Chronicle Summer 2024

40 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

In memoriam

Gail Benson By Judy Young When Gail started at St Edward’s in 2011, she was officially a Biology technician but as the need in Physics grew she was soon shared between the two Departments. characteristic patience and fortitude. Her gentle persistence paid off and eventually she joined the Physics Department full time, motivated in everything she did by her strong wish to inspire the pupils with whom she worked. All Departments, whether scientific or not, need someone to manage their logistics. Organisation was one of Gail’s great strengths. She was quite definitely queen of the spreadsheets, everything was ordered at the right time in the right quantity, files and textbooks got ready for the start of every term and all apparatus (and sometimes us, the teachers) were gently and firmly put back in their place. She was an arch clearer up – in fact, if you weren’t careful, apparatus had sometimes been cleared up before it had even been used! None of this sounds very exciting but it was absolutely essential if the Department were to run well. None of us would have had the time (or the patience) to order yet more Pritt sticks, none of us wanted to spend time filling files or binding holiday booklets, to say nothing of all the photocopying. With another lesson to go to, we often left used kit behind us, which Gail quietly cleared up. She was always generous with her time and effort, doing so much that was often unseen to keep the Department running smoothly. That made it a less than easy role but Gail managed to juggle things with

nothing to the shame of being told by Gail that there was, yet again, graffiti on a desk at the back of your lab. Gail cared so much about all of us, she cared so much about her job and doing it well and, above all, she cared so much for our pupils. Nothing was ever too much trouble for her and she was immeasurably kind with it. We are so grateful for all that she gave us over the years, for her care, her support and her friendship. We miss her very much.

But Gail was so much more than this. As her fellow Physics technician said, Gail’s greatest problem was that she didn’t know and wouldn’t believe how good she was. Even when our words were yet again ‘Thank goodness you’re here; thank you so much’ she was always anxious that she hadn’t done enough, always checking to make sure we had got everything, always making sure we were alright. This extended far outside her job description – it was Gail who saw to the birthday cards and the birthday cakes, it was Gail who bought the coffee and biscuits for Departmental meetings and it was Gail who kept a special eye on the more wayward Science Pathway pupils and helped them to set up their coursework and encouraged them to finish it. And behind it all, Gail had a real sense of fun, a zest for life and an enthusiasm for doing everything she did to the best of her ability. Having said all that, she could

also be, as one member of the Department put it, ‘a little bit scary’. Woe betide you if

you managed to allow your supply of purple pens to be frittered away or your lab ran out of pencils, woe betide you if didn’t return your lab requisition sheets and definitely, definitely woe betide you if you infringed even a minor Health and Safety rule. And all this was