Kate Brennan – An Appreciation
A shining light and joyful spirit
This celebration was written in 2017, very shortly after Kate’s death.
Kate (far left) sharing her love of history with pupils from York
I’d like to tell you why, from my perspective, Kate, was so special.
Kate never hectored or preached; she was self-deprecating and often hesitant, ever grateful for support and encouragement.
Despite that modesty, Kate’s extensive teaching experience and research convinced her of the value of scripted drama as part of the history teacher’s armoury, that it was in the interests of our students to make use of this technique – her work was driven by her commitment to helping her students do as well as they could.
Kate was passionate and deeply inventive in her writing; laughter was essential but so too was real understanding of the lives and dilemmas of the people she was writing about.
There seemed no bounds to Kate’s creativity – her scripted dramas and her teaching had an originality and flair of a kind I have rarely encountered and were all the more valuable for her generosity in sharing those ideas with others.
Our first conversation was about Katherine Swynford, mistress and wife of John of Gaunt and then we were onto the Wars of the Roses and then much else. She shared the passion of most of those who will read this for that fascinating combination of history and its teaching.
One of the things that makes Kate’s death so hard to accept is that she was perhaps only beginning to understand for herself how well-regarded and influential her work was. In recent years she had contributed regularly to the HA’s Northern History Forum events, to HA and SHP annual conferences, written dramas for the National Trust at Fountains Abbey and for Euroclio projects, resources for the Thackray Medical Museum and for other organizations – and not only historical material but for science and other subjects too. One appointment she was never able to fulfil was presenting the SHP Saturday evening session, an occasion that would have given her great pride and she would have done brilliantly, entertaining the conference with her drama but also, just as importantly, speaking passionately from her experience about the educational value of this approach. Instead, as a tribute to Kate, we put on that evening her scripted drama about the history of Fountains Abbey, complete with costumes loaned by the Abbey – it was a joyous evening, full of laughter but also, inevitably great sadness.
Pat and I will greatly miss Kate’s company, passion, laughter and friendship – a shining light and a joyful spirit. We will treasure in particular the delightful afternoon with Kate and Helen Snelson and Helen’s Year 7s and Emma Manners from the National Trust as we premiered Kate’s drama about Fountains Abbey – in and out of the abbey we wound, acting out scenes from its history, helping the children understand how the abbey and the lives of its monks changed across time. Our photographs show Kate, very typically, at the side and at the back, watching over her creation, enjoying her ideas coming to life but never pushing herself into the limelight, giving credit to everyone but herself – but, in truth, only Kate could have created the magic of that afternoon.
Ian