Humourist, broadcaster and journalist Simon Fanshawe talks to Andrew Kay about the need to attract high value jobs to Sussex
What originally brought you to Sussex?
I came to university here. I had a place at Oxford to study law. I went up for an open-day and I was sat on a bone-shaker train to Didcot and it came to me that I shouldn’t do it. I don’t know why but it was possibly to do with sexuality. Sussex was my second choice so I came here. I arrived and there was a rent strike and I liked it. At Sussex I met my best mate, who now lives in California. For six months we were both Maoists, there was a bookshop on Gloucester Road run by a man called Alan Mitchell who was the sexiest revolutionary that I had ever met. Sussex has this incredible grip on ones life. It changed mine.
After university did you think that you had to go to London?
No, after graduation I was taking my hired gown back and as I left the shop it struck me that I had forgotten to get a job and had to move out of my flat. I went and had a coffee and then went to Manpower and asked if they had any jobs. I got a temp job at American Express then bumped into this nice woman that I knew who had a room to let in her house. I had also been volunteering at the Community Arts Project in Brighton. By accident I became a community development worker and fund raiser. That was 1978, Thatcherism was about to happen and oddly we had not been told. The Argus called us the home of Marxism when really we were doing play schemes and mother and baby groups. Funnily, in 2000, when we went for city status I met a lot of the same community leaders and they were still passionate about community.
You then went to War on Want?
Yes, they gave us some funds for a project and I just got drawn in. I became fascinated by ‘charitable status’. I met Laurence Harbottle and he helped me and the centre gain charitable status. Eventually I was on the board of War on Want and then became chairman in 1985 when I was about 30.
‘‘I became a community development worker and fund raiser. That was in 1978, Thatcherism was about to happen and oddly we had not been told’’
Were you already performing as a comedian?
Oh yes, the resource centre burnt down and I organised a benefit and booked myself. I performed with a troupe called the Last Resort with Kim Fuller who wrote Spice World and stuff for Lenny Henry. Vicky Pile who invented Green Wing and Martin Clarke who became a political journalist in the Far East.
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Posted in Celebrity Interview
St Mary’s Hall co-educational Junior School goes from strength to strength
St Mary’s Hall is celebrating the success of its Junior School since opening the doors to Gloucester House, two years ago in January 2006. The new purpose-built, architecturally feted junior school building on Eastern Road, Brighton, houses both the co-educational Junior School and the Nursery.
In Spring 2007, Huw May took on the role of Junior Head, attracted by St Mary’s Hall’s belief that students should be nurtured to develop their growth. The environment at St Mary’s Hall can be described as a ‘greenhouse rather than a hot house’ and ensures that each child’s needs are recognised and fulfiled.
Since November 2007 the Junior School has offered co-education for boys and girls up to age 11. A carefully structured curriculum is developed so each child attains their personal best. A keen musician himself, Huw May encourages every student to learn a stringed instrument as part of the core curriculum, as well as receiving recorder and ocarina tuition.
Staff in the Junior School recognise that many parents are working parents and offer an extended day with pre-school care from 8am and after-school care until 6pm. Children staying on are able to take full advantage of the extra-curricular activities offered, which range from movement art to knitting club. Increasingly working parents are taking advantage of the boarding facilities available at the Junior School. Parents may choose for their child to attend as a day pupil, a weekly boarder, a full boarder or a flexi boarder. Increasingly, the flexi boarding option is being chosen to help support parents meet their own work commitments.
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Posted in Education
The overall development of the child is vitally important, says Carolyn Shaw, Headmistress of Roedean
Young people constantly surprise us by doing and understanding more than we ever thought they would. We must encourage them to recognise that their lives are full of opportunities to discover more about themselves.
The value added to a child’s education is rooted in their overall development. Part of the reason that girls do so well academically at Roedean is that they have so many opportunities to lead a rich and fulfiling life outside the classroom. These activities arguably have a greater influence on their future than the academic curriculum. The latter provides the all important entrée to university, which in its turn paves the way for career opportunities. We tend to be too prescriptive with our children, to give them too many instructions. Pupils from the earliest possible age must be encouraged to be independent and make their own decisions.
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Posted in Education
Sussex Wildlife Trust (SWT) is looking for volunteers to lend a helping hand with school children visiting its education centres at Woods Mill (Henfield) and Seven Sisters Country Park as well as with the Trust’s Outreach service which works in schools around the county.
If you like working with children and are keen to share your enjoyment of the countryside with others then why not consider joining the team. You don’t have to be an expert but some knowledge or an interest in wildlife is useful. You do need to enjoy being outside, as most of your time will be spent out-of-doors on the nature reserve.
One of the most popular activities is pond dipping where, under supervision, youngsters are encouraged to dip their nets to reveal newts, water snails, mayfly nymphs and other pond creatures. At Seven Sisters Country Park there is the opportunity for rock pooling – also a firm favourite with youngsters of all ages.
Half day training sessions are held on Thursday 14 February at Woods Mill or Wednesday 20 February at Seven Sisters, subject to an informal interview and successful CRB & reference checks. As a volunteer you would be trained to assist or, if you wished, to eventually lead a group of school children.
For further information please contact SWT People & Wildlife Officer
Email: annamariekyriacou@sussexwt.org.uk Telephone 01273 497562
Posted in Education
