JOANNA WOMACK read Law at NH 1966-69, and while a solicitor in London was invited by Rosemary Murray to return as a don. Ken Pollock, NH’s DoS in Law, helped to develop her teaching skills. She served on Governing Body and later College Council, on the Investments and Financial committees. She remembers RM’s firm chairing at meetings, which were short and businesslike. She contrasts this with Valerie Pearl’s 'consensual debate' approach, which tended to cause dissent among Fellows and led to 'muddle'. She contrasts the relatively inexperienced Fellowship of those days with recent times, but says that Fellows 'loved' and 'trusted' RM.
She recalls the Fellowship’s discussions about introducing male fellows, and gender ratio issues in general, including her own approach to combining job and family. She feels she and Christine Carpenter were pioneers in combining young motherhood and College posts. She was appointed as Bursar in 1983, following the birth of her last child. She describes the prevailing appointment procedures and the advice certain other colleges gave to NH.
Her most daunting task was staff management, and again Ken Pollock acted as a mentor. She recalls particular people she found hard to manage, but notes the support given by Fellows, although some were less easy to work with. She describes her progression through various University committees and her appointment as University Treasurer. She comments on how different the background of Senior Bursars in colleges is nowadays. She also muses on the role and responsibilities of Governing Body versus College Council and committee structures within various colleges, asserting the importance of referring to the Statutes.
MARY ASHWORTH spent Lent Term 1976 in NH as one of New Hall's earliest Schoolteacher Fellow Commoners, while on sabbatical leave as head at Hatfield Girls’ Grammar School (HGGS). Having studied Chemistry at Newnham (1943-1946), she already knew Rosemary Murray, who had also visited HGGS to talk to girls, and at the official opening in 1963. RM had volunteered Helen Clover and, later, Zara Steiner for the HGGS Governing Body.
Mary studied Philosophy in Education and comments on the standard of lectures she attended. She also enjoyed reading in NH Library, the erudite conversations while dining at High Table, and the hospitality of the Fellows, although RM, now Vice-Chancellor, was often abroad. Her room in Fountain Court was dark and draughty.
She recounts the careers of the several HGGS girls who attended NH. She found it hard to characterise differences between NH and Newnham, since her Newnham experiences were coloured by World War II. She speaks of wartime rationing, and recalls chemistry lecturers from the 1940s. By contrast, 1970s NH had greater affluence, and it was easier to get undergraduate grants. NH women were pleasant, had plenty of social activities, and were ready to speak their minds. She comments on the increasing use of alcohol, the 'more strident feminism' and more liberal attitudes.