Dorothy Mary Preece

Preece was a teacher in Crewe. Always good to find out more about the women who helped shape the GA in the past. Always good when an old branch comes back to life...

She was a Geography Mistress at Crewe County Grammar School.

She wrote some books with H.R.B. Wood.

Source:

https://epdf.tips/complex-locations-rgs-ibg-book-series.html

If anyone has further information on D M Preece that would be appreciated as always.

John Bale

This post updated with some sad news in October 2023.

Also updated in January 2025 - plus a nice comment added too.

A review of John Bale's biography - by Trevor Higginbottom.

This is a very well-written and absorbing autobiography that tells us much about geographical education from 1960 to 2001. During this period John Bale's career included posts at Townfield Secondary Modern School for Boys, where he encountered 'deadbeat teachers' and 'lively' boys, Avery College of Education and the University of Keele. In 1998 he was appointed to a professorship in the latter's Education Department. 

The book contains many insights into the important influences during this period of, for example, the Geographical Association, the London Schools Geographical Group and the 1970 Charney Manor Conference. Individual geographers played an important role in Bale's career, including 'the dynamic walking whirlwind' Rex Walford and Michael Wise. Bale was a sportsman with a specialist interest in sport geography, in which he became a leading world figure. The book contains reflections on the influence of subject trends on his thinking in this respect, including 'quantitative' and 'welfare' geography. 

He became less interested in teacher training, finding lesson observation 'often a numbing experience where the main objective seemed to be one of control'. 

Arguably, Bale's influential work could have been used much more in lower secondary and primary geography to develop both the cognitive and affective dimensions of the subject, given that sport is an important motivational topic for many young people. For example, the very influential 'Geography for the Young School Leaver' Project's learning materials included very little on this theme. 

In 2001 Bale took early retirement from Keele 'severing (his) increasingly tenuous (and increasingly tedious) links with geographical education'. 

In the same year he assumed a new role in the Centre of Sports Studies at the University of Aarhus where, until his retirement in 2006, he made very significant contributions in the humanistic and social scientific fields of sport. 'Professional' autobiography is a genre which other geographers might consider: for example, some long standing geography teachers might usefully describe their involvement in the 'golden years' of curriculum development in geographical education in the latter third of the last century. It is important that this is recorded given that, hopefully, there might one day be a return to these exciting processes of curriculum change in the subject.

Source:

Higginbottom, Trevor. Geography, vol. 100, no. 2, 2015, pp. 121–121. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43825437. Accessed 16 Sept. 2023.

Another reviewer here also says good things about the book.

I'd love to take a read if anyone has a copy lurking on their shelves. It's proving elusive via eBay / ABE Books etc. which are my usual ports of call.

John was a PGCE Tutor at Keele University, and is fondly remembered by those he taught.

He also co-edited this book with Rex Walford and Norman Graves (two former GA Presidents)

It is well worth a look at - there are some useful chapters on the development of geographical education.

His book on Primary Geography is also one that I have in my library of old educational books at school. 

Updated October 2023

I was contacted by Jeremy Krause, a former GA President with the sad news that John passed away recently.

He said:

This is a sad loss of someone who, in their own way, influenced so many of us as a geographer and especially as someone committed to Primary Geography.
'Geography in the Primary School' published in 1987 came at a time when there was much debate about what the Primary Geography Curriculum should contain. The first chapter of John’s book entitled ‘Young geographers and the worlds inside their heads’ clearly indicates his take on children’s education. 
I have lost one of the greatest influences on my geographical and education career. I met John when he was Head of Geography at Nobel School in Stevenage. He supported me with my undergraduate dissertation. A few years later I met him at Avery Hill and then at Keele Uni. It was John that encouraged me to undertake my Masters.
He was one of those people 'you meet along the way’ - he shaped who I am. He gets mention in my GA Presidential Blog

My father’s obituary, @guardianobits https://t.co/x8rldzc6yj

— Anthony Bale 📚🐈‍⬛🏳️‍🌈 (@RealMandeville) October 25, 2023

The Guardian Obituary is here.

It describes the importance of a teacher: Frank Baber, in igniting John's love for Geography.

My Dad, Prof. John R. Bale, died peacefully at home yesterday aged 83, after living with dementia for many years. Here we are together in a photo booth c. 1979, & some of his books as a geographer & sports historian. Scholar, runner, Welshman, Guardian-reader, & a wonderful Dad pic.twitter.com/epl4rDJUGk

— Anthony Bale 📚🐈‍⬛🏳️‍🌈 (@RealMandeville) October 21, 2023

We send our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Professor John Bale who has sadly passed away at the age of 83. John was an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow at the @ICSHC and pioneered the geographical study of sport. @DMUHistory @BritSportHisSoc pic.twitter.com/yoHHc5LTtJ

— ICSHC (@ICSHC) October 27, 2023

Another memory via Facebook

 

And an RGS obituary. By Christopher Philo.

