Sunday 16 September 2012

Celebrating Women - A Special Lady



Today I am taking part in a blog hop celebrating women. I have chosen to write about a very special woman in my life – a teacher who was more than a teacher.

I have been blessed with having a series of inspirational women educators in my life, but the first and probably therefore the most important was Elizabeth Webster. Without her I doubt I would be writing, without her I would not have got in to Oxford University and without her I would not have met my husband.

Elizabeth or EMW as she was better known was a little red-head with a liking for brightly coloured scarves, who commanded any room she was in. She stepped into my life when I was eight and newly arrived at my junior school. She was the creative English and music teacher and although I did not shine at music, Elizabeth recognised the writer in me. On that first lesson she asked us to write a poem. I wrote about Queen Boudica dying of poison after her defeat by the Romans. Elizabeth loved the poem. She praised and encouraged me, recognising the need to feed my love of poetry and confidence in my abilities. She was no regarder of age: she believed that children should be encouraged to read the best, so I was soon sitting cross-legged under her grand piano reading Under Milk Wood and Murder in the Cathedral. The first Shakespeare play I saw was performed by ten and eleven year olds directed by her at the end of the school year.

When ill-health forced her to retire from school, she set up an arts centre for children and I followed her. First in a church hall and then in an old bakery she continued to encourage writing, acting and the visual arts for a further twenty-five years. The Children’s Arts Centre Cheltenham became the Young Arts Centre as we turned teenagers, but the motto remained the same: “Everyone is Someone.” Saturday morning was for the younger children, and Sunday afternoon for the older members to rehearse the next play we would perform. I was soon to act in Under Milk Wood as well as read it. But best of all was Tuesday evening, when the EOS group met. In a side room, seated on second-hand sofas and armchairs, we would shuffle the papers in our hands mumbling “I’ve got a poem, but it’s not very good.” before reading it to the rest of the group. Encouragement followed (Everyone is Someone) and discussion. I was for some time the youngest in the group, but there was no compromise for my age. I learned to hold my own with the others on subjects such as Milton’s interpretation of the devil. Not that I had read Paradise Lost at that point, but that didn’t stop me. Every year we would give at least one public reading of our poems together with those of published poets and in so doing learned not only how to read poetry but also how to speak in public.

Encouraged by Elizabeth, I entered national poetry competitions and won. I was published by the age of thirteen. At the same age I wrote a full-length verse play, which of course was performed at the Arts Centre. I had found what I was good at. How lucky is that? And that luck had a name: Elizabeth Webster. But I was not the only one – a number of my fellow Arts Centre members have gone on to enjoy successful careers in the arts. Others found their lives enriched in different ways by the experience: principles were established for life, friendships were forged and relationships begun. What a wonderful place to meet your first boyfriend (or in my case my last as I met my husband there).

And what reward did Elizabeth receive for this work? Nothing but the reward of knowing that every child in the Arts Centre realised they were someone. It is only now with writing this post, that I realise how the central character of Girl in the Glass is a girl who, unlike me, was told she was nothing. When at last she had to retire Elizabeth started a new career: that of a novelist. She used her books to give her predominantly female readers an insight into the lives of young people. Even in that I seem to be following her.

You will find a website commemorating the Young Arts Centre here.

9 comments:

Amanda said...

Wow. Tears. Thank you for sharing, Zoe. Everyone is Someone - I love that. You were so blessed to have such a great role model!

vickiejohnstone said...

Lovely post. You made me think of my English teachers, who were always supportive. Long may they rock! :)

Amy Putkonen said...

That is such an incredibly beautiful story, Zoe. Wow. You were so blessed to have such a great mentor. It just goes to show that you can touch the lives of many many people, more than you can ever know, if you just try and help people to reach their greatness. Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful story.

Vikki T said...

Just stopping by from the blog hop :)

Oh wow! I wish I'd had a teacher like that!

She definitely sounds like a very special lady :)

Xx

jaci said...

I love this story. Amazing teachers and mentors are sometimes hard to come by. You were truly blessed!

Stopping by from the blog hop -
Jaci

Anonymous said...

That's such a touching story. Loved reading it. :3

Deanna said...

Beautiful. I had some inspiring teachers, too.

alchemyofscrawl said...

Awesome! I had a music teacher like this. So touching.

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