I have a copy of James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’, inscribed by Jackie on the inside of the front flysheet:

                                    “Yes   I said   yes   I will  yes”

                                    -  go to Ireland with you again.

This book – with Jackie’s channelling of Molly Bloom – was given to me by colleagues Jackie, Graham and Colette at the end of a 5-day college trip to Dublin in 2000, which I’d organised.

I was a good trip: educational, fun and providing a store of good memories.

One memory:  after visiting the Joyce Martello Tower – setting for the beginning of ‘Ulysses’ – we took the students on a stroll along the coast to The Forty Foot ‘Gentleman’s Bathing Place’ at Sandycove.

“No Diving.  Dangerous Rocks.”  It was the middle of October.  The sea was indeed “snotgreen” as observed in Joyce’s novel.  And students wanted to go swimming.  I was resistant but thought I might be in a minority of one among colleagues.  Jackie of course had, I knew, brought her swimming costume.

However, in the end, Jackie the intrepid outdoor swimmer was overcome by Jackie the follower of form and good sense.  “You probably didn’t include this in your Risk Assessment, did you?” she said.  “No”, said I.  Phew.  Accidents, grief, newspaper headlines averted.

There’s another incident I remember from that trip to Dublin.  We’d hired a coach to accompany us for the 5 days, which meant we were also accompanied by a somewhat old school (ok, sexist) coach driver.  Things got off to a bad start when he set out rules for his passengers, employing a figure of speech he’d clearly rehearsed on countless student trips:  “Treat this coach like a woman – show her some respect”.  Graham and I were sitting next to Jackie and Colette and it was only an exchange of linguistic observations on the superb irony behind the driver’s use of the word “respect” that diverted a fracas from developing.

But, sadly, there was not to be another opportunity to organise a literary trip to Ireland, with or without Jackie.

Jackie, with distinctive traces of her Brummie accent, came to Peter Symonds in the late 1990’s.  As Lead Tutor and English teacher she was a dedicated professional with a warm heart.  In an earlier career she had been an Environmental Health Official.  And we didn’t get many English colleagues with experience of inspecting abattoirs and meat-packing factories.

Jackie was someone who liked things to be done properly. 

She took it upon herself to organise the English department’s Christmas meal out.   The venue had to offer a traditional Christmas menu (I think one of Jackie’s key criteria was roast potatoes had to be on offer).  Jackie made those Christmas gatherings work.  It was typical that she and Alistair would offer their home as venue for the Faculty’s annual end of summer term social.  Jackie was a friendly colleague who seemed to retain a private life:  we were aware of her devotion to Alistair, Jessie and Mollie but different devotions occupied her at work.  But we were all very grateful that Jackie was our social organiser.

Nigel Fox

17 Dec 2017