Viewing archives for Library & creative writing

Eighty-nine people joined a special Zoom event held to present QE Collections – Queen Elizabeth’s School’s new fully digitised online set of archives relating to the School and the Barnet area.

Guests at the public evening ‘town hall’ event, including Old Elizabethans and others with an interest in local history, were given a virtual guided tour and shown how to get the best out of the extensive high-quality online assets spanning more than four centuries.

Headmaster Neil Enright and QE’s Curator of Collections Surya Bowyer (OE 2007–2014) explained that the School held a variety of historic material and was keen to make it accessible to everyone. QE Collections is therefore offered online free-of-charge for all to enjoy.

In his address to the guests, Mr Enright pointed out that QE has been part of the Barnet community ever since its foundation by royal charter in 1573. “QE Collections therefore includes three different sorts of histories, nevertheless intertwined. These are the history of the School itself; the history of the local area, as viewed through the lens of the School; and the shared social histories that connect us.

“I am very excited that we are now able to share QE Collections with a wider audience.”

He paid tribute to the key role played by the late Richard Newton (OE 1956–1964), who promoted digitising the School’s archives and making them freely available to all, and also provided generous funding.

“It is certain that without his support, we would not have been able to launch this project – one that will be part of his legacy to the Elizabethan community,” Mr Enright said.

Mr Bowyer, who has played a central role in developing the platform and curating the material uploaded so far, pointed the guests towards a number of current highlights of QE Collections:

• A copy of Frederick Charles Cass’s book on the history of the School’s first century, which was published in around 1881
• The collection of S E ‘Olly’ and Mary Alford, both school staff members, featuring scrapbooks from 1958 to 1975
• A mid-20th century illustrated notebook by an anonymous author featuring two narratives, ‘Spend your holiday at a farm camp’ and ‘A Day At A Harvest Camp’
• School magazines and periodicals from 1876–1984
• The Guard Book, a large scrapbook of ephemeral items related to activities at the School from 1913 to 1970, compiled by E H Jenkins (Headmaster 1930–1961).

“We are constantly putting new material online, so the highlights would be different if I did this event in a few months’ time, or even next month,” Mr Bowyer added.

The event included tips and tricks for getting the best out of QE Collections, together with an explanation of how the various collections are organised, with ‘access points’ provided for the digitised objects – for example: People & Organisations; Subjects; Places.

All printed text in digitised objects is almost invariably fully searchable. Anyone wishing to search for a full name or phrase should put it in double speech marks in the search box, Mr Bowyer said.

Work continues on making archival material online. “Among several exciting projects that are currently mid-digitisation are the QE Governors’ minute books going all the way back to the earliest we have in 1587. The first is available now, with more coming soon.

“There is also our 20th Century History Project, which recreates life at the School during the last century through photographs, written records and ephemera. Lots of material from the 1940s to 1980s is already available and, again, more is coming soon.”

QE Collections was given a ‘soft launch’ three months ago. Since then, there have been more than 1,300 users from over 35 countries, with the Group Photographs and Everyday Life (Photographs) collections proving the most popular so far.

QE Collections uses professional digitisers to ensure its digitised files are of very high quality and has employed an industry-standard digital preservation system to ensure long-term availability for these digitised files, Mr Bowyer said, adding that while digital files are excellent for improving access, they are harder to preserve than physical objects, as digital storage media can become obsolete and data can become corrupted.

“All this work takes a lot of time and costs a lot of money. If you like the work we are doing and are in a position where you can consider supporting this work, please consider contributing to our Digital Fund, which supports QE Collections.”

The portentous ‘dun dun dun duuun’ opening notes of his 5th Symphony are recognised everywhere, but just what is it that accounts for the enduring popularity of Ludwig van Beethoven?

That is the question which Surya Bowyer, QE’s Head of Library Services, examines in the latest episode of The Queen’s Library Roundness podcast.

