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NEWS > Alumnae News > It's the Nora Nickalls Assembly Hall!

It's the Nora Nickalls Assembly Hall!

Last month's Where Are These Chairs competition was too easy by half, according to most of you. But we're delighted to announce that Alison Demir (nee Morley) Class of 1982 is our winner.

She says: “Well, one photo is definitely the main Hall where we had assembly with the austere picture of Miss Garwood Scott looking down on us and Miss Candy glowering at us from the stage (but often with a twinkle in her eyes).  Behind the wall was the medical room with a door off (just showing at the left of the picture) to the corridor leading from the main entrance to the left of the Assembly Hall down to the medical room.  I remember being an ant in The Insect Play in that Hall, I think I must have been in the Thirds that year.

 “At a guess for the other photo (I didn’t stay on for Sixth Form) it’s the chairs in the balcony above the assembly hall where the Sixth Formers used to sit in comfort whilst we all sat cross legged below.” 

Alison now runs Bramlies Bed & Breakfast in Dorchester, and has put her enterprising spirit and willingness to adapt and diversify to good use over the past 12 months. She says: “LEH instilled in me the ethos of hard work and not sitting back waiting for life to just help you on your way.  I have had a Charles Darwin quote on my fridge since March of last year “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives.  It is the one that is most adaptable to change”.

After a rich and varied career, which has seen her working for an iconic food manufacturing brand, spending time as a holiday rep overseas and helping to run the local agricultural college, while working as a Governor for her son’s primary school, she decided to run her own business in Dorchester.

After being unable to accept guests at the B&B since the first lockdown, she has juggled a portfolio of jobs, all as a key worker, including providing a doorstep delivery service for the elderly and vulnerable. She adds: “So, while I’m not a doctor or a professor, I am sure my LEH experience has had a lot to do with my mindset (like Charles Darwin!).” Alison – we salute you and thank you for all your incredible hard work and selfless service.

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