"His work spoke to embodied, performative dimensions of largely ‘pre-cognitive’ human-being long before that was a big theoretical attraction in the discipline; it engaged debates about the spatial organisation of spectacles, events and ‘disciplining’ regimes, as well as about many more empirical subjects such as sports stadia/events and the contestation of urban social space; and it addressed many different sports – football, cricket, running, and more – played and spectated in many different worldly contexts, in which regard John was also prescient in contrasting colonial visions/practices regarding the sporting body with the rather different ‘body-cultures’ indigenous to peoples and places beyond Europe and the West."

Belloc and the Fens

Hilaire Belloc was GA President in 1915.

He wrote about the Fens - the location of my school - in a collection of over 30 essays called 'Hills and the Sea'. In it, he intersperses pieces on England with others from France, including places like Carcassonne and other locations around the world - a reminder of his travel literature which perhaps drew him to the attention of the GA Council who had the job of finding a new President.

The book was first published in 1906 and was critically acclaimed.

It can be accessed via Project Gutenberg.

It is called 'A Family of the Fens' and focusses on the drainage of the Fens and its ruinous cost.

In 'On Ely' he visits the Cathedral, passing through its doors.

He ends this piece by talking about the allure of getting to know Ely and that "no man lives in Ely for a year without beginning to write a book. I do not say that all are published, but I swear that all are begun."

He visits 'The Sea Wall of the Wash', crossing the Nene at Sutton Bridge and heading for the coast.

This takes him to a piece called 'Lynn': the town where I lived for some years and taught for twenty years. I can follow his walking route from the Ferry, up to the Customs House, and onwards to St. Margaret's Church. 

At Manea in the Fens he talks to a local person, and captures the conversation:

MYSELF: This land wanted draining, didn't it?

THE OTHER MAN: Ah!

MYSELF: It seems to be pretty well drained now.

THE OTHER MAN: Ugh!

MYSELF: I mean it seems dry enough.

THE OTHER MAN: It was drownded only last winter.

MYSELF: It looks to be good land.

THE OTHER MAN: It's lousy land; it's worth nowt.

MYSELF: Still, there are dark bits—black, you may say—and thereabouts it will be good.

THE OTHER MAN: That's where you're wrong; the lighter it is the better it is ... ah! that's where many of 'em go wrong. (Short silence.)

MYSELF: (cheerfully): A sort of loam?

THE OTHER MAN (calvinistically): Ugh!—sand!... (shaking his head). It blaws away with a blast of wind. (A longer silence.)

Here's a talk which goes into a great deal of further detail on Belloc's work and influence, from Chris Hare.

It's part of a Lottery Funded project. Belloc lived for most of his life at Kingsland in Shipley.

Rachel Bowles

Rachel Bowles is a name closely linked to the GA in many ways, particularly within the area of Primary Geography. She has also been, until recently, a regular attendee of the Charney Manor Primary Conference and a prolific author for many decades, writing for the GA and other publishers and producing a great many books and resource packs.

She was linked with Avery Hill College, and one of several members of that college's staff who contributed to a GA Publication in 1981 for Primary and Middle Schools.

She has also written a number of research papers over the years, during her lengthy work at the University of Greenwich.

She completed an Honours degree in Geography at Bedford College, University of London in 1960. 

Subsequent career : Research Scholarship University of Hull-M.Sc 1962 

PGCE 1962/63 London. 

Teacher geology and geography at The Latymer School 1963-65; 

Senior lecturer Geography in Teacher training first at Edge Hill College, Ormskirk then Avery Hill College, Eltham. 

Honorary Research Associate, University of Greenwich.

Editor and coordinator of the Register of Research in Primary Geography (an independent charity and directory of observations of teaching and learning in the primary classroom and beyond). 

Geographical Association Council member, and an ex- officio member of the GA Early Years Primary Phase Committee (formerly Chair of the Committee) and corresponding member of the GA ICT Special Interest Group

Awarded a GA publication Award 1994

GA Outstanding All Rounder Award 2007

Honorary member of the Geographical Association 2011

Chartered Geographer

Honorary Fellow at Royal Geographical Society with IBG

Here's the citation, when she received her Honorary Fellowship:

From her LinkedIn profile:

Sources:

A research report on Primary education, co-written with a number of former GA President:

https://researchportal.northumbria.ac.uk/en/publications/education-matters-the-state-of-geography-in-english-primary-schoo

https://www.academia.edu/1221105/The_State_of_Geography_in_English_Primary_Schools

Rachel was involved in a series of films for Teachers TV, made by a company called Brook Lapping who I also worked with on three programmes about weather and climate change.

This one on festivals is interesting and you can hear and see Rachel explaining her choice of resources:

https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cvideo_work%7C1781833

Image: Screengrab from Teachers TV (2008), when Rachel was chair of the GA's Primary Phase Committee.

Further information and memories of working with Rachel Bowles would be very welcome. It's been a few years since I last saw her... at Charney.

Thanks Bob

A quick thanks to Bob Digby, who had his final Governing Body meeting recently after many years of supporting the Geographical Association as a trustee, named trustee and Honorary Treasurer.