He drafted in some local expert help – Ruth Partington, the School’s Director of Music, and Caroline Grint, Music teacher – in his exploration of the significance of the iconic German pianist and composer in the musical canon.

“2020 marked the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth in Bonn,” says Mr Bowyer. “Around the world – from London to Melbourne and Shanghai to Sao Paolo – events which had been planned over many months, and, indeed, years, in concert halls and music venues to celebrate his works, in that symbolic year, had to be cancelled.”

Apart from the Nokia ringtone, (Gran Vals by Francisco Tárrega) those opening four notes of ‘Beethoven’s 5th’ – which form the title of the podcast – are probably the best known musical “motif” of all among the general public. And this is attributable, not to concert-going necessarily, but to their ubiquitous use in advertising and films. Yet would this suffice to explain the exceptionally high regard in which Beethoven is still held?

Miss Partington and Miss Grint discuss Beethoven’s acknowledged legacy as the composer whose composition spanned the transition from the classical period to the romantic era, and question whether he was truly ground-breaking in the way he is often presented.

The podcast covers the difference expectations held of composers such as Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who were court composers, and Beethoven who, while receiving a stipend, had more freedom. They explore the effect this had in a number of ways, including the duration of his symphonies.

The discussion ranges over whether Beethoven was a musical genius, or a talented musician and composer who happened to be about at the right time, with a rising middle-class who could afford to attend music concerts and the emergence of music critics. It also touches on whether Beethoven would recognise his own work as it is played now on modern instruments.

“The way in which Beethoven and his music are written about leads us to listening to him using the terms that are ascribed to him,” says Miss Grint. “Because we expect universality, we find it, we read the meaning into it. Instrumental music is seen as having universality because it doesn’t tell a story using words, it’s more metaphysical.”

Miss Partington believes Beethoven’s continuing popularity lies in the powerful emotions he evokes. “I’m not a fan of working-out meaning,” she says. She believes there is a mystical element to music, and that it should not be pigeon-holed.

But whether a genius, or a man in the right place at the right time, there seems little doubt his legacy will endure, from the ‘low brow’ – car advertisements, for example – to the distinctly ‘high brow’, such as performances at top music venues, the three concluded.

• The Dun, dun, dun, duun episode of the Roundness podcast is available from the Library pages of the eQE online platform and from normal podcast providers, including Acast, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The latest episode of the Roundness podcast series from The Queen’s Library highlights the grave unintended consequences that can arise from man-made changes to the environment.

Podcaster Surya Bowyer, QE’s Head of Library Services, warns that we disregard the “interconnectedness of the world’s natural systems” at our peril in a 36-minute episode that features a variety of expert voices and spans the globe, from Egypt and Ethiopia to France and Spain, and from the Amazon to the US.

But he begins the episode in one particular location, inviting his listeners to consider the extraordinary case of the pupfish – in fact, of one specific pupfish whom he names ‘Steve’. Steve, he explains, is a Sonoyta pupfish, a rare and threatened breed that is specially adapted to cope with the harsh conditions – extreme heat, very salty water and lack of oxygen – found in the waterways of the Sonoran desert straddling Mexico and Arizona. It is thought to live in an area covering only around four square miles.

“What Steve ‘knows’ is that during the breeding season, his scales turn an intense bright blue in an attempt to try and woo Linda, Brenda and the other pupfish,” Mr Bowyer says.

Understanding Steve’s remarkable metabolism – including his ability to produce alcohol – could hold benefits for medical science, Mr Bowyer says. “By considering the pupfish we could gain a better understanding of cancer cells.”

Yet, he says, the Sonoyta pupfish’s very existence is threatened by the damage done to the environment by the construction of the border wall ordered by former US President Donald Trump.

Mr Bowyer then looks at the negative effects that overlooking environmental issues has had across the world and throughout history. He recounts the fatal outcome for one 12^th-century French nobleman poisoned by another type of fish living in a polluted environment.

