Sad To Hear That May Armitage Has Passed Away

Published: 3:41 PM October 2, 2008

Updated: 3:34 AM February 23, 2021

THE sad news of the passing of Mrs May Armitage has just reached me in the Antipodes. Mrs Armitage, late of Cambridge Road in Ely, was the wife of the last headmaster of Soham Grammar School, that wonderful education establishment, until politics overtook

THE sad news of the passing of Mrs May Armitage has just reached me in the Antipodes.

Mrs Armitage, late of Cambridge Road in Ely, was the wife of the last headmaster of Soham Grammar School, that wonderful education establishment, until politics overtook it.

Many outlying Cambridgeshire/Isle of Ely students, of whom I am one, have a great deal to thank Mrs Armitage for. She realised several Soham Grammar School students had long daily journeys with early starts and late returns home and took it upon herself to run a boarding house at 'The Moat', the Armitage residence. It catered for 12 to 14 boarders from Monday to Friday every week of the school terms.

There are many in the UK and around the world who will be as sad as myself and my family at the news of the passing of this wonderful lady. She was a Scot by birth and had the education and well-being of all her charges at heart, along with her late husband, Edward, a proud educationalist and Yorkshireman.

I have fond memories of Soham Grammar School and the Ely Standard which arrived on Fridays and hope you can find some space to fondly remember a regular reader and a wonderful lady of the Fens.

GRAHAM DOCHERTY