Legacies & Bequests
Morley is hugely grateful for gifts made to the college by students in their wills.
Making a will is one way of looking after the people we care about. It is also a way of helping those organisations that we have been passionate about in our lifetime. Gifts from Morley students and their families make it possible for others to develop new skills and transform lives.
A Tribute to Marguerite Perkin
Last year we received the sad news that Marguerite Perkin, former editor of the Morley Magazine had passed away in April. Marguerite took over the editorship from the indomitable Molly Bryant in 2001.
The Magazine had already been transformed into an A4 production on good quality paper after years of small photocopied booklets, and Marguerite soon put her own mark on it with increasing numbers of photographs – although still monochrome.
Colour arrived in 2009, transforming the Magazine. But you can view those monochrome issues in glorious colour! Go to Morley Moodle, look at the Library and Learning Centre section and you will see a link to Morley Archive where all Marguerite’s issues are available to download. (You will also see our progress in digitising the older issues, which has now reached the 1950s).
Marguerite edited 28 issues and wrote an article for the Morley College: 125th Anniversary Portrait in 2014, where she picked out some high and low points in the Magazine’s long history. It was through Marguerite that the British Library were able to fill gaps in their collection. She also arranged for back issues to be bound for the library. Her personal bound copies, from 1977 to 2014 have been donated to Lambeth Archives. Marguerite received a Special Contribution Award at the Adult Learner’s Week ceremony in 2012. She is seen here with Ela Piotrowska and Cass Breen.
In addition to editing our Magazine, Marguerite was also a former editor of the Kingston News for the Kingston upon Thames Society. Their appreciation can be found at https://kts.org.uk/sad-news/
Marguerite was born in Canada and graduated from Carleton University with a degree in journalism where she was awarded a gold medal. After working for the government, she left Canada to travel abroad and found a writing and editing job in London with an architectural industry magazine. Later she worked for the Department of Health. One of her interests at this time was, surprisingly, Star Trek, and she travelled abroad to various “Trekkie” conventions.
On retirement, Marguerite developed her computer skills and put them to good use by working on the two magazines, while returning to Canada frequently, to visit her old journalism professor, friends and family.
Marguerite left a legacy to the College, which has contributed £1890 to the Student Bursary Fund and enriched the library with books and DVDs.
Elaine Andrews, Learning Resources Centre Manager
(with thanks to the Kingston upon Thames Society)
