THE
ALUMNAE
Edition 15 - Spring 2021
A Glance at the Past Seventy Years Ago… September 1950 was the 75th Anniversary of the founding of Bath High School, the first GPDST (GDST) school outside of London. Birthday celebrations were held and presents bought for the different parts of the School, including a Grand Piano for the Seniors and a Wendy House for the Juniors. The Old Girls Guild (OGG) held a dinner at The Red House THE and one of the original pupils was able to attend. Do let us know if you were there!
ALUMNAE Obituaries
1950 also saw the start of the return to the rebuilt Hope House for the Sixth Form down to IV Upper (the equivalent to today’s Years 13-9). The culmination was a grand opening by the Duchess of Gloucester. The OGG presented an elegant Georgian table to complete the splendid entrance hall to Hope House. Pam Gooding (BHS 1955)
Mrs Aileen Eyers (BHS alumna, parent and former History teacher) 9 December 1923 to 30 August 2020 in Paisley she moved south to be with Bruce in Bristol. Her first teaching post was at East Bristol Secondary Commercial School which later became Rose Green High School and was where Aileen held her first Head of Department post. She took a break from teaching in 1957 to bring up 5 daughters and then to foster several children on a short-term basis and she was also a voluntary social worker through the WRVS until returning to teaching, at first in a part-time capacity in 1966 and then full time at Bath High School from 1968.
Mrs Aileen Eyers taught Scripture and British Social and Economic History at Bath High School from 1968 until the late 1980s. She was the Librarian, before this became a post in its own right and was also the Head of Middle School, the first 3 years of the Senior school, being known affectionately by the girls as Ma Eyers because she would always help find lost property and later as Grandma Eyers.
Aileen enjoyed traveling extensively in Europe and Scandinavia with Bruce and her family and after she was widowed, she enjoyed many cruises to her beloved Norway. Her hobbies included embroidery, tapestry, gardening and music.
Aileen lived for 63 years in the village of Corston, near Bath, where she and her husband Bruce built their home in an orchard with views of Bath. Aileen lived the last 3 years of her life at Mavern House nursing home in Shaw, near Melksham until her death on 30 August 2020.
Aileen was a woman of great Christian faith and she became an Oblate of the Sisters of the Love of God based at Fairacres Convent in Oxford in the early 1980s. She visited several times a year and joined in the life of the resident community in their rhythm of prayer and contemplation.
Aileen was born in 1923 in Glasgow, where her father worked at The Clyde Shipping Company and her mother was a junior schoolteacher. She was educated at Paisley Grammar School and Glasgow University where her degree main subjects were History & English and subsidiary subjects were Geography, French and Education. Her teacher training was at Jordan Hill College and she also studied for a Scottish Bishops Diploma for teaching of Religious Knowledge.
Above all Aileen’s interest was in children and in helping them to thrive and to achieve their potential. She is missed greatly by her family and friends. Mark Golder, Senior Teacher at RHS, reminisces ‘Ah, it comes flooding back. I took over from Aileen in 1986. She was known by the staff as ‘God’, so I was ‘Godlet’. Simpler times: her capitation advice to me for 1987 was £5 for chalk. Her son-in-law taught Music at the school for several years – some of the musicians might still come across him on the circuit – Michael Cockerham.’
Aileen met Bruce when they were both on the national committee of the Anglican Young Peoples Association and after their wedding 6 21
