homerton in 1982,
bringing a wealth
of experience
from St Ivo and
other schools
alongside his own sporting involvement as
participant, coach and referee. He served
Homerton and the Faculty of Education
in many roles, from Senior Lecturer in
the PE Department, to Director of the
Graduate Teacher Programme and latterly
as Committee member for the Homerton
Retired Senior Members Association.
Whoever suggested ‘Carpe Diem’ as a good
maxim for life might well have had Tony
in mind. He was energetic, down-to-earth,
young at heart, eminently practical, focused
and critical in his thinking. He applied the
pedagogical analysis from his PE practice
to wider areas of classroom practice and
teacher appraisal. His capacity for work was
striking, along with his efficiency.
Memories of Tony’s contributions to
the PE Department are legion, whether
developing the Primary course Games
programme, running extra-curricular
coaching courses, observing students
teaching Morley Memorial School children
at Homerton, or demonstrating the now
famous ‘snippets’ of PE learning at the start
of each year’s course for all primary students
as they observed children at work in the
Great Hall. The Secondary PE PGCE course
which Tony initiated in the 1990s attracted
international sports people who were
successful in, for example, Rugby, Rowing,
Ballroom Dance, Modern Pentathlon,
Swimming and Hockey. In 1995 –1996
Tony’s Secondary PE students contributed
significantly to improving the quality of the
Varsity Rugby team, but only, as he insisted,
if the potential props and the hooker
“could do dance and meet the gymnastics
requirements of the National Curriculum
as well”.
Tony ran a Returning to Teaching Course
and took a lead in the Articled Teacher
Programme, the first pilot scheme involving
school-based training, where he was an
enthusiastic tutor of the students involved
and staunch supporter of colleagues in
schools. He was Director of Secondary
School Liaison, with responsibility for
school placements and mentor training for
PGCE students and placement schools. He
achieved distinction as the first Director of
the Faculty of Education’s Graduate Teacher
Programme, opening up opportunity
and second chances for many who could
not access or afford a traditional training
route, who subsequently became inspiring
teachers in schools throughout the region.
Tony did not confine his professional talents
to the UK. At Kotebe College of Teacher
Education, Addis Ababa, he transformed the
Physical Education Initial Teacher Training
Programme by teaching Rugby to students
and staff. He used the novelty of the game
to demonstrate how one might successfully
teach anything. In Ghana he ran a three
week vacation programme for 280 teacher
trainers and, even before the return flight
landed back at Heathrow, he had already
written the first draft of the next course on
the back of a British Airways menu!
In summary, Tony was an inspirational
teacher and mentor and a great sportsman
with a huge sense of humour. He was
generous and kind, lived life to the full and
was a much valued and respected colleague.
He is sorely missed.
Trish Maude
Bye Fellow, with contributions from
other College and Faculty colleagues
Joyce Skinner (1920–2010)
Lecturer in History, 1952–1964
and Deputy Principal 1960–64
Joyce Skinner was born in Lincoln on 5th
September 1920, the elder of two daughters
of working class parents. Throughout
her life she never
forgot the working
class aspirations
and educational
opportunities she
experienced in the
difficult times of
unemployment and poverty in the 1920s
and 30s. With her sister, Ruth, she wrote
Growing Up Downhill in 1989, which was a
record of their childhood and a tribute to
their parents. Extracts from this book were
used in texts for the national curriculum
history books.
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Homertonian