The Newsletter of Homerton College, Cambridge & The Homerton Roll

HOMERTON: The Evolution of a Cambridge College
When Senior Tutor Peter Warner
and former Vice-Principal Peter
Raby sat down to plan something
to mark Homerton’s Royal Charter
they set themselves a formidable
challenge. They wanted to produce a
contemporary portrait of collegiate life,
to sketch the history and inheritance
as well as to reconstruct what the place
felt like for successive generations of
students. The book which resulted from
their efforts, Homerton: the Evolution
of a Cambridge College, is a lavishly
illustrated compendium drawing on a
wide range of informed contributors.
In it readers of all varieties will find
something of interest to reflect their
time at the College and in Cambridge,
whether it be the buildings, the people,
the sport and cultural activities and
even what was formally taught!
Many will turn first to the final chapter in
which Janet Bottoms (Lecturer in English)
reconstructs students’ experiences of daily
life since the Second World War, drawing
on a rich archive of jottings and memories
they provided. There was a certain
diffidence in the immediate post-War
MUSEJI AHMED TAKOLIA CBE
When contacted by College, Museji wrote as follows:
years amongst both staff and students. One
alumna recalls how they ‘were but children
yet always called Miss’ whilst another felt the
staff were supportive but ‘a little stuffy’. There
were also strict rules about entertaining men:
there was apparently ‘a tiny room where men
could be entertained but the door had to
be kept open at all times and the “famously
fierce” domestic bursar supervised the event’.
Fast forward to the New Millennium.
The College now admits men and whilst
Education remains an important feature of
the cultural landscape, other tripos subjects
are taught alongside it. Students are actively
involved in student life across the University
and one of them gets elected as President
of CUSU, the students’ union. Nonetheless,
certain long-established and valued
traditions live on. One alumna, for example,
comments that ‘visits to other colleges made
me realise that Homerton was a friendly
and tight-knit community and its members
were fiercely proud of everything that they
continued to achieve’ whilst another reflects
that ‘from the first day to the last’, Homerton
was a place where ‘I felt I belonged and
a place that watched me develop from a
school leaver into a professional’.
“I received news of the CBE with due humility. I have
been lucky to work with some very talented and
committed people from all backgrounds and in the
service of all communities through a very wide range of
organisations, spanning the Cabinet Office, to charities,
in local government and through my non-executive roles
in social housing/regeneration, health and in education,
where I remain a Board member of OFSTED. Education
and learning has been and remains the centre of my
universe as it has given so much to me. Recognition like this means a lot, especially to
those in my family who have loved and supported me through the years.”
Museji Ahmed Takolia
BEd 1980 –1984 Chemistry and Education
A more detailed description of Museji’s work will appear in the Roll News 2011
As earlier generations of Homerton students
will confirm, such achievements had to
be fought for. Academia (and Cambridge
in particular) can be an unforgiving
environment, all too ready to criticise, often
slow to praise but ultimately prepared to
be convinced and give credit where it is
due. Elsewhere in the book the various
challenges facing successive principals are
analysed in some depth – the ‘battle’ for
the B.Ed, the development of a stronger
research culture, the need to rebuild much
of the building stock and, more recently,
the campaign for ‘convergence’ to name
just a few.
Those who commit themselves to careers
in education or other areas of public life
know, from an early age, that they will
never make a great deal of money but,
importantly, they also learn that there are
other ways to make their mark. As many
of those featured in this volume will attest,
Homerton’s greatest achievement seems
to have been to have given cohorts of
students the confidence and self-belief
to make their way in the world. As
Principal Kate Pretty concludes, ‘it is a
remarkable place’.
Copies of Homerton: the Evolution of a
Cambridge College, edited by Peter Raby
and Peter Warner, are available price £24.00
(including postage and packing), from: The
Development & Roll Office, Homerton College,
Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 8PH. Cheques
made payable to ‘Homerton College’.
Professor John Gray
Vice-Principal
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