And he reflects on the changes in economics – a discipline which used to characterise environmental concerns as mere ‘negative externalities’, but is now increasingly understanding that the unexpected knock-on effects of pollution make it impossible to regard environmental factors in isolation.

The Consider the pupfish episode of the Roundness podcast is available from the Library pages of the eQE online platform and from normal podcast providers, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

George Mpanga is among only a handful of voices to be heard on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s widely publicised first podcast, which has been issued following the royal couple’s deal with Spotify.

For the first episode of Archewell Audio, Megan explains, she and Prince Harry decided to enlist “a few friends and a lot of other folks” who “we admire, and get their thoughts on what they learned from 2020”. George (OE 2002-2009), whose relationship with Prince Harry stems from his long-standing role as an ambassador for one of the prince’s charitable foundations, joined singer Sir Elton John, American politician Stacey Abrams, presenter James Corden, and tennis player Naomi Osaka in making his contribution.

The invitation from Harry and Meghan capped a momentous year in which George the Poet has rarely been far from the headlines: he has frequently been called upon to comment and reflect on both the Covid-19 crisis and the Black Lives Matter protests.

In the past few days, he also had a big announcement of his own to make: through his Instagram account, George revealed that he had become engaged to Sandra Makumbi, who is Head of Operations at his company, George the Poet Limited. “I proposed to my best friend and she said YES!” he wrote. “Glory to God for this fairy-tale engagement… you’ve made me laugh every day since school, you’ve always uplifted and protected me, now all I want to do is take care of you for the rest of my life.”

During his recording for the royals’ podcast made earlier in the month, George, in fact, revealed his plans to get engaged  – “I would love to give a shout-out to my beautiful fiancée, Sandra” – and was duly congratulated by both the Sussexes.

In line with the royal couple’s brief, George reflected on 2020.  “This year to cope with all the change, I just took more pride in the little things – I had a deeper appreciation for going out for a walk, being able to see my loved ones, and thinking about these things consciously really opened my eyes to what was right in front of me.

“One of the hardest moments for me this year was when a loved one, who was pregnant at the time, was hospitalised with Covid and forced into an early delivery. Fortunately, she made it, the baby made it too; they are now happy and healthy, but that was quite a scary moment.”

He recalled the joy of a family birthday: “My little brother turned 23 this year. That was one of those moments: we were all on the call, six of us kids and that was one of the first times when we all got to really ‘touch base’ and it was just fun…it was like being in the room as kids again, even though we’re in different rooms as grown-ups now. That was beautiful.”

George’s family have often been uppermost in his mind in his public appearances during the year. In April, when the UK was in the grip of the first coronavirus lockdown, he paid tribute to NHS workers “like my mum” in the short poem which he performed at the opening of BBC One’s coverage of the international One World: Together at Home concert.

The following month, his acclaimed podcast,  Have You Heard George’s podcast?, was nominated for, and subsequently won, a Peabody Award – one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious media prizes. His was the first British podcast ever to receive a nomination for a Peabody Award.

In June, with the Black Lives Matter protests at their height, George was repeatedly sought out for his views by the media, appearing as a panellist on BBC One’s Question Time , an interviewee on the corporation’s Newsnight and as a guest at the online MOBO awards, to name only three examples.

His links with Prince Harry date back some years. The prince’s Sentebale charity supports the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people affected by HIV in Lesotho and Botswana. George had seen at close-hand Harry’s warmth and compassion in meeting the children helped by Sentebale and became an ambassador for the charity in 2015.

When the royal engagement was announced, George was one of the commentators interviewed by the BBC for an insider’s perspective. He was then chosen by the BBC to perform his poem , The Beauty of Union, to introduce coverage of the 2018 wedding of Harry and Meghan and was therefore seen by a global TV audience numbering hundreds of millions.

Although day-to-day use of The Queen’s Library is currently restricted to the Sixth Form ‘bubble’, other QE boys are not missing out, thanks to an innovative ‘Click & Collect’ service.

