Avenue student internship
Isabel Ellis (MA 1949) left a gift in her estate to support Avenue magazine. This gift has funded a student internship opportunity for Sarah Spence, MLitt Modernities student, and Wiliam Lim, .
Sarah learned some new publishing skills while creating excellent new content for Avenue online. Read about her experience here.
Read some of Sarah's work:
- Mathematics & Statistics building move
- Our greenspaces
Read some of Will's work:
- Interviews with past Young Alumnus of the Year winners
- Students describe the University in three words
Isa Ellis: An Appreciation
By Alan and Aileen Riach
Isa Ellis was born in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, in 1928, attended Airdrie Academy 1940-46, completed a Master of Arts Degree at the University of Glasgow in French and German and gained her Teaching Certificate from Jordanhill College. She taught in secondary schools in Scotland, before moving to Germany in the early 1950s to teach English in German schools. She returned to Britain and taught at Stafford Girls’ High School until her retirement. She died in Stafford general Hospital, 9 September 2014 aged 86.
Isa was our Mum’s best friend. They were pals from childhood, close all through their lives. Isa was an only child, our mother one of seven, whose parents welcomed Isa as another daughter into their home in the Lanarkshire village of Calderbank, near Airdrie. Both attended the University of Glasgow. Our mother studied science and maths but Isa chose to study German and went on to become a teacher of German. She loved Germany and the German people, had many friends there and travelled there often. All this was at a time when things were still quite sensitive in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. Prejudice did not inhibit her at all. Isa went on to become a schoolteacher and spent most of her career at Stafford Girls’ High School. She loved her job and by all accounts was very good at it. One of her pupils was the future Poet Laureate Carol Anne Duffy. She never married herself and did not have a family.
Isa kept herself busy outside of work. She loved her garden and attended evening classes in Stafford. Leatherwork and needlework were two of the classes she took and crafts were a favourite practice. In her later years, birthday cards to family members would include homemade bookmarks with embroidered or hand-painted Saltires. Always a Scottish patriot, Isa had a great love of the arts, and especially opera. She would often visit the Royal Opera House, London or the English National Opera with our mother and grandmother when visiting us in our parents’ home in Gravesend, in Kent.
At some point early on in her life she developed back trouble. As a result she was bed-bound for about a year. Subsequently she was in constant pain and wore a back brace for the rest of her life. This did not stop her from travelling but she had to be cautious with her mode of transport, especially latterly. She was also frugal with what she packed, as she was unable to carry a suitcase of any weight. Her perseverance and resourcefulness were amazing.
Her capacity to enjoy the world and participate in it gladly despite her own adverse physical condition was exemplary. She would also go swimming almost every day as type of physiotherapy. She was a very practical, straightforward person with a generous nature and kind heart. It is no surprise but a great delight that one of her generosities was to leave a bequest to the University. She always spoke of the university fondly and remembered her time here with great affection