Introducing the new President


Harriet Langridge,SOSA president 2017 ~ 2018 M


y time at school was between 1975 and 1980, and I was a


boarder despite living fairly close by in Bloxham. My father had suffered a stroke


several years earlier, making life difficult for all of us, so I was despatched to Sibford. In those days, our education was about more than the three R’s - but having said that I could have done with someone teaching me how to properly iron a shirt (anyone who was after me in the laundry room will attest to my ineptitude with the iron!). The Quaker ways were subtle in some ways and routine in others. I remember my Mum saying that she was always impressed at how the whole school would be silent at the start of meetings, plays, or concerts for those few moments. The teachers all had an effect on how we grew up - some more than others. A few that come to mind are Jim Shields and Alan Jarvis - probably the reason that I went into engineering, and Graeme


Sagar for arranging visits to various companies in 5th form. Our careers officer had persuaded me that I wouldn’t be able to be a helicopter pilot (something to do with being a girl!) so I decided to go into engineering, and was offered a four-year apprenticeship with IMI Norgren. As their first girl apprentice - something that I didn’t actually think about at the time - it must have been quite difficult for the men who taught me. I’m still (30


Our careers officer had persuaded me that I wouldn’t be able to be a helicopter pilot


plus years later) the only ‘girl’ who completed the four years there. It’s a shame that more girls were not encouraged to take up this interesting career. Having been told that ‘I wasn’t good enough for A levels’ at school, I took my ONC and HNC ending up in Research


and Development. A couple of years after


my apprenticeship I got the wanderlust, doing a couple of overland trips, through the African continent first, and Asia and the Middle East after. These were fascinating times, and I look at some of the places I visited, and have photographs of, knowing that after the past few years they will be quite different, if they still exist. I’m so glad that Mum encouraged me to go when we talked of it; I saw life in a very different way, some of it good, some of it not so. After getting my travelling bug out of my system, I ended up down in Hampshire, working for the next 11 years in a few different roles from Development Engineer, to Sales Engineer to Engineering Buyer.


Industry was changing, and


several redundancies later, I had had enough and set out on my own, doing lawn mowing and gardening. Another few years


The Sibford Rocket / 25


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