Kate Beales: 'I remember...'

Kate Beales (1984) was among the first group of women students to arrive at Pembroke. Since graduating she has worked as a theatre director, facilitator, coach and mediator. I absolutely treasure my memories of the whole Cambridge experience. Freshers’ week exists in my memory as just a blur of people. Everyone was so lovely and sociable, but it took two or three weeks to meet the people who would become my friends for life. On one of my very first days I walked into the bathroom and got the shock of my life. Another students living on my staircase had left his diving suit in the bath to soak, so all I saw was a dark figure lying there with flippers on. It was terrifying! I studied English and read lots, including works by John Dryden, Philip Larkin and Jane Austen. Austen in particular is someone whose books I still love today. We also read Gawain and the Green Night. Quite recently a friend from Pembroke that I am still in touch with bought me Simon Armitage’s translation of it, which was a lovely reminder. I remember Professor Howard Erskine-Hill in particular with fondness. I really loved him. He was incredibly supportive and took care of me, especially during finals. Any intellectual rigour that I have was learnt from him. He was also very humorous. He played tricks on us, asking ridiculous questions that had more than one answer to try and catch us out. My pleasure in discovering David Jones – his writing and his painting – and medieval literature too, I owe to Colin Wilcockson. The wonderful and generous Peter Robinson taught me so much about twentieth-century poetry. Something very special was living in a hostel on Park Street in my second year. A friend and I went to Kettle’s Yard to get some pictures through the student picture loan scheme. It is amazing to think now that as students we had a real David Jones hanging on our wall. I was beautiful; I think it was called Flora in Calix Light. We also had a genuine Alfred Wallace painting. Now I have a poster of it in my house. One of my favourite people was Marjorie, our gorgeous bedder. Knowing her was like having another mother. She was just so sweet, warm and kind. The best room I had was on A staircase above the Porters’ Lodge. The porters used to have to come into my room whenever they needed to hoist the flag, which they did from out of my window. I loved living there... even if I did convince myself that it was haunted! I spent most of my time in my friends’ rooms talking about books. We didn’t go to many lectures and I didn’t seek out much else. I stayed with the people I trusted; I think we were a bit of a breed apart. Beyond work I was involved with the Pembroke Players and with other drama societies in the University. That definitely influenced my future direction: I went on to become a theatre director and now work freelance for the National Theatre. My job involves developing and running workshops for big plays like War Horse and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. I’m also a qualified mediator and do some lecturing for New York University. For more interviews with some of Pembroke's first women students, see the PemWomen@30 webpages.