Bob also served as President of the GA in 2012 of course.

Well, that’s it! Hanging up my @The_GA skates after 13 years on Gov Body. It’s been brilliant working with so many excellent trustees, & 2 CEOs. Promise yourself, #geographyteacher, that you’ll stand sometime for election & keep this great Association going strong. pic.twitter.com/787SasXnCn

— Bob Digby (@bobdigby) July 1, 2023

Bob's entry on the GA Presidents Blog that I wrote is here.

He is also an examiner and author of many books which will have helped young people to exam success.

A reminder of the collage that Anne Greaves made of some of Bob's many interests back in 2012.

We will see Bob at GA Conferences and supporting the GA in many other ways too of course.

Image: Bryan Ledgard

That’s it! 13 years on @The_GA Governing Body ends tonight. Thanks to an array of highly committed people, almost all of whom volunteered their time, with whom it’s been a privilege to work. It’s a fantastic organisation to work for!

— Bob Digby (@bobdigby) August 31, 2023

Professor Eva G R Taylor

Updated August 2023

Eva Taylor was the first woman to hold a Chair in Geography in the UK: at Birkbeck.

Eva G R Taylor worked with R J Unstead on work on regions and within the Birkbeck Geography department.

She was a ground-breaking female geographer and historian.

Regional geography was a key idea in geography for many decades, even through to the 1980s when I started my teaching career.

Source:

British Geography, edited by Robert Steel. (PDF download)

PROFESSOR Eva G. R. Taylor, an Honorary Member of the Institute since 1954, died in Wokingham on 5 July 1966, aged 85. She was a Fellow of Birkbeck College and Victoria Medallist of the Royal Geographical Society. From 1930 to 1934 she was Professor and Head of the Department of Geography in the University of London, and in 1944 became Professor Emeritus.

There are links here to a range of former GA Presidents and also A J Herbertson.

Image source:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/2F941C5513B80DB4D1C8F4BCEF0F6B57/S0373463300042946a.pdf/div-class-title-eva-g-r-taylor-div.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Germaine_Rimington_Taylor

According to this, the first woman to hold an academic chair of geography in the United Kingdom.

From the document above:

In a broadcast talk about town-planning, Professor Taylor once said that to plan a new town on the lines she was criticizing was like 'trying to stop Tommy growing by refusing to buy him a new pair of boots'. It was typical of her forthright use of English. 

Many people know and respect her as a geographer and historian, but to many she is endeared by her absolute mastery of language: no stylist in the prissy sense of the word, but a writer in whom two great literary virtues were eminently found. First, the absolute reflection of the writer in the words—so that her tone and personality come through so unmistakably that no other person could have written them. And secondly, so complete a certainty of what she had to say that the language she used took on a natural, unforced, direct form that gave it immense pungency and punch. 

That clarity of mind extended not simply to the construction of each sentence but to the whole plan of the essay or book—an essentially classical virtue even more admirable when found in a person who had a poor opinion of the exclusively classical—to put it in terms that are probably historically out of date and that would (God rest her) perhaps infuriate her, an Oxford rather than a Cambridge virtue. As a historian, Professor Taylor was constantly dealing with movements, inventions, discoveries, manifesting themselves in persons: and no matter which of her writings you turn to, you will find (and this is what gives her writing such ease and clarity) that she never wrote until she had a clear picture of the personality behind the person. There are no lay figures in her work. It is supreme craftsmanship, even supreme artistry. 

RENE HAGU

Updated August 2023

Obituary in Transactions of the IBG

“Eva Germaine Rimington Taylor.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, no. 45, 1968, pp. 181–86. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/621401. Accessed 24 Aug. 2023.

She was the President of Section E

She started out as a Chemistry Teacher

In 1905, while attending a vacation course in education at Oxford, she was introduced to geographical field studies. Early in 1906, she moved to a teaching post at a convent school in Oxford in order to complete her study for the Diploma in Education. In October of the same year, she became a student at the School of Geography and two years later obtained the Certificate of Regional Geography and the Diploma of Geography, both with a mark of distinction. 

From 1908 to 1910, she served as a private research assistant to A. J. Herbertson who 'considered her the most brilliant and able of the many women students trained under him at Oxford' (H. O. Beckit, in a testimonial dated 27 April 1916). 

She spent the years 1910 to 1916 writing school text-books and drafting wall-maps (in collaboration with J. F. Unstead whom she first met at Oxford in 1906); and in starting her family. From 1916 to 1918, she lectured in geography and in educational method at Clapham Training College for Teachers and at the Froebel Educational Institute. In 1920, she gave a course of lectures at Queen Mary College (then the East London College).

Also published in 'The Geographical Teacher' - 1916

Taylor, E. G. R. “THE FIRST STEPS IN GEOGRAPHY TEACHING.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 8, no. 4, 1916, pp. 224–30. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40554496. Accessed 24 Aug. 2023.

Worth a read.

Source:

Beaver, S. H. “Geography in the British Association for the Advancement of Science.” The Geographical Journal, vol. 148, no. 2, 1982, pp. 173–81. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/633769. Accessed 24 Aug. 2023.

Eva Taylor lectures were started in 1960.

The one described here was chaired by another former GA President: Michael Wise.

Of the speaker here he described his work during the war...

Wise, M. J., et al. “Planning and Geography in the Last Three Decades: Discussion.” The Geographical Journal, vol. 137, no. 3, 1971, pp. 330–38. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1797270. Accessed 24 Aug. 2023.

Further memories of Eva Taylor are very much welcome.

"Professor Eva Taylor of Birkbeck College London University, the foremost authority on Tudor geography, arranged a facsimile publication and provided commentary on Forty Plates from John Speed’s Pocket Atlas of 1627.

Professor Emeritus Taylor, 1879–1966, was the first female professor of geography in the U.K., published prolifically, and was also renowned for her unconventional use of a walking stick: 

An academia.edu bio describes how “she used to point it at students when asking a question, as well as using it to hail taxies or even to hook Professor Darby’s leg to join her taxi from a crowd of people waiting.”

“Her writings were characterized by the extensive use of original sources and documentary evidence and they were always a delight to read.” This included “her two monumental volumes of the mathematical practitioners of Tudor and Stuart England (1954), and then those of Hanoverian England (1966)….”

Source: https://simanaitissays.com/2022/03/15/touring-tudor-england-with-professor-eva-taylor-and-google-maps/


And another biography here:

Taylor continued working well into her 80s, dying at Wokingham on July 5, 1966.

https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/taylor-eva-1879-1966

https://www.hakluyt.com/downloadable_files/Journal/DeClercqTaylor.pdf - an updated version of a lecture given in 2005. Mentions Bill Mead.

She was a partner of one of the Dunhills of tobacco fame it seems.

A Bill Mead mention of her lecturing at the GA Conference here (in 1946 just after WWII)

Another Eva Taylor lecture transcript:

https://www.davidbarrieauthor.org/blog/2022/5/5/sa7v7vbcfpleeb2datally3yqt5u23

R J Unstead

While in the GA Archive I came across the manuscript of an appreciation of the work of A J Herbertson: a legend from the very origins of the GA, handwritten by R J Unstead.

R J Unstead was a connection with the early days of the GA as well, having been a teacher who was influenced by hearing Halford Mackinder speak. He wrote about Herbertson, and that was featured in a 1955 issue of 'Geography'.

Source:

UNSTEAD, J. F. “A. J. Herbertson and His Work.” Geography, vol. 50, no. 4, 1965, pp. 343–47. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40565958. Accessed 19 Aug. 2022.

Here is the piece as it featured in 'Geography', in a special issue devoted to A J Herbertson.

Here is the manuscript:

He wrote a great many books which were published during the middle part of the 20th Century.

His obituary was published in 'Geography' in 1966, and written by Olive Garnett.

Source

Garnett, Olive. “JOHN FREDERICK UNSTEAD.” Geography, vol. 51, no. 2, 1966, pp. 151–53. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40566076. Accessed 19 Aug. 2022.

I lack an image of R J Unstead if anyone has any memories or is able to provide one from the 1960s.

A few bits of Belloc

Hilaire Belloc was GA President in 1915. He was a bit of an 'outsider' President.

While in Devon I found a second hand copy of one of his 'geographical' books: The Road. He was a great traveller and quite a few of his books are on the theme of travel, and this was one of the reasons he was asked to be President (you can read his own entry on this blog)

I was also reading a copy of Edward Thomas (a hero of mine's) excellent 'The South Country' last week in Devon and discovered that the title of the book was taken from a poem by Belloc of the same name, which starts with the lines: 

When I am living in the Midlands

That are sodden and unkind,

I light my lamp in the evening:
My work is left behind;
And the great hills of the South Country
Come back into my mind.

The great hills of the South Country
They stand along the sea;
And it's there walking in the high woods
That I could wish to be,
And the men that were boys when I was a boy
Walking along with me.

Image: Alan Parkinson, shared under CC license

2021: Alan Parkinson (that's me...)

Updated June 2024

The final entry for the blog - at least for a while - is a post about me. 

I'm Head of Geography at King's Ely Prep, and also an author and consultant geographer. I'm a Chartered Geographer and Fellow of the RGS and RSGS.

For what I get up to, please visit, and subscribe to my main blog, which is called Living Geography, and follow the development of my Quotidian Geographies project during 2021.

I will also add other blog posts here from time to time through the following year, before the next President as I have the chance to go into the archives.

You can also follow the #POTGA21 hashtag during this year as well as #everydaygeographies.

I was born in the Listerdale Maternity Hospital, to the East of Rotherham in late December 1963. I lived in the village of Wickersley and went to Northfield Lane Infants and then Junior School before going on to Wickersley Comprehensive School. This was formerly Wickersley High School (many of our folders still had the old name) and also had ROSLA extensions after the raising of the school leaving age, and a classic 1970s construction. My journey to school involved walking over the blue bridge here, with distant views of the Peak District and Sheffield.

Image: Alan Parkinson

Miss Moon was my teacher in Year 8, then I had John Neale and Steve Hanstock amongst others. I still have my exercise books from that time. I moved to a house on the main Bawtry Road shown above during my secondary days. I got an 'A' in my 'O' level Geography, and stayed on to do 'A' levels at the school.

I was really interested in computers too, and our science teacher Doc Humphries had an Apple II computer in a locked-up trolley at the back of his lab. I used to stay behind one or two evenings a week after school and teach myself to programme the machine, and used magazines and books to find out more about how it worked. I took 'O' level Computer Science and ended up teaching GCSE and A level Computer Science as well as Geography for a while.

Taking Computer Science also meant that we would travel on an old double decker bus operated by Powell's coaches, and head for Dinnington College to actually access some computers - RM machines with green graphics on black screens, and machine coded. 

I did quite well in my 'A' levels, and the big success was Geography for me. My teacher was Steve Hanstock who was personable and a good teacher.

John Neale was another of my teachers, who it turned out worked with John Lyon, who later became a colleague at the GA.

Our notes were often banda duplicated, and had lots of information and diagrams and spaces to fill at GCSE, but as we got more into geography, we had more lecture-style lessons.
When I opened my 'A' level results in August 1982, I had the grades to head for either Lancaster University or Huddersfield Polytechnic, but chose the course which would be more practical and fieldwork based, and also physical geography based as that was my interest back then. I also had plans to return home more than once or twice a year and Huddersfield wasn't too far away from Rotherham.
As mentioned elsewhere on this blog, in entries describing Huddersfield and the connections with other GA members, it is clear that this was a good proving ground for some young lecturers including Tim Burt and David Butcher amongst others.
A few images of me emerged on a local Facebook page, and also another dedicated to those who 'survived Huddersfield Polytechnic'.

Image: Sally Stow. I'm the one in the yellow and black hat. I haven't changed a bit.

I graduated with a II, i and was not sure what to do with myself.

Teaching was an option as my mother was a lecturer at the time at Dinnington College of Further Education. I took a Computer Science 'A' level at Rotherham College of Arts and Technology, which involved learning other computer languages and gave me the time to read, and play a lot of golf. 

I went for several interviews for PGCE courses, and was eventually accepted at the University of Hull by Vincent Tidswell, who was in his final year as PGCE tutor. He appears on this blog of course as I later found out he was involved with the GA and wrote a number of influential books.

After finishing the course, I eventually found work. The first school I actually earned money from teaching in was Kimberworth Park in Rotherham - now demolished and famous for being the school where former England goalkeeper David Seaman. Ironically, I now teach at the school where Nick Pope - an England goalkeeper in the last year - was taught.

Here's the 'fun' biography I put on GeographyPages in 2006. It's a little out of date now of course, but includes some interesting snippets. Geography Pages was my website I started creating in 2001, and which became one of the most popular websites of the time (as one of the few websites of the time) gaining millions of page views a year (and costing me a lot of money to maintain)

Born on a sheer mountain side in South Yorkshire in the early 1960's during a blizzard, Mister P was educated at the local 'comp' and enjoyed moderate success (9 'O' & 5 'A' levels) before moving on to Huddersfield Polytechnic (when polys were polys) and spent the next 3 years pushing the Atterberg limits, enjoying the mid-1980's price of beer, checking tensiometer readings at Bicknoller, criss-crossing the Pennines in a land rover with a radioactive soil moisture probe.

He has taught at various schools in Derbyshire (the good old Amber valley), East and South Yorkshire, and at  King Edward VII School: a specialist Sports College, in King's Lynn, Norfolk where he is Head of Geography, and edits the school newsletter, amongst other things. In his time at the school he has overseen the introduction of the Geography National Curriculum, run the Duke of Edinburgh's Award group, been Activities Coordinator, Deputy Head of House, and for a year was acting Examinations Officer. 

A founder member of the sadly-missed Boiled Onions Climbing Club, he enjoys foreign and UK travel, hill-walking when he gets the chance, landscape photography, obscure travel literature, Scandinavian Jazz, open fires, a good tight end in a game of bowls, beachcombing on the North Norfolk coast and fine malt whiskies. The Old Hunstanton side he plays for won the Countryside League Knockout cup in 2005.

He completed a DfES Best Practice research scholarship on the use of ICT, particularly the Internet in improving the quality of teaching in Geography (2002) which is published online and has been referred to by other academic researchers, and also completed an Online course on Climate Change run by the University of East Anglia. He is an ICT consultant to 'silver surfers' in the North Norfolk area. He is also involved in various web-based interests, including 'Evaluate' (his software evaluations are featured on the website and have been published in 'The Guardian' as have contributions to 'Brainstrust')

In November 2003 he was awarded a Royal Geographical Society Innovative Geography Teaching Grant to develop the GEO BLOGS project. Blogs have come on substantially since 2003 and are now almost so mainstream that they are commonplace, but it was good to get in there at the start.

In May 2004 he was invited to join the Geographical Association's Secondary Education Committee (now Secondary Phase Committee). He had an article published in the October 2004 issue of 'Teaching Geography', and was an E:port representative of the DfES/Evaluate/Schoolzone at DfES ICT in Geography roadshow and BETT 2005 and 2006. He has also been a contributing author to GeoProjects  (http://www.geoprojects.co.uk) and has also done consultancy and writing work for Hodder and Pearson and 3 or 4 other publishers. He was Editorial consultant on the new Longman School Atlas, which was published in April 2006, and has also contributed to ideas and materials for the new BBC Digital Curriculum.

He has delivered ICT workshops at numerous Norfolk Geography conferences, and network meetings, and has also presented at the GA Conference, and the SAGT Conference in 2005, and will be once again in 2006. In August 2005, he became a Teacher Consultant for the Geographical Association, and is currently doing 'various consultancy-type-things...'

In October 2005 he was awarded a second Royal Geographical Society Innovative Geography Teaching Grant to develop the EARTH: A Users' Guide project. He'd appreciate it if you got involved.

2006 contributions to the milieu include: contributions to Brainstrust / Evaluate publication, Longman School Atlas published, article published in Pilot News, guest edited WebWatch section of GA News for May 2006 and invited to join the editorial committee of GA Magazine, teacher notes and curriculum maps produced for the RGS-IBG Discovering Antarctica website (launched June 2006), best of the web feature for Teachers TV (coming in September), contributions to working groups in Norfolk on SEN and Pilot GCSE. He is also involved in further Pilot GCSE developments to be announced shortly as part of the Action Plan for Geography. In 2006 he was awarded a 'Norfolk Geogers' award for contributions to Norfolk Geography. 

Image: showing the KES fleeces we used to wear for a while... taken around 2006.

In early 2008, I saw an ad for a post at the Geographical Association, and put in a speculative application for what was going to be my 'perfect' job, despite having a bit of 'imposter syndrome' about being up to a national role.

This was a good year, as I was also awarded the Ordnance Survey Award for Excellence in Secondary Geography Teaching by the RGS-IBG. Here I am prior to all that, and prior to the interview, presenting at the GA Conference as part of the authoring team for the new KS3 toolkit series.

In 2010, we published the first of the Mission:Explore books, written by the Geography Collective, which started with a conversation between Daniel Raven Ellison and myself. I am very proud of the work we completed together, with other members of the Geography Collective, and latterly with Helen Leigh and Tom Morgan-Jones.

Here's the motherlode: the 500+ missions that we wrote as a team, and then asked young people to select so that Tom Morgan Jones could do the inking.

Chatting to Anne Robertson of EDINA, with whom I've worked for quite a few years now.

In 2011, my job was sadly made redundant as a result of financial fallout from the end of the Action Plan for Geography.

I put out an appeal for help.

This led to two years of freelance work, with plenty of ERASMUS thrown in.

In 2013 I received a nice email from Mike Robinson, the Chief Executive of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, explaining that I had been awarded the RSGS's Joy Tivy Education Medal and Honorary Fellowship - a great honour.

I also received an email from Claire Kyndt of King's Ely. This resulted in me returning to the classroom for a second stint, where I remain to the present day.

In 2017, I got an email suggesting that I might make a good President, and asking whether I would put myself forward. I duly did, and the rest is... geography.

My Presidential theme is 'Everyday Geographies' or 'Quotidian Geographies'.

There are a great many people I haven't mentioned here who I owe a great debt too... these will be mentioned in future posts in the year ahead, and also in my Presidential lecture.

References

I have written, co-written or contributed to over 30 books, including KS3, GCSE, Fieldwork and A level textbooks, children's books, adventure books and eBooks.

Charney 20th Anniversary book, edited by Simon Catling - has a chapter called 'You can take the boy out of Yorkshire' which included a sort of autobiography as well - I think on hindsight that's one of the better shorter things that I've written.

Why not buy at least one copy of my book 'Why Study Geography'? - it's excellent.

Full biography on my About.me page.

Updates

I'm always creating and sharing resources.

Currently working on the Oak National Primary project as a writer and reviewer through into 2025...

Updated June 2024

On the 3rd of June, I was elected as the Vice President: Education of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) for the next 4 years.

I am proud to be continuing the tradition of GA Presidents being associated with the RGS-IBG in many different ways, going back to Freshfield. I am looking forward to supporting the work of the RGS-IBG in supporting geography educators.

2020: Dr Susan Pike

Updated August 2025

Dr Susan Pike is Assistant Professor (Education) at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and was previously Lecturer in Geography Education in the School of STEM Education, Innovation and Global Studies at the Institute of Education in Dublin City University, in the Republic of Ireland. 

She moved to Ireland from England in 2000.

School and University

Susan had a shaky start with geography. 

