Robert May

I first came across Robert May on one of the images that Sheila Jones sent through to me via Jeremy Krause. He was in a quiz team which was taking part in a special quiz on the British Empire at the 1993 Centenary Celebrations, along with Sue Bermingham.

He was the Branch Officer of the Geographical Assocation following Sheila Jones - an important role and one currently carried out by Ian Dixson. She described him as a great supporter of the GA and Assistant Treasurer, and she said he never made President, but perhaps should have.

Here he is in the image on the right:

We believe the man on the left with the beard and Fez is Bob Jones: Secretary of the North Staffs Branch of the GA, and also a former GA Branch Officer. Thanks to Frances Soar for suggesting that it was Bob. Can anyone confirm that for me? He was certainly present at the event.

References

Coates, Bryan E., et al. “Annual Report of the Geographical Association 1983.” Geography, vol. 69, no. 2, 1984, pp. 167–175. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40570820. Accessed 8 Nov. 2020

Keith Orrell

Keith Orrell attended the 1993 Centenary event, and was featured in one of the images that Sheila Jones sent me. Here he is, saying something perhaps at one of those events.

Keith wrote a series of books in the 1970s and 80s which reached a large audience while working as a University lecturer. They included:

Evaluation and Assessment in Geography Paperback – 1 May 1984 - written with Patrick Wiegand

He was also involved in the GA's Worldwise Challenge for some years.

https://www.geography.org.uk/Worldwise-Challenge-2013

From an article in the Wakefield local paper:
"Keith was well respected in his local community.

Keith Orrell made such a huge contribution to Wrenthorpe, near Wakefield that he was awarded an MBE for his efforts in 2012.
He also found time to be a governor at Jerry Clay Academy, serving the school for 25 years.
Last year the school even named their outdoor learning area after him.

Originally from Sheffield, Keith’s working life was spent as a teacher and a university lecturer in geography.

His daughter Jo Orrell said: “From an early age and throughout his life, dad was driven to achieve and make the world a better place."

He sadly died in July 2018 as reported here after suffering from Parkinson's Disease.

On the right of that photograph is an image of another person from this period who will get his own post on the blog: Bob May.

If anyone has other memories of Keith and his association with the GA, please get in touch.