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Our Tutors
Here is some information about some of our regular
tutors at the college.
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Chad Goodwin |
Politics |
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From a professional background as a museum curator, Chad teaches mainly for the WEA in Norfolk & Suffolk. He has been leading 1 or 2 weekends each year at Wedgwood since 1997. His courses usually deal with aspects of political radicalism, and the history of democracy.
"It was purely by chance that I was introduced to the college in 1996, but I have to say that it has been a cause for much pleasure & satisfaction (and challenge!) ever since. I look forward immensely to my weekends in Barlaston - but then my 14 year old son says I'm hopelessly sad anyway.
The students' (sorry, learners') evaluations of my courses invariably say that my "enthusiasm for the subject is infectious". I think that just means that once I get stuck in, I tend to run on a bit.
I do actually feel very strongly that by studying the historical record, especially in terms of the development of democracy, we may actually become better informed to respond to our contemporary situation, and that's what I try to address during my Wedgwood weekends. I like to take the ideas of the 18th & 19th centuries, to use the language in which they were expressed, and dump them firmly in our 21st century laps.
And apart from that I just plain like talking about Thomas Paine, and Mary Wollstonecraft, and William Godwin, and.....in fact anyone from John Lilburne to William Morris really.
My other subject is landscape history - which goes down very well in East Anglia, since I specialise in coastal landscapes. If only I could demonstrate that Thomas Paine wrote extensively upon the problems of coastal erosion, I'd be onto a winner.
I live in Norfolk - but then, someone has to."
Chad is also Chair of the Thomas Paine Society. He is, at present, completely revising their website which is intended to become - eventually - a central resource for anyone interested in British political radicalism & its history. At the time of writing (April 04) it's still pretty basic........but have a look later this summer.......
www.thomaspaine.org.uk
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Jack Skinner |
Art History and Art Practical |
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Jack is a practising painter and printmaker who exhibits both regionally and in London. Currently, part time lecturer specialising in 19/20 century British and European painting at Wedgwood Memorial College as well as tutoring on practical art courses. Formerly, Head of Department of Fine Art at Staffordshire University from 1980 to 1992. He lives in Stone, Staffordshire with a studio/workshop in Dorset. |
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Jennifer Robinson |
Literature |
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Dr. Jennifer Robinson lectures in English and American Literature studies at the University of Derby, both to undergraduate students of all ages and to mature students undertaking a Foundation Year. Previously she has been Curriculum Development Co-ordinator for the Derbyshire Regional Network, University of Derby and Head of English and Communications at Burton-upon-Trent College. Her PhD is in nineteenth-century American Literature. She has had several chapters in literary criticism published, in addition to papers in American journals. Her latest chapter is in ‘American Youth Texts’ (editor Neil Campbell), University of Edinburgh Press, to be published in April 2004. |
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Kathy Niblett |
Ceramics |
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Kathy Niblett is an enthusiast for 20th century pots but she began her career of more than two decades at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery as a specialist in 18th century earthenware!
The last curator to join the Ceramics Department, she was delegated to look after the wonderful Bergen Collection of pioneer Studio Pottery and the tiny collection of industrially made pots. Thus began her transformation into a specialist in the history of 20th century ceramics and the accumulation of the finest museum collection of Staffordshire-made industrial pots in the world. When Kathy Niblett left the museum in 1999 it had the largest collection of hand-made studio pottery in the UK, having been given the Robert Pinchen Collection in 1994.
Currently, Kathy works as a freelance curator, researcher, writer, teacher and lecturer. She has curated numerous exhibitions, written and edited books and catalogues on pottery makers including Gray's Pottery, Wedgwood, Royal Doulton, Moorcroft, Susie Cooper, Alan Caiger-Smith, David Leach. Kathy's research into the pottery industry from 1940 has become a standard work Dynamic Design: The British Pottery Industry 1940-1990.
When not being potty, Kathy is Chairman of Governors at an excellent local primary school, enjoys walking, is interested in canals and is currently working on the history of the North |
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Malcolm Crook |
History |
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Malcolm has been teaching at Wedgwood Memorial College for the past 30 years, beginning with a series of summer schools based on Open University courses like the Age of Revolutions. Since then he has taught a variety of programmes in French History, which is his speciality, at Wedgwood Memorial College and also at Keele University. His most recent publication is: Crook, Malcolm (ed). 2002 Revolutionary France, 1788-1880; Open University Press. During his time with the College Malcolm has enjoyed worked with three different principals Dave Goodman, Derek Tatton and our new principal Jill Ward.
