Mary Maidment, Copthall's Alumnae turns 100!

My mother Mary Maidment née Cowie who celebrates her 100th birthday on 28 June. Mary was a pupil at Copthall from 1938 to 1941, having moved with her family to Hendon from Edinburgh. Copthall had not long opened and the headmistress was the redoubtable Miss Hayes Jones.  She waived the then requirement for pupils to study Latin (not required in Scotland) and allowed Mary to continue to study modern languages at which she excelled.  Mary remembers that she was the only native English speaker in her German class, her fellow pupils being German refugees who had fled the Nazis.

Mary gained distinctions in all three higher exams ( A Level equivalents ) and today would probably have gone on to University. However when she finished school in 1941, World War Two  and the Blitz were in full swing, so she went off to Guys Hospital to train as a nurse, finishing as Staff Sister.  One of her patients, Eric Maidment, became her husband and they remained happily married for 62 years until Eric’s death in 2015.

Mary and Eric had three children, and her middle daughter Jane Maidment(me) in turn went to Copthall (1967-1973).

Mary, at 100, stills lives independently in Hendon, still volunteers as a Guide at the Foundling Museum and remains an active participant in the local community.

I think she may well be the oldest living Alumnae


Jane Dick
Daughter of Mary Maidment