Oxford's oldest student newspaper

Independent since 1920

Scouting for students

 was six months old when my father started working at St John’s. That was in 1946, and he
worked here thirty odd years, into his seventies. He was a scout. Back then it was all male
scouts. He made beds, brought the coal in, cleaned shoes, and was generally
a skivvy; a nursemaid, I suppose you’d say. It was quite different in those days; it was real
hard graft. My eldest sister worked here, in this building, for about thirteen years. She
left just over four years ago. So there’s been me, my dad and my sister, and actually my
daughter worked here for about five years as well. Back then a lot of families worked here.
The husbands, the wives, the children – that’s how it was in those days. It has changed
now, of course: people don’t stay as long as they used to. When I started, women were able
to bring their children along to work with them during holiday time, which is no longer the
case, and I think that’s why a lot of them did this job. It was a way of working when you had a young family; a way of going back to school when
you didn’t have a career. That was what you did: you either worked in a college or worked in
a school, and because my father was involved in college life it was pretty obvious I would be
too, somewhere down the line. Life’s changed a lot since then. Everything’s got faster. All
this health and safety has come in and there are all sorts of different gadgets for various
things. And there’s now only about three or four of us left who’ve been here for a few years.
When I started I just did one staircase in the block and my sister did the other two. now I do
the whole lot. As long as you’re in a routine, you’re alright. I get in at half six in the morning
and do 36 hours a week. I live 11 miles out of Oxford so although my husband drives me to
work, it still means an early start for me.I was born in north Oxfordshire and lived in Central Oxford all my live until about 8 years
ago. My mother still lives in the house I grew up in, in St John’s Street. I started coming in
early so I could clear up after the bops while everyone was still in bed. There’s usually
loads of rubbish afterwards. It’s surprising how much there is to do, really. I try to pace it
out: I do the loos first, then start going round the rooms at half past eight. Some people are
up by then. I do all the bins and what I can in the rooms when I’m going round. I have my
coffee at 10 o’clock, then start the hoovering on the staircase. The showers and the
bathrooms are the last thing for the day. I’m here all year round but I prefer it when the
students are here. We’ve had a few interesting people staying. There was Jonathan
dimbleby’s son, and Tony Blair was in this building too. I don’t think I was working here at
the time. My sister was, but she can’t actually remember him. Typical of my sister. At the
beginning of a new year it’s diffi cult because I’m quite nervous and the students must find
it odd too. Some students will talk and some won’t and you can usually tell from the very
first time you meet them whether they’re going to speak or not. I’ve been here nineteen
years now, and I’m actually going to retire in March. It’s the end of an era from the family’s
point of view, but it’ll be nice not to have to get up so early in the morning. That is one thing
I’m really looking forward to. Susan Gulliford talked to Julian CotteeARCHIVE: 4th week MT 2005

Check out our other content

Most Popular Articles