Random Thoughts about Presidents

It was my good fortune in my membership of Institute committees and as Executive Chairman to work with three of our Presidents. The first was General Sir Ronald Adam, a genial, wise, cultivated man, decisive, as you would expect of a soldier but also an attentive listener. I was a very young man at the time, recently an army sergeant and dubious about generals, but I felt truly honoured by his overt attention to whatever I (and anyone else) was trying to say. He had, I think, already been active in the old British Institute of Adult Education and this, together with his experience of army education, gave him a deep insight into the values of adult education and a firm commitment to its support.

The next was Sir Fraser Noble, who had become Vice-Chancellor of Leicester University after a distinguished career in the Indian Civil Service. He was coaxed into the NIACE Presidency when he was Chairman of the Committee of vice-chancellors and knew little about adult education as it was then. An economist by training and a man of principle in the best Scottish Presbyterian tradition, he understood the case for adult education as a reinforcement of democracy and set about learning all about the work. He had regular personal tutorials with Edward Hutchinson and when later I was appointed to a chair at Leicester, I found myself taking over that job. Fraser had a profound influence on the Institute, for he understood it and what it could become. His debt to Hutchinson was repaid by the honorary doctorate conferred by Leicester.

The third President I worked with was Rosemary Murray, Principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. She was an enabler and encourager. She did not attempt to interfere in policy but she accepted the overall purposes of the Institute and saw her role as giving all the support she could to the efforts of the officers and staff. The public functions of the Presidency she performed with great grace and charm.

Three very different people, from very different backgrounds, they were probably not well known to most of the members, but they were not mere figureheads. They all had much influence and used it for the Institute’s benefit. For me in my time as Executive Chairman, and I’m sure for the other officers and the Director, the wide experience, the savoir faire and the commitment of these Presidents were an invaluable asset.