All younger boys – from Years 7 to 11 – can easily access the reading material they want by first making a reservation on the School’s eQE online platform, and then coming along in their year group’s time slot to pick up their books. This is done from a designated area just outside the Library. They can use the same time slot to return books, which are then quarantined in a sealed container.

The service is proving popular, with the number of book loans – not including e-books, which are available on another platform – already well into four figures.

Head of Library Services Surya Bowyer said that introducing the Click & Collect service had necessitated some big changes in the Library, but he added: ““All in all, The Queen’s Library may have fewer people physically in it at the moment, but that’s not stopping us from continuing to provide resources to the whole School.

“It is great to be able to provide boys with access to the physical books again. And it is encouraging to see so many boys taking out books, even though the borrowing process is a bit more complicated this year.

“The new arrangements have also only further underlined the importance of online resources, and have motivated us to begin offering e-books as well as physical books. Through a separate new platform, we allow boys to ‘borrow’ e-books in a similar way to physical books, and to read them across their devices without losing their place.

“However, whereas some are happy with e-books, others seem to  prefer physical books. It is good to be able to provide both!” Mr Bowyer said.

The Click & Collect service encompasses not only books, but also magazines and publications such as comics, manga and graphic novels. To ensure the new arrangements remain safe, the librarian and boys are all required to wear masks, with hand sanitiser in frequent use.

Earlier this term, the Library also deployed technology to introduce the new Year 7 boys to its services, with Mr Bowyer producing a video to show the range of resources available.

Year 8 geographers have been getting creative as they grapple with the possible future effects of unchecked climate change.

The boys spent the first half of this term studying the topic, with many entering a QE competition challenging them to compose a poem or short story describing the world in the year 2100, when the world has warmed by 2 degrees.

The Geography department teamed up with Head of English Robert Hyland to judge the entries. Keon Robert has now been announced as the winner in the short story category, while Shreyas Chandrasekar was adjudged to have submitted the best poem.

Emily Parry, Head of Geography, said: ‘I was very impressed with the standard of submissions and the boys’ awareness of the potential impacts of climate change. The creative poems and stories clearly highlight the threat that climate change poses for all of us.”

The competition results were announced as the British Government unveiled its plan for a “green industrial revolution”, bringing forward a ban on petrol and diesel cars and announcing other measures, such as an expansion of offshore wind, hydrogen and nuclear power generation.

In his story, entitled Our Planet is on Fire, Keon imagined a dystopian future in a polluted city of 3 billion souls, its population swelled by immigrants from other countries seeking refuge from the effects of climate change.

There is no respite from the gloom: the story ends with the protagonist attending a meeting at his factory which, as he suspected, is to be closed down, as the authorities  try desperately – “too little, too late” – to deal with the crisis.

He reflects ruefully on the missed opportunities to deal with climate change that had brought the world to this point: “We knew it was going to happen, but we never did anything about it. In the end, it strikes us when we least expect it.”

Most of Shreyas’s poem is equally bleak – “none of us will survive” – and he adds anger into the mix:

Throw your wrath, your fury, your ire
To those who destroyed our Earth

But his work, entitled Every Little Helped, ends with just a hint of optimism, the voice from the future warning us that all may not yet be lost:

It’s time to act, to change, to make a better choice,
Or there will be no Earth left at all.

Riyan Siyani, who took second place in the poetry category, imagines how his grandchildren’s generation might look back on the present day:

It is the year 2100,
Nothing is the same, all hope has been squandered
We look back to the year of 2020
And remember how food was aplenty.

The runner-up in the short story category was Adam Liang, who draws out the effects of climate change on nature and on different groups in society, including the young – “babies are crying constantly…children complaining that it’s too hot” – and the old – “the first to go…they wasted and wilted away, just like dead flowers in the wind”.

• Main image above by Tumisu from Pixabay