‘The tradition of entertainment evenings as part of the summer school has been noted for my rendition of ‘I’m a little teapot’.’ Malcolm
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Martin Eldridge |
Art |
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Martin studied painting at Newcastle University and the Royal Academy Schools and has continued painting and teaching part-time for the last 30 years. He enjoys painting in different media, including oils, acrylics, watercolour and pastel and also works with printmaking techniques of etching and monoprinting. This widespread experience of painting is reflected in the variety of courses, which for over 15 years he has taught at Wedgwood Memorial College. These include working with different media and subject matter, including, landscape portrait, figure and more experimental courses. He has a good knowledge of art history and has run courses for Keele and Warwick Universities, which combine and link the practice of art to its history. At present he is also a painting tutor for the Open College of the Arts.
He has exhibited widely, including the Royal Academy and the Royal Watercolour Society. His own work tends to be based on subject themes such as Manchester cityscapes, Snowdonia landscapes, Indian interiors and most recently he is ‘down the Tube’ painting figures in the London Underground. |
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Mike Higgingbottom |
Architectural History |
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Mike is a popular tutor and has been running weekend courses at Wedgwood Memorial College for a number of years.
He is an adult-education lecturer in social and architectural history for the Universities of Nottingham and Birmingham and the Workers’ Educational Association. He is tutor-guide for the Matlock Travel Society.
He has conducted leisure-learning residential programmes on country houses, theatres, the seaside, cemeteries and sewerage, and in the cities of Bath, Birmingham, Chester, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, York and New York.
His most recent publication is Nottinghamshire Country Houses: Past & Present (Nottinghamshire County Council 1999). He is tutor-guide to the Matlock Travel Society. |
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Paul Gubbins |
Esperanto |
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I’ve been teaching Esperanto courses at the college for more than 10 years, in particular the long-established Esperanto summer-school – it began in 1960 – which takes place for a week in August. I also run a weekend course in January devoted mainly to Esperanto theatre. This is a particular interest of mine, and several of my Esperanto plays have appeared in print. A few have been performed – on a small scale – and this is particularly heartening: dramatists write for the stage and not for their computers. I have also published two Esperanto coursebooks, as well as a 15-lesson video course in the language, and numerous articles.
By profession I am a university teacher, although I am also a qualified journalist. Having studied German in this country and in Canada, where I gained a Ph.D. with a dissertation on the 19th century writer E.T.A.Hoffmann, I taught the language for over 20 years. Recently, because of a decline in interest in German in higher education, I retrained to teach English as a Foreign Language.
People who do not know Esperanto will be surprised to learn that, in teaching Esperanto at Wedgwood Memorial College, I work often at a higher level with college students than with university undergraduates, or even postgraduates, in German or English. This is because students of Esperanto do not have to wrestle with the irregularities of a foreign language: these impede fluent, uninhibited expression. This means that often, particularly with an advanced group at the college, I find myself not so much ‘teaching’ Esperanto but exploring the language with students – pushing it, testing it and challenging it to an extent that is impossible in a traditional language classroom. This, to my mind, is the joy of running an Esperanto course or seminar at Wedgwood Memorial College: the opportunity to roll in the language like a cat on concrete on a warm summer day.
I’ve always loved the college: its staff – who invariably try to kidnap one of my ‘trade-mark’ frogs that accompany me to Barlaston – its grounds, its food and, above all, its special ethos. Accordingly it is a privilege for me to serve as the Esperanto representative on the college management committee. Long may the college and its traditions flourish … and long may I contribute, in whatever small way, to the realisation of the college’s vision. |
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Valérie Durand |
French Conversation |
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I was born in Le Havre (Normandy) and decided to follow up my English and French studies at Keele University after a year in Stafford as a French Language Assistant. Since then I have been teaching French and German in Leek (6 years already!) but I don’t forget to visit France a few times a year!
I enjoy running the French courses at Barlaston and it has given me a great deal of enjoyment considering it was only meant to be a one off… but the participants make the French Conversation course so interesting and lively I can easily imagine that I am back in France. |
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