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A TRIBUTE TO Rosemary Margaret Chapples
1941 to 2023
Rosemary Margaret Anderson was born on 29th July 1941 in Hendon, Middlesex - an adored only child - to Robert (Bob) and Adelaide (Del) Anderson, former Headmaster and Headmistress of High March for a combined 60 years. She was proud of her heritage – paternally Irish from Dublin, with Scottish antecedents from the Anderson clan in Aberdeenshire and maternally Yorkshire.
Our grandparents had waited some time for a baby since they married in 1934. The arrival of their cherished daughter was truly joyful. They moved to Radlett, Hertfordshire, where our Grandfather worked at John Lyon School in Harrow and then became Headmaster of Chalk Hill School. Despite Rosemary being a war baby, those were blissful blue skies days. During that time, Del wrote her book, “Mrs Brown’s Adventure” about a little red hen, in Rosemary’s own garden, in those wartime years when hens’ eggs were precious. We had the book republished in 1998, on the 50th anniversary of our grandparents’ arrival at High March, and gave a copy to each child in the School. Grannie’s dedication in the front of the book stated “For Rosemary, who, with Mrs Brown’s permission, insisted on this story”.
The Anderson Family moved to Beaconsfield, and Del and Bob bought from Misses Warr and Perkins on their retirement in 1948, a small preparatory school in Ledborough Lane, named High March. There they put into practice their philosophy about the education of young children. They built it up slowly but surely with their passion for education being their guiding principle.
Rosemary had a happy childhood with her parents at “Kilcool” in Seer Green. The family had Scottie dogs and her pony, Pixie, was stabled in the paddock. She enjoyed ice skating at Queens Club in London, ballet, dancing, horse riding and art. She attended High March from 1948 to 1955. In 1955 she became joint Head Girl with her best friend, Susan Sakin. Her senior school was Frances Holland School in Marylebone, whose school motto was “May our daughters be as the polished corners of the Temple”.
She made the motto her own with a keen sense of fashion, flair and chic. We recall from our High March days a particular red belted woollen dress with matching coat, red court shoes and handbag, topped with a coiffed beehive as she walked from Caledon Road to St Michael’s Green, through the cut to Ledborough Lane. One neighbour dubbed her “The Red Duchess”.
In addition to her style and fashion sense, art and design were great passions for her. We have many examples of her drawings and paintings. After Frances Holland, she attended High Wycombe College of Art and Design and studied art, design and furniture making.
She always maintained an eye for design and colour and took joy in attending art exhibitions, none with greater relish than the High March Art Exhibition. After she retired from teaching at High March, she established the Rosemary Chapples Art Prize, awarded annually to a particularly artistic pupil. It is poignantthatherlastvisittoHighMarchsoonaftershereturnedtoBeaconsfieldInMay2022wasforMrsBissett’sstunningArtExhibition. Wehavenow endowed the Rosemary Chapples Art Scholarship in her memory. This will be awarded this academic year to an artistically and creatively talented pupil in Year 5 for the duration of Year 6.
Whilst at Art College, Rosemary Margaret Anderson met handsome Godfrey Harold Chapples who was studying to become a building surveyor. They fell in love and married in 1962. They had two children, Belinda and Michael. When both became High March pupils, Rosemary started teaching Kindergarten (now Reception) children and continued to do so for 20 years. Her colleagues remember fondly her great sense of humour. Her lifelong mottos were “a day without laughter is a day wasted’ and, “laughter is the best medicine.”
In 1991 when she retired from teaching, she became a Governor and continued to attend Governors’ meetings and school events for many years. She moved from Seer Green to Glandwr, a beautiful cottage at the foot of Snowdonia National Park. She became a respected figure in the rural community, enjoyed the Women’s Institute, judging prize roses in the country fair and keeping sheep dogs and, briefly, a small flock of sheep. She was fiercely proud of her seven grandchildren, loved time together and took a keen interest in their lives. Granny Rose’s cottage with its waterfall at the end of a beautiful rosebush strewn garden, was a source of magical delight on her grandchildren’s frequent visits.
In May 2022, we at last persuaded her, to return to Beaconsfield to be closer to our family. She arrived at Bradbury House in Beaconsfield Old Town, frail but still interested in High March news. She settled swiftly and was so beautifully cared for in the last 9 months of her life. She died on 12th February 2023. At her Service of Thanksgiving at St Michael & All Angels Church, close to our former family home, the High March Voices sang “The High March School Song” and “Edelweiss” and we spoke, in Shakespeare’s words, of “Rosemary .... for remembrance.”
Belinda Avery & Michael Chapples - November 2023
INTRODUCTION