7 May 2024
Rosemary Greaves, whose death at the age of 92 was announced last week, was, on paper, “an assistant teacher of music at Kirkham Grammar School from 1979 until 1991”.
Never were the mere facts more inadequate. Although Rosemary never held any leadership post at KGS, her lasting influence on the School was profound, and her place in the pantheon of KGS legends is assured.
Malcolm Summerlee, Headmaster for all but one term of her KGS years as a teacher, always used to say of his then overwhelmingly male staff, that you were either just a schoolteacher, or a schoolmaster. Those whom he termed “schoolmaster” were those whose work he most valued. Those who saw teaching as more than just the imparting of knowledge.
Well in those terms, “Granny Greaves” as she was affectionately yet in many ways unfairly known, was surely “a Schoolmistress”, not a schoolteacher. The terminology may be outdated, but the values that it carries are timeless and precious. Throughout those 12 years, plus the many post-retirement years in which she continued with private piano lessons and CCF work at the school she so loved, as well as an OKA Committee member and President, Rosemary embodied all that is good about KGS, and was providing pastoral care of the highest order before pastoral care had even been named as such. She was care, concern, empathy and above all kindness personified.
KGS needed such people in 1979. Classes at the upper end of the school were all-male and were, like in all boys grammar schools, a pretty robust and macho environment. Classes in the co-educational lower end of the School were very different, giving a stark illustration of the oft-quoted civilising effect of female pupils on their male counterparts. The girls were very much a minority, especially the few who had joined higher up the school, literally one or two in otherwise all-male year groups, and for those girls it was a tough environment at first. They needed allies, but female staff were also a rarity: a couple of battle-hardened survivors from the all-male era but the overwhelming majority were men whose stern manner and uncompromising teaching style evoked a very different era of short back-and-sides and stiff upper lips. The “big beasts” of the smoke-filled staff room were having to re-learn how to manage a classroom in a very different way, and to call pupils by their first names.
Rosemary Greaves, along with Shirley Piggott and Nicky Black, were what those girls, and indeed those boys needed. And looking at the tributes already flooding Facebook, she did that job with flying colours - as befits a woman who became an RAF officer.
Music teaching was just the start, but even in that, her specialist subject, she was a pioneer and an innovator. Musical excellence was already the hallmark of KGS, thanks to John Catterall's enthusiastic yet ruthless pursuit of excellence spiced with a mischievous sense of fun. Rosemary’s job was to involve girls, to develop their talents and to give them opportunities, without undermining the work of JC, who had done so much to develop a love of music in general and of singing in particular in boys. Coeducation always carries a risk that music, in particular singing, will be perceived as a girls’ thing.
Rosemary’s support for JC was unequivocal, yet she quietly and effectively developed the talent of girls - as one former pupil so succinctly put it “I have her to thank for turning a frog’s croak into a song.”, and there are many former pupils whose love of music was sparked by her kind and pragmatic encouragement.
But of course, it was outside her specialism that Rosemary most made her mark in being so much more than just a teacher. She loved school life at KGS in all its wonderful breadth, and epitomised what anyone who has been at the School knows, that it is a place where fun and laughter can be at the heart of a good education. Her work with CCF, in the Boarding House, on trips and journeys, and even in the boyish auto society, where she indulged her love of fast cars, brought her into contact with so many in the school community, and ensured that she will be fondly remembered as so much more than just a music teacher.
CCF was a passion for her. Many thought that when the school went co-educational, CCF would become a boys’ thing and might even fade and die. How wrong they were, and Rosemary, as one of the first female CCF officers (along with her friend and ally Shirley Piggott) would have none of it. She embraced the RAF section with energetic enthusiasm, taking part in numerous field days and camps which are precious memories for many, and relishing the banter of the officers’ mess. Likewise she enjoyed school trips, where her motherly presence was invaluable when caring for pupils away from their homes and families.
Perhaps this latter aspect stands out above all else: her intuitive skills in pastoral care were a perfect match for the School at which she enjoyed such a happy and fulfilling end to her working life. Another tribute from a female Old Kirkhamian on Facebook puts it perfectly: “My piano lessons were half tuition, half therapy. She helped keep me in a positive place during those challenging teenage years as a boarder. She will always be in my heart.”
A perfect epitaph for a true Kirkhamian.
Our thoughts, prayers and thanks go out to her family and friends.
Adrian Long