ETCTHE MAGAZINE FOR FORMER PUPILS ANDETERA FRIENDS OF THE GLASGOW ACADEMY AND WESTBOURNE SCHOOL WONDERFUL WESTBOURNE REMEMBERING THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF WINTON DRIVE 2021 SPRING 34 NO NURSERIES & KINDERGARTENSKINDERGARTENS LocalLocal council funding availableavailable from age 3 THE GLASGOW ACADEMY KELVINBRIDGE | MILNGAVIE | NEWLANDS KELVINBRIDGE | MILNGAVIE | NEWLANDS THERE’S SOMETHINGSOMETHING FORFOR EVERYONEEVERYONE ExcitingExciting and and inspiring outdoor outdoor SmallSmall class class sizes withwith specialist specialist teachers teachers learninglearning experiences.experiences. forfor French,French, MusicMusic and and PE. PE. First-classFirst-class resources and and ComeCome and and meet meet our our children children and and staff andand see award-winningaward-winning facilities.facilities. The Academy’ssee The Academy Pre-Schools for yourself. for yourself. 01410141 342342 54945494 | theglasgowacademy.org.uk TheThe GlasgowGlasgow AcademyAcademy is an educational charity registered in Scotland: Charity Number SC 015368015368 SPRING 2021 CONTENTS EDITORIAL hen I wrote my first introductory letter for Etcetera in 04 18 Autumn last year I did not expect to write the second NEWS WESTBOURNE Wfrom my kitchen table, back in lockdown. Being rather more MEMORIES optimistic by nature I had hoped, as many of us did, that we would be further on in the journey back to normality than KELVINBRIDGE | MILNGAVIE | NEWLANDS 06 we are now, but the speedy roll out of the vaccine and the GLASGOW 20 lengthening days should give us great reason for hope that ACADEMICAL CLUB MEMORIES OF this upward trajectory will now continue. UPDATE THE MERGER Despite the hardship and losses of recent months it is wonderful to see the resilience and ingenuity of our young people in these days. I hope you THERE’S SOMETHING will take a look at the lockdown publication ‘QuaranTimes’ on the school 08 22 website, written and produced by pupils as a reflection and positive spin on ALL AT SEA ANNOUNCEMENTS lock down. Despite the disappointment of missing out on much of their usual co-curricular experiences we’ve seen pupils continue to exercise, FOR EVERYONE perform and engage with their CCF activities digitally and under their own steam at home. Families outside The Academy also continue to be 10 26 impressed by the education, nurture, opportunities and support pupils JORDANIAN IN MEMORIAM receive, reflected in a successful admissions season that sees the school ADVENTURES going forward in remarkably robust health. This issue marks the 30th anniversary of the merger between The Glasgow 32 Academy and The Westbourne School for Girls. Without doubt the merger 12 WESTBOURNE forever changed both schools and it is with great pride that we remember ANECDOTAGE HISTORY the legacy and impact of Westbourne on the lives of the young women who were pupils. It is also important to note the way in which the introduction of Westbourne women (and the values they brought with them) changed The Glasgow Academy for the better. It has been heart-warming to read the affectionate, humorous, honest and detailed accounts of Westbourne, or perhaps more accurately, the people of Westbourne. The close, family atmosphere of Westbourne made the school very special and in particular the good relationships between staff and pupils radiate sincerely from the words of those who sent their reflections. KEEPING IN TOUCH Although we don’t presently know when we will be able to gather together again, I am very much looking forward to seeing you all when we can celebrate our freedom! Please do let me know if you missed out on a reunion in the past year and would like to reschedule when restrictions ease up. The External Relations office is President: Peter Brown situated in Colebrooke Terrace. Email: [email protected] I was very much encouraged by the positive feedback on the new design of Former pupils are always welcome The Academy Club pavilion is the last edition of Etcetera and hope this one also lives up to expectations to pop in for a chat and look available for functions once – please let me know your thoughts. Please get in touch with your news, around the school. Just give us a restrictions allow. updates, photographs and archival material for the next edition of Etcetera. call to arrange a time. Academical Club London Section This magazine is nothing without your input and we always love to hear your Our address is news and reflections. Colebrooke Terrace, President: Alex Gray Glasgow, G12 8HE. Email: As I sign off, the words of Julian of Norwich come to mind (not a Westbourne [email protected] girl, but a trail-blazer in her own right, in that she was the first woman ever in You can contact us on 0141 342 5494 Like us on Facebook; join us print) as we look to the future, ‘All shall be well and all shall be well and all or at [email protected] on LinkedIn manner of things shall be well’. May that indeed be our reality in