Dear Pippa Blackstone,

Thank you for your email about the school Chapters project.

I would like to add a small piece, if I may.

With kind regards,

Margaret Tillmann

My name is Margaret Tillmann, although my name was Margaret Hayden when I was a pupil at Tonbridge Girls Grammar School from 1969 to 1976.  

As well as many fond memories of “Tiggies”, I want to pay special tribute to my foreign language teachers: the incomparable Miss Moore and Mrs Taylor who taught French, and the ever-patient and good-humoured Miss Stock who taught German. I have to confess, as a fourteen year-old I had no great talent for German! I suspect that Miss Stock would be stunned to learn that I have spent 25 years of my working life as a project manager in Germany, Switzerland and Austria and have been living in Hamburg for over 20 years.  Looking back on my school days, I see that my teachers’ enthusiasm and commitment to arranging exchange trips, language societies, and an atmosphere which encouraged participation has influenced me throughout my working life.

I built on a career in IT management going back to the early 1980s by getting involved in part-time tutoring as I got closer to retirement age. A dozen years ago, my ability in French allowed me to work with Airbus in Toulouse where I tutored the Open University Business School’s tailored MBA program to young fast-track managers. The last seven years of my working life were spent developing a Masters in International Brand Management for Hamburg University’s Brand Academy. This brought me into contact with students from over twenty different countries.  As ever, German, French and English were the bridge languages which helped communication and personal development. Dankeschön, Miss Stock, merci Miss Moore and Mrs Taylor!