by Marian Wernham
The GCA was set up over 40 years
ago with the aim of fostering interest in the Classics in our community. We are
an active branch, offering a range of activities throughout the academic year
for students, teachers and those with a general interest in Classics. We have about 90 members, many of whom are
current or retired teachers as well as students and interested members of the
public.
Our
annual programme begins with an Opening Lecture, which is free to anyone and
always well attended. A notable speaker (often the author of a
recently-published book) is invited to talk about his/her subject. We have been
privileged in the past to welcome such famous names as Mary Beard, Michael
Scott, Natalie Haynes and Tom Holland, amongst others, and this year our
President, Professor Edith Hall, spoke to us about how Aristotle’s ‘Ethics’ can
guide us through 21st Century life. A second public lecture is
arranged for the summer term.
Professor
Edith Hall addressing the GCA at the
Opening
Lecture © Ian Peel
In
October Dr Mary Harlow from Leicester spoke engagingly to pupils in Years 6-9
on ‘Unravelling the Roman toga’, and in November sixth-formers were fascinated
to hear Professor Tim Whitmarsh from Cambridge explaining the evidence he had
found for the ways Homer might have been performed in antiquity.
In
January we organise a half-day conference for about 100 GCSE students, providing
them and their teachers with the opportunity to learn from academics covering
the wider context of two of their literature set texts. This year we welcomed
Professor Matthew Leigh of St. Anne’s College, Oxford (a long-standing friend
of GCA), who gave us his insights into the Virgil text, and Dr Dunstan Lowe
from Kent who talked about Boudicca and The Druids.
A
major event each year is our popular Classical Reading Competition, at which
about 100 students ranging from Years 6 - 13 from local schools battle it out
in playlets, dialogues and solo recitations in Latin or Greek, according to
their age group. Four experienced judges
have the unenviable task of awarding prizes and certificates based on accuracy
and expression.
We
are indebted to the CA for the generous grant that they provide for this event,
which enables us to give worthwhile prizes and a welcome tea to all attending,
and similarly for another competition which we have inaugurated in recent years
- a Classical knowledge ‘Certamen’ run on the lines of those in the USA. This,
too, is proving increasingly popular with students.
Occasional
self-help Teach Meets enable teaching staff to share ideas and issues about developments
in the syllabus and good teaching practice.
We
were delighted this year to support the Surbiton High School Parthenon Casts
project, and soon we hope to offer a bursary to a deserving student wishing to
attend one of the summer schools.
More
details of our activities can be found at https://guildfordca.wordpress.com/.
Do come and join us – you’d be very welcome!
Marian
Wernham
Membership
Secretary, GCA
For information about your nearest
branch, see the CA website:
