Margaret Mackintosh RIP

Updated post.

Sad news at the end of last week from colleagues who have organised the Charney Conference over the years of the passing of Margaret Mackintosh who was still active and interested in geography in her 80s. Just a few weeks ago she attended the latest online GeogLive! session run by the GA's Primary and Early Years Committee.

Image from Margaret's Facebook page.

Margaret was a retired primary teacher and BEd Geography-in-education tutor, and also a former long-standing Editor of Primary Geography journal and continued working as a geography consultant and writer. She lived in Exmouth.

Sharon Witt told me:

Margaret was a long time contributor to Charney conference. Lots of amazing stories of her travels, mentoring and welcoming colleagues at Charney Conferences and being a student of Margaret's at Plymouth University are coming in.

Coincidentally, a few days ago my Facebook memory was of a message from Margaret letting me know about another cliff fall in Sidmouth on a stretch that I'd used as a textbook case study, and visit each year to check on its progress.

Margaret was awarded the GA's Outstanding Service Diploma back in 2016. Here she is receiving her certificate from the President Steve Rawlinson.

Steve says of this event:

"It was a wonderful honour to be able to hand it over her as she had been so supportive during the year offering advice and encouragement as only Margaret could."

Image: Bryan Ledgard.

Margaret created the logo for the annual Charney Manor Conferences. She was a very accomplished artist, particularly landscapes and pets. Here she is with a painting she had created for Paula Owens along with Steve Rawlinson and Tina Horler

Image: Bryan Ledgard

Steve told me:

"She was a wonderful artist of both landscapes and pets – I have two lovely pictures of Lady Summer and Fluffy Flora! This particular one shows how much she enjoyed being in the company of fellow geographers. She leaves such a legacy of memories, advice and scholarship to us all. She will be greatly missed."

In this piece for Primary Geography she talks about our identity and how it is shaped by our family.

Condolences to Margaret's family, friends and former colleagues.

Image: Margaret's logo for the Charney Primary Conferences.

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.

Charney Manor Primary Geography Conference 2023

I had booked to attend this annual event during 2022 and my Presidential year, but the conference had to be postponed after a storm took out the electricity supply to the venue, and I had to quickly email all the delegates to let them know that the event was cancelled, managing to catch some people just before they set off on lengthy drives, or to catch a plane.

This year's event was the 25th conference, so there was cake of course.

I have just finished blogging the event over on my LivingGeography blog.

Head over there now to see the 10 posts summarising the event. Search on Charney Manor Primary to find the posts.

The Charney Comment 2021

The Charney Manor Primary Conference is an annual event bringing together Primary geographers each year at the venue in Oxfordshire (although it was held online this year). Many GA Presidents have been involved in the event, as I discussed in a previous post. It was founded by Rex Walford and others including Simon Catling. The statement has been pulled together by Stephen Scoffham.

Thanks to Mel Norman, Steve Rawlinson and Sharon Witt for organising the last few years' conferences.

This year's version of the statement that emerges following the conference has now been released and it provides a useful set of thoughts to consider when developing thinking around teaching Primary (and secondary) geography experiences for your students. It has been pulled together by Stephen Scoffham.

Charney Conference Statement 2021 from GeoBlogs

Charney 2021

I've mentioned the Charney Conference a number of times on the blog.

This is a Primary-focussed gathering, which was originally started some time ago as a more general gathering in 1970.

Rex Walford and some contemporaries were part of the organising committee, when it became more Primary focussed. There is plenty of interest for all key stages.

The 2021 version of the conference is happening online rather than face to face as was hoped. I hope to be back for Charney 25th Anniversary next year.

I'll be presenting a paper on the final day.

Details and booking form in this tweet.

If you are interested in #primarygeography we would love you to join us at the Charney Manor Primary Geography Conference to be held from 27th-28th February 2021 . The price is £30 for the weekend. Please complete a registration form: https://t.co/VTY2mw5EPJ

— Charney Manor Primary Geography Research (@ManorCharney) January 19, 2021

Challenging Times - Charney Papers

In 1993, the Charney Manor Conference focussed on the National Curriculum. A book was published with a series of papers. It included pieces by many former GA Presidents, including Rex Walford, Eleanor Rawling, Chris Kington and Michael Morrish.

There was an analysis by David Lambert where he talked about Hirsch and his ideas - someone he would return to several times over the next 2 decades in his work. Rex contributed an excellent piece on games in Geography.