She remembers copying off the board in primary school in Scotland and learning off examination answers and standing up when getting questions wrong in secondary school in England. Luckily for her last year of A level, she had an inspiring teacher Mrs Fairclough, as she remembers

"Jane was amazing, she realised very quickly we had pretty poor experiences of Geography so far. She listened to our complaints, and acted upon them! She took is out on fieldwork, passing on her passion for Geography and the environment. She was so caring, she also persuaded me to apply for university, something I had never considered before. For this I remain so grateful to her." 

Susan attended Nottingham University's School of Geography from 1987. One of her lecturers was Professor John Cole. Susan had lovely memories of him: 

"As geography students we were a social lot, most of the class went out on Thursday nights to Rock City. But we were all there at 9 am on Fridays for his 'Developing World' lectures. He was so interesting, teaching us geography through story. I was very lucky to have him as my tutor in 2nd Year, through his stories and questions, he never failed to get us thinking geographically". 

Her other memorable lecturers were numerous, and included Dr Catherine Delano-Smith and Professor Louise Crewe. Over the past 20 years Susan has designed and taught on a range of modules in Geography,

Teaching

After graduating, Susan worked for Compassion in World Farming for three years, hence the idea for her GA Conference theme in 2021. She worked in all sections, from despatch to campaigns but also knew that she wanted to move on and teach. 

She gained a place on the PGCE at the University of Southampton, and her tutor was Professor Nick Foskett. She had very positive experiences at Southampton. 

"I was so fortunate on the PGCE. My tutor was Nick, who was so dedicated to his role. he really cared for us all. At Bournemouth School for Boys, we were treated with such care, as we were the first PGCE students there and at Oaklands Community School in Southampton, the same was so as they always took students." 

During this time Susan realised the importance of her subject association:

"I was always aware of the GA, having read Geography at university. But on the first day of our PGCE, Nick told us to join the GA and that the Conference would be in Southampton that year, so I joined and went the Conference. I remember being 'star-struck' by meeting so many of the people whose work I had read. And they were all so lovely!" 

Susan worked at King Richard School in Paulsgrove, Portsmouth, then back to Oaklands Community School in Southampton. All whilst completing her Masters in Geographical and Environmental Education at Southampton. She then became Head of Geography at Hayling School near Portsmouth. She fondly remembers all the roles she held as well as the students and teachers she worked for. 

"I was so fortunate to work in great schools, with such dedicated teachers. All the school I worked in were challenging in terms of the issues some students' experiences, but luckily as a geography teacher you were able to link the learning to the students' lives and engage them. Most of them eventually liked geography and many did better than they thought they would at GCSE! We also went on many trips, working out the very cheapest ways to travel, from down to the local beach or shops and all the way to EuroDisney and the Christmas Markets in Germany." 

Working in teacher education.

Susan continued to be a member of the GA, and on moving to Ireland and working in teacher education, she started writing for the GA. She first wrote about research on children's national identity in Primary Geography in 2001. She went on to become more involved in the work of primary geographers, presenting at several GA Conferences, Geography Teacher Educators' Conferences and Charney Primary Geography Conferences. 

During this time Susan completed her doctorate in education at Queen's University Belfast as well as other published research in geography education and teacher education. As can be seen from her DCU profile, she has written numerous books, papers, chapters and resources all related to geography and geography teacher education. She is also on the Committee of the Geography Society of Ireland, a member of the Geography Education Research Collective (GERECO), the editorial board of International Research in Geography and Environmental Education (IRGEE). 

Susan and the GA Presidential Role 

Over time, Susan became more involved in the work of the GA. In 2016 Susan's first book was published, 'Learning Primary Geography: Ideas and Inspirations from Classrooms', featuring theory and practice in primary geography. Over this time Susan wrote articles, many with teachers for Primary Geography. 

She received the Geographical Association Award for Excellence in 2016. 

She worked extremely hard as Secretary of the GA’s Early Years and Primary Phase Committee from 2017. She then became Junior Vice President in 2018. 

Over the past two years she has chaired the GA’s Education Group meetings for the last year in her role as GA Vice-President and President, and is currently a GA Trustee. Susan’s 2021 Presidential theme of ‘Compassionate Geographies’ grew in significance and resonance since it was first announced, as we all became increasingly aware of our own personal geographies and connections with others. The Conference, held online, was a great success. Session downloads are still available to obtain by those who attended, and can be purchased by those who didn't attend the event. Susan was delighted about how the Conference went: 

"Thanks to all the GA member and staff who got involved, the event went as well as it could! The keynote speakers, the workshops and lectures as well as the Wonder Room were all wonderful." 

The online format of the conference allowed those who could not normally attend the event to come along. As Susan says:

"My original reasons for wanting to become President were to encourage more people to get involved in the Association, as the restrictions this year has actually helped this process. I think people are more likely to say they can volunteer for the GA, as it's been easier to meet up online. However, I also know folk are really looking forward to seeing each other for real! There's also more to do to make the GA more diverse and inclusive, but we are all working on that as you can see in each issue of GA News. It's been a strange year to be GA President, but I've enjoyed every moment of it. It has been a privilege everyday. Luckily I was in the presidential cycle for the two years before, working with Education Group and Governing Body before our movements were restricted. However, there are many GA members I've only really got to know online, many of whom have become more involved in the Association. All of them are so dedicated to the Association and promoting and developing geography in their settings. So, like many of us, I am really looking forward to Conference in 2022, for many missed cups of coffee and chats, as well as the quiz, BeerMeet and other events in Guildford!" 

