In the blink of an eye ...

iCal, Apple’s personal, online calendar, gives my life a sense of order, but it can be a bossy girl - rather like an over-efficient P.A. Every day, in the top right corner of my computer screen, reminders pop up - birthdays, an offer to upgrade my iCloud storage, or a few notifications - and I instantly send them back to the ether from where they came. Today was different: a small grey box appeared, which made me sit up and take notice. It alerted me to the fact that today is the tenth anniversary of my retirement. To be more accurate, ten years ago today, on a pleasant Thursday evening, my staff, governors, ex-colleagues, parents and local authority officers filled a marquee in the school grounds for a ‘bit of a do’. It became known as the ‘event in the tent’, and was one on seven such functions that I attended that month.

At the time, everything was slightly overwhelming, and it is only in retrospect that I am fully able to appreciate the thought and effort that went into each celebration. For example, a string quartet was engaged to play in the marquee. Why was that so special? First of all, one of the players was an ex-pupil and secondly, I love classical string pieces such as, ‘The Lark Ascending’ and Borodin’s ‘Nocturne’. Every small detail - such as the beautiful cake, made by one of my staff, decorated in the school colours and bearing the school crest - combined to make the whole occasion a memorable one

On my final day in post, the children’s assembly was the most difficult to get through. Each member of staff had used his or her expertise or specialism, working with groups of children to produce music, dance, art and drama. At the end of the assembly, I was presented with a certificate of ownership for a star, which will forever be called ‘Mrs Orme’, but best of all, I was allowed to ring the bell. ‘The Ringing of the Bell’ had become a tradition at Ann Cam: At the final assembly of each year, the oldest child and the youngest child were invited to ring the bell three times - once for past pupils, once for present pupils and once for future pupils, a reminder of our small place in the continuing cycle of life. The bell had originally been in the old school in the village, and was relocated when the new school was built in 1974. The school was named after Dame Ann Cam, Lady of the Manor of Dymock, who lived from 1730 to 1790. Unable to have children of her own, she gave money for the endowment of a charity school, which was established near St Mary’s Church in 1785. Her benevolence has provided generations of children with the opportunity to learn and, in the words of one of my favourite hymns, ‘strength for today, and bright hope for tomorrow’.

Last night, I went to a celebration to mark the retirement of an ex-colleague. My wish for her is that she enjoys her post-work years, as much as I have. After all, retirement is not an end, but a new beginning.