Anne Josephine Rafferty's memory board

Anne Rafferty (née Smith) – Her Life Early years Anne Josephine Smith was born in Greenock, Scotland, 4th September 1946. Her mother was Anne Smith (née Lelian) Scottish born of Lithuanian immigrants. Her father was Thomas Smith from Liverpool, England. Tommy had been injured in North Africa and captured by the Germans. He escaped captivity in Italy and fled to Switzerland where he stayed for the rest of the war. Anne Lelian and Thomas Smith became penpals during the war and married in 1945. Anne junior should have been Josephine Anne, to avoid two Anne Smiths in the same house, but Tommy got the name order wrong at the registration of the birth. When young Anne was five the family took a holiday in Switzerland, so that Tommy could visit the family which put him up during the war years. Anne quickly picked up the language playing with local children and she was the one who spoke to the ticket collectors on the train trip through Germany and Belgium. The seeds of Anne’s language abilities were sown on that trip. Tommy, a postman, would take Anne to the municipal pool when the young Anne came home from school. Anne’s love of swimming and being in the water developed during this period. Anne Senior was a teacher and Anne Junior would follow in her mother’s footsteps. Tommy died in 1968 and Anne senior in 1978 Education Anne went to St Columba’s in Greenock and on to Aberdeen University to graduate with a Master’s degree in Italian and French. She lived for a year in Vicenza, near Venice, as part of her degree where she enjoyed the open air opera in the Roman amphitheatre at Verona. Anne followed up her degree with a one-year teacher training course at Notre Dame, Glasgow. Married Life Anne met Steve in 1969 in Greenock. The Rafferty family had moved up to Scotland in 1968 and spent a great deal of time with Anne’s family. Steve proposed to Anne on board the ferry Snaefell en route from Douglas to Ardrossan in August 1970. Steve and Anne married 12th August 1972. Following a two week honeymoon in Romania (one of the European languages Anne could not speak). They set up home in Gateshead and then Blyth in Northumberland. Anne then spent 15 happy years in Brighton before emigrating to Australia in 1994. Despite the health issues she loved living in Australia, concerts in the Opera House and the beautiful and long lasting friendships she made. Some of Anne’s happiest moments were on the water on a ferry, a harbour cruise or on Nina and David’s boat. Teaching Anne’s teaching positions were: 1969 to 1971 Tynecastle High, Edinburgh were she tried to teach French to the boys who would later become the Bay City Rollers. 1971 to 1972 Moston Brook Secondary School, Manchester 1972 to 1973 Cleadon Park Secondary School, South Shields. Here the children were not allowed to bring knives to school, except for the sharpening of pencils. Apparently carving knives were allowed to keep those pencils honed. 1973 to 1979 Tynedale High, Blyth, Northumberland Anne taught English as a foreign language (EFL) to Britain’s first group of Vietnamese refugees (1979 to 1982) and then she taught the overseas students at one of Britain’s most famous girls’ schools, Roedean (1983 to 1994). During this time she also taught at summer schools for international students in Brighton. Anne established many long lasting friendships with students from all over the world while at Roedean and the summer schools – and the parties were legendary! After a brief spell in Sydney language schools teaching EFL, Anne taught French and EFL at Pittwater House, Collaroy. She was also a strong supporter of the school’s dramatic productions. She then went on to teach French, Italian and even Japanese at Monte Sant’ Angelo, North Sydney where she also coached the school debating teams. She retired from teaching in 2000 due to ill health. Prison Few people know that Anne spent some time in prison – as an artist’s model for a couple of hours a week! This was at the famous Strangeways prison in Manchester. Her class mainly consisted of prisoners convicted for forgery, using the education system to improve their skills. Toastmasters Anne joined Toastmasters at Balgowlah RSL Toastmasters Club in December 2000. Steve was already in a work based club (Chandos Challengers) and, at the time, they both felt it would be good not to join the same clubs (also Anne didn’t need to get up early for the 7am meetings at Cha Cha!) Anne was instrumental in the establishment of three Toastmasters Clubs – Warringah Mall (2003, now Harbord Diggers Daytime), St Kierans Manly Vale (2004) and Manly Multi-Lingual (2005). From 2005 to 2012 Anne hosted a monthly radio program for Toastmasters on Radio Northern Beaches called “Sunday Toast”. Sunday Toast was Anne’s High Performance Leadership task and she received the Distinguished Toastmaster award in April 2006. Anne was justifiably proud of her achievements, particularly in pushing Toastmasters and clubs to make their personal and distinguished club program goals. She was a strong advocate for the mentoring process and she was always willing to help any Toastmaster with specific assignments. Her home has shelves full of her assignment guidance notes compiled over the last decade. Radio Despite her poor health and Toastmasters commitments, Anne became a presenter on community station, Radio Northern Beaches (RNB). She had a weekly show, Latino Plus, for 12 years up to June 2013. She also presented occasional interviews with Northern Beaches’ locals – Meet the Neighbours. She served as secretary to the RNB board for two years. Latino Plus went national in 2005 with Anne presenting the program weekly from the Community Broadcast Association of Australia (CBAA) studios in Alexandria. Her last live broadcast was on Sunday 28th July 2013. Anne Rafferty RIP Anne’s varied and successful life, despite ongoing health issues, came to an end on Monday 12th August 2013 – her 41st wedding anniversary. Anne and Steve had no children but she proudly, and successfully, encouraged her two godchildren, Ruth Mackenzie Milner and Joshua Deakin to make the most of their talents.