As, in addition to these, Chairman of Trustees at the Arnitt a tough crowd, but well within her skills. She did some more Museum in Ambleside, primary school governor and governor learning herself, learning silversmithing and befriending a lady at her own former school in Windermere, Vivienne’s BEM in called Margaret Rhodes, whose son, Brian, she soon met and the 2020 New Year’s Honours list, for services to her local married. community, was very well deserved. Membership of further From here Cynthea adopted and helped raise Brian’s three groups, fundraising for charities from the National Asthma children, alongside lecturing in Art History, for over 30 years, Campaign to the Royal Shakespeare Company, and being for the Workers’ Educational Association. From the 1980s mother to two children (grandmother to three, and great- she began to organise group trips to cities in Europe to tour grandmother to two), make it impossible to see how she could museums and galleries, and travelled widely herself. Returning have time for reading, scrabble and going to the theatre! to Manchester University to study Art History formally, she Vivienne’s sense of the importance of education stayed with wrote an MPhil thesis on early vernacular Italian poetry and her and her years in schools showed her as a brilliant teacher how artists illustrated it. who inspired others. She made a huge contribution to the lives Spending her final years in the Lake District, after Brian’s of so many others throughout her life, and shared her positive death, she enjoyed the company of her Burmese cats and outlook with them. As her daughter comments: ‘Mum had joy welcomed friends from all parts of her life. in her heart’. Cynthea Rhodes (née Wo昀昀enden, 1956) Jane Robinson (née Packham, 1959) Brought up in Edinburgh during the privations of World War 2, Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Cynthea moved to Parbold in Lancashire and bloomed at the during WW2, a few months before nearby girls’ grammar, becoming Head Girl. She showed an her father was killed in the Atlantic early flair for languages, consolidated by an exchange with a as part of the Royal Navy Volunteer French family with whom she stayed in touch throughout her Reserve, Jane Hippisley Packham life. She won a state scholarship to Somerville to read French returned to Bath as a small child. and Italian. She attended several schools in Before coming up, Cynthea’s French exchange family helped quick succession before settling as her arrange to spend some time at the Sorbonne. Aged 19, she a boarder at Badminton School and then engaged on a solo trip to Italy and it was the start of her thriving academically. After reading JANE ROBINSON deep love for that country to which she would return regularly Chemistry at Somerville, she went for six decades. to King’s College, London, to train as a science teacher. Soon she married Roger Robinson, a paediatrician, and after the One of the most defining eras of her life was at Somerville. couple had three children, Jane became a full-time mother. Cynthea’s work ethic meant a lot of work and less socialising After they settled at school, Jane returned to teaching, at in the intense eight-week terms. There was no concession for Burlington Danes School in Hammersmith. In 1991 she was beginners in either language, and she had not studied Italian at ordained Deacon in the Church of England, serving at St school. Her first term was reading Dante in the original. One of Peter’s, Ealing, St Gabriel’s, North Acton, and St Barnabas, her tutors was married to a painter and the free availability of Ealing. Though a staunch supporter of women priests, lectures sparked an early interest in art history, especially the when the Church of England began ordaining women to the Renaissance era in Florence. priesthood Jane elected to remain a deacon, feeling that her In her spare time, she became involved in theatre, mostly calling had been to the ministry of service particular to the backstage. She told of obtaining fresh sheep’s eyes from a local diaconate. butcher for use in King Lear and Dudley Moore and Ken Loach Her gift of £1,000 to St Gabriel’s, Acton, was originally were among those she worked with. intended to be in her will, but she decided to give the money There followed time in the BBC after College, as a studio during her lifetime, so that she could see what the church manager of a number of famous programmes including spent it on! Her donation helped to fund the purchase of a Desert Island Discs and Housewives’ Choice. When Princess work of art, namely a religious triptych by the celebrated Margaret got married in 1960 Cynthea was at Westminster iconographer Cristi Paslaru. Installed as the altar piece in a side Abbey acting as the liaison between the BBC and the Italian chapel, it is a beautiful way to remember her. broadcasting organization. Jane was widowed in 2003. After nearly 60 years living in Two years later, she decided on a change of direction and Ealing, in 2021 she moved to Lewes, East Sussex, close to returned to Oxford to take a diploma in education. She took a where her father’s family had been from. She died after a job at Stockport College as a lecturer mostly to apprentices on short illness in November 2023, survived by her 3 children, 5 day release and learning about current affairs, history and art: grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. 52