In the next in the Stories from St John’s series, Trevor Kerry, Theology student from 1960-63, shares photos of the staff, teachers and eccentrics who made his time at John’s memorable.
I joined St John’s in October 1960 and was assigned to a first-floor room in Haughton with Keith Thomson, a Scot and recent army officer, as my roommate, with Shegun and Tao as next-door neighbours. The other person on the corridor was an Egyptologist, I think. It was an exotic start for a gauche teenager from the Old Kent Road.
Keith was a studious; I owed my steady start to him. As veterans in year 3, Rod Wells was our Senior Man. Rod was calm and good humoured, later becoming the Venerable Roderick Wells, Archdeacon in the Diocese of Lincoln. The JCR Secretary’s role fell to Richard Rhodes. Richard and I had a mutual interest in photography. I had little in the way of possessions so I used to haul a photographic enlarger as my luggage. We pooled some cash at the beginning of each term for chemicals, and quite often made a small profit by selling prints to fellow students: shots of the rowing eights or pictures for parents.
The other members of the student hierarchy back then were the two chapel wardens. The senior warden role fell to me, assisted by Mike Beasley. It was the time of transition from the old chapel to the new structure master-minded by the Principal. As Richard Rhodes recorded, few students liked the new chapel. I regret that trying to communicate student feelings was seen as ‘politicking’: I probably destroyed the role of chapel warden for future generations as its terms of reference were altered after my tenure. The image shows the building in progress – the child may have belonged to a tutor, Revd Nixon? The whole site looks deliciously free of Health and Safety!
Two stalwarts of my generation were Edward Fasholé-Luke and Peter Newing. Edward had already graduated at Fourah Bay, the university’s outpost in Sierra Leone, so he was something of a role model. He was allowed to wear the fur-trimmed hood to which we were only aspiring.
It is worth deviating for a moment at this point to say what a privilege it was for those of us reading Theology (Edward, Mike, Rod and myself) to be tutored by such a great team as then graced the Department. H.E.W Turner, doctrinist, historian and minor eccentric arriving breathless after running across Palace Green from Mattins; C.K.Barrett, full of gravitas; G.W.Anderson, pioneer of OT scholarship; the dour and meticulous Cranfield – a truly kind and generous man. I had not learned to study effectively until late into year two, and didn’t make the most of the great opportunity – but I made up for it later.
Peter Newing was an established expert in campanology, a former RAF man, tough as old boots though he didn’t look it. He was one of nature’s antiquarians, and became the Revered Doctor Newing during his time in the West Country. I can’t put a name to my image, though I think his first name was Bert: his parents wanted a picture. Rag Week always inspired daft activities: this young man was a year below me, but his name has been lost in time. He did a 24-hour oration for Rag charity.
The final image was a commission. The elderly lady who ran the photo studio in the Bailey had retired, and Cranmer Hall wanted a picture of the college members for their records. They commissioned Richard and me. The Revd Reeve (2nd from right of the clergy group) was, in my view, the pick of the staff: a sharp lecturer, and with a feet-on-the-ground approach to life.
(Trevor gained a BA in theology; he completed an MTh at Nottingham with A.R.C.Leaney; he changed his academic interest to Education, gaining two Masters degrees and a PhD; he has taught all ages from 5-year-olds to doctoral students; he was Professor and Senior Vice-President of the College of Teachers; he is Emeritus Professor at Lincoln University and Visiting Professor at Bishop Grosseteste University; he is a prolific author, most recently -2021 – on ethics for educationists).
John's Chronicle 