My Arrival at Mill Hill

When I arrived at Mill Hill in September 1958 as a fresh faced, enthusiastic 13-year-old, I am sure I would have been impressed by the presence of a stand-alone building dedicated to the teaching of science, complete with raked lecture theatre-style classrooms for Physics and Chemistry consistent with its 1920s construction. Biology was taught in a single storey, prefabricated block behind the main building.

At that time Physics teaching was the domain of Mr Arthur Vine, aka Mousey, and a young recruit to the teaching staff, Mr RFW Smith who was, as I recall, a very good gymnast, possibly a Cambridge Blue and also rather highly strung. By contrast Mr Vine was urbane, relaxed, amusing and both a handy tennis player and a musician of wind instruments. They occupied the ground floor with the first floor occupied by Mr Tony Turnbull, a charming Scot, boxing coach and, from 1960, House Master of Collinson, and Mr David Miller, a bright man, a good communicator and excellent at solving crosswords, teaching Chemistry. In the Biology block, resided Mr Donald Hall and Mr Brian Sennitt, both of whom I was to be eternally grateful as, by that time, I had decided on a medical career, and they tried to prepare  me and others for medical school.

At some stage during my five years of continuous use of the Science Block, Mr Miller took a sabbatical year. He was replaced by an American teacher from Spokane in Washington State whose name escapes me but let’s call him Chuck. Not only did he look quintessentially American with crew cut hair and informal, colourful clothes, his teaching was ‘laid back’, so how much chemistry education I received in that year is debatable. It was, however, a different experience.

My Path to Medicine

With O Levels behind me, in September 1961 I entered the Medical Sixth along with about 12 others aspiring to careers in medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine or biomedical science. The diet was twofold, zoology and botany, taught by Mr Hall and Mr Sennitt respectively. We alternated between the two classrooms, dissecting worms, frogs and dogfish in one and breaking down flowers into their component parts of sepals, petal, stamens and carpels in the other. By contrast, it was Bunsen burners, conical flasks and retorts in the Chemistry laboratory, and ammeters, resistors, and static electricity generators in the Physics laboratory. It was not all science. At A Level, we were all tutored  in General