It is with great regret that we inform you of the passing of Mrs Annette Chapman, a much-beloved and longstanding member of the Kingham Hill community. Born in 1929, she worked at the school for many years, from 1962 to 1986, as a language teacher and houseparent at Clyde with her husband Rodney. The day before her passing, her vicar from the Kingham parish was able to pray with Annette and she died peacefully on 6th January 2021. A small service was held by her family and her ashes buried with her husband Rodney, in the Kingham Churchyard.
As houseparents, she and Rodney are fondly remembered as “a wonderful and caring couple” and Annette herself as “the sweetest, kindest person one could ever have the pleasure and privilege of knowing – her loss will be deeply felt by all her beloved Clyde boys”. Indeed, she was an extremely self-sacrificial woman who strove hard to give those in Clyde the best experience of life at Kingham Hill as possible, making “extraordinary sacrifices” on behalf of all the boys in her care. She has been described as “my ‘Mum’ for six years” and “like a second mother to me”, which is great testament to her wonderfully caring and loving nature.
A “key part of our upbringing”, the Chapmans were a “remarkable” and gracious couple who ministered faithfully to the school and their students. One former pupil writes, “If, many years after leaving KHS, you wanted to recall a couple who stood for everything the Hill meant, they would probably be the first you might remember, certainly if you were from Clyde House, but probably true of many others too.”
