Miss Marie Green, WGS Head of English 1990-2003

We are deeply saddened to announce that Miss Marie Green has recently passed away. Marie was Head of English at Withington from 1990 – 2003 and remained a close friend and supporter of the Withington Onwards community. She left Withington in 2003 to become Headmistress of Polam Hall School, County Durham, and was greatly missed by her pupils and colleagues here. In the 2004 Newsletter, Dr Mary McDonald said, “She led the department with energy and vigour. Her passion for books and literature has inspired generations of girls and staff, and her genuine love of the subject made her a ‘teacher to remember’ by the very large number of girls whom she taught.”

Remembered by many pupils for her infamous and extensive reading lists, designed to share books she had enjoyed and which she thought her pupils would also like or benefit from reading, on World Book Day 2016 Marie shared one final list when she helped the Development Team create the ‘Alumnae Reading Challenge’ in support of the WGS Bursary Fund. The challenge was a list of 25 books, decided on by Miss Green, to be read by the end of the year, with all proceeds going towards the Bursary Fund. The idea came to light after a discussion on the Withington Onwards Facebook group, in which many of our Old Girls remembered being inspired by the famous reading lists of Miss Marie Green.

We will be including tributes to Marie in this year’s Withington Onwards magazine, due to be published in December. We would like to invite any of Marie’s former pupils and colleagues to submit a few words of tribute for publication in the magazine. Please email them to development@wgs.org.

Miss Green and colleagues