the months to come. The Glasgow Academical Club 21 Helensburgh Drive, Glasgow, G13 1RR Serva Fidem Please note that views expressed inEtcetera are author’s own and do not necessarily Jillian Fletcher 0141 342 5494 | theglasgowacademy.org.uk represent those of The Glasgow Academy. Alumni Relations and Development Manager The Glasgow Academy is an educational charity registered in Scotland: Charity Number SC 015368 03 ETCETERA NEWS A FRESH START Shahlin Mahal reflects on a very in person. On hearing this I jumped at the different Fresher’s Week experience opportunity, eager to make the most of Freshers week. On arrival at the University I at Gilmore Hill. was surprised to find that the atmosphere I had been looking forward to Freshers week was still lively, despite the restrictions that since the moment I decided I was going had been put in place. It was strange to see to University. Friends and family had told a ticketing system controlling the number me about their amazing experiences, from of students on campus, being surrounded meeting countless new friends to exploring by everyone wearing facemasks, and being the fayres, buzzing with excitement. However, physically distanced from my fellow students. when Covid-19 arose, I knew this year However, this didn’t stop the Freshers fayre wasn’t going to be the same as those gone from being a huge success. We still had the by. I started receiving emails titled “Virtual opportunity to take part in traditional Freshers Freshers” and worried about how I was going activities such as exploring the clubs and to meet my new classmates. Moving from societies on offer, participating in taster school to University was already a daunting sports sessions and even getting a bag full of prospect for me and this added challenge freebies. didn’t help with my nerves. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this year’s Luckily, by the time Freshers week arrived, Freshers fayre even if it wasn’t quite what I was restrictions had been eased and the expecting. University managed to organise a select few events for prospective students to attend Shahlin Mahal (2020) WESTBOURNE MEMORIES The most important gift that Westbourne property; hula hoop and (swiftly forbidden, as I choreographed a new work, OUR PLAY IS, gave me when I left in 1982 was the feeling deemed to be too dangerousl) whirly tubes in for Tanzcompagnie Giessen in November that young women could do anything, if the main playground; and then the escapes and have just received the fantastic news into the infamous ‘Jungle‘, a wild mess of that I have received a large funding package they wanted to, and applied themsleves. rhododendron bushes, definitely off-limits to develop theatre work with professional Since then, and even to this day I’ve come - or rainy breaks spent indoors, mostly disabled artists in Nuremberg in 2021. up against much chauvinistic behaviour hanging-out in the cloakrooms with thrilling Looking back, perhaps it was all those creative games like ‘making yourself faint‘ (not to be and met so many women who regard playground games that set me up for a life as a recommended) or trying to catch the school themselves as inferior to men, that I have (theatre) player. phantom. come to realise that the Westbourne experience stood me in very good stead. I think most of my Westbourne classmates considered me a bit of a swot, but from the I really did enjoy most of my 13 years at age of about 12 my overriding passion was Westbourne and look back with fondness ballet and contemporary dance and that’s what at being taught in small classes, sometimes I finally went on to do professionally, after a by inspiring teachers, being encouraged to languages degree at Oxford University. Since produce creative, individual work. However, 1988 I have been working as a professional my overriding memories of Westbourne will contemporary dancer in Germany and since be of breaktimes and a gamut of traditional 1998 I have had my own company; Curtis & playground games, make-believe stories, Co. – dance affairs in Nuremberg, for which fashionable fads and forays into ‘forbidden‘ I choreograph regularly, while taking on territory while at the Junior School (1969 choreographic assignments for many theatres – 1976). Each game seemed to have it’s throughout Germany. Since 2004 I have also designated area: ‘Red Rover‘ between the worked as a hospital clown. Despite the huge hockey pitch and the wall of the Ann Fraser blow to the arts caused by Covid19., I consider Hall; ‘Froggie, Froggie‘ between the two low my 2020 to have been a very lucky one: I Susanna walls of the original Victorian driveway; Slinkies won the Wolfram-von-Eschenbach Cultural Curtis down the original stairs of the once Victorian Prize of Middle Franconia in July (see photo), (1982) 04 SPRING 2021 RIPPLES THROUGH ETERNITY An article in Etcetera Spring 2017 revealed the life and career of a remarkable physicist and Glasgow Academical, Ronald W.P.