As she steps down from being GA President, she is looking forward to continuing her work for the GA, as a member of Governing Body and working on various projects for the Association. Most of all she is looking forward to linking up her students with schools, principals, teachers and children again, something that has been impossible recently. 

Images copyright: Bryan Ledgard / Geographical Association - the next images were provided by Susan Pike.

Susan with teachers involved in Learning Primary Geography, and Dr Harold Hislop, Chief Inspector of Schools in Ireland in 2016

Some of Susan's Geography Specialism students at the GA Conference in 2017

Some of Susan's BEd2 students 2011, out of fieldwork with Barnaby Bear

Rethinking risk by making fire with BEd3 students at DCU, 2018

References

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_PFcqb8AAAAJ&hl=en - Google Scholar

John Lyon

Alongside the Presidents, this blog also features other notable figures from the GA.

One of my best professional experiences was working with John Lyon for three years at Solly Street in Sheffield when I was the GA's Secondary Curriculum Development Leader during the 2nd half of the Action Plan for Geography.

John had a long career as a teacher in the Rotherham and Sheffield area, eventually becoming a Deputy Head in Anston, a place I visited regularly when I was at school as I had friends who lived there, and used to cycle over from my home in Wickersley. 

He worked as the GA's Programme Director, which meant he had oversight of many of the GA's activity strands, with an eye on the bigger picture. I was more the 'ideas man'... some of which were good :)

John was involved in a great many GA projects, whether coordinating them, or contributing to them. He has served on the moderating team for the GA's Quality Marks for many years as well. He was involved in a BECTa funded ICT project and the Making my Place in the World project - working with young people in Sheffield. He and I presented a number of times at GA Conference, including a session with Michael Solem from the AAG. He was also involved in the early stages of the I-USE project which was Erasmus funded.

He is one of the authors of the 'Progress in Geography' textbook published by Hodder.

He has contributed to GA journals over the years, and worked to write resources for a whole range of areas of the GA's work.

John is also the host of the GA's Podcast series, which has to date interviewed around 40 people and produced an hour long-ish discussion each time with supporting resources. Hunt out GeogPod, particularly the episodes where he interviews people such as Margaret Roberts.

You can listen to them on the GA website, or on all the usual streaming services such as Spotify.

Here he is on a Worldwise Weekend with Nick Lapthorn - another former GA President. He has been involved with Worldwise and the Worldwise Challenge for some time, and this led to involvement in the International Geography Olympiad eveents - iGEO.

John is a keen cyclist and runner, and lives high up in the Peak District in a perfect place to carry out these hobbies. He also acts as quiz master on the GA Conference quizzes which are very popular.

As mentioned, John was also one of the writers who worked on this textbook, of which I have a few copies in my classroom.

John also serves on the Physical Geography SIG. This is one of the GA's SIGs or Special Interest Groups.

Other memories of, and embarrassing stories about, John very welcome as always.

Association at Work - with Alan Kinder - image Bryan Ledgard

David Gardner

The blog has shared stories of numerous individuals who have been involved with the GA over the years. The latest to be mentioned here is David Gardner. Here he is presenting at an event at the GA HQ in Sheffield in the Patrick Bailey Room.

He has worked on a number of projects and publications, drawing on his experience of working with QCA and also as an experienced and prolific author of textbooks and other resources. 

From David's LINKEDIN biography:

For 6 years he led and managed major curriculum and research projects as part of his work at the QCDA. Before that he was the author of various textbooks, teacher guides, and websites for a range of publishers and subjects including geography, history and ICT. David has 28 years experience as a teacher of geography, history, and ICT. 

From 2011 to 2014 David led PGCE Geography at Goldsmiths University, and was Senior Lecturer in PGCE Geography at UCL Institute of Education, from 2014 until August 2018. From July 2012 to February 2013 he was also subject leader for PGCE Geography at the Open University. David is a freelance educational consultant.

As senior advisor at QCA/QCDA he led for the subject two national curriculum reviews - primary and secondary, the development of new GCSE and GCE qualifications.

David has also extensive experience of working with teachers to develop curriculum around the world leading workshops in a range of countries including Kazakhstan, India, South Africa, Indonesia, Jordan and Kuwait, UAE and Singapore.

His most recent substantial project is the KS3 Hodder book 'Progress in Geography' with associated support materials. I also have a copy of his pack produced by Heinemann many years ago called 'ICT Activities in Geography'. If you see a map of Scarborough in a book it's probably been written by David.

David also wrote the accompanying 'Skills' book for the Hodder series which won a GA Award this year.