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A CATHOLIC EDUCATION
Your excellent feature on Marianne Faithfull [June issue] stirred many memories – as I am also an ex-inmate of St Joseph’s Convent in Reading! I was a year behind Marianne at the convent and was also taught English by Mrs Simpson to A-level. She was a classic grammar school English teacher – well qualified, experienced and effective – but she had a tough job from 1963–’66 when our ears were tuned to the lyrics of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. She found a way through, however, and inspired me, as well as Marianne, with the Romantic poets.
Marianne was certainly a known presence in the school by her fifth year. The quality of her voice had been recognised early on and the equally beloved Miss Bailey, our music teacher, worked with her. A year or two before she left, Marianne sang the solo soprano parts of the Messiah in a Christmas production –I was in the choir. Her voice was quite beautiful – strong and clear.
We were all desperate to get out from the convent and away from boring Reading, which then had minimal entertainment facilities. London was only half an hour away, and older girls found their way to parties there. When Marianne left school to make her first single we all admired the classy escape tunnel she had made for herself, although when I heard her voice on the record it seemed rather thin to me and not like the stronger voice I had heard live at school events. I have been very sad reading about experiences she went through over the years, but she has emerged as the ultimate survivor and an inspiration to a younger generation. I will look forward to hearing her new album – Mrs Simpson would have been delighted that her teaching had inspired her most famous student to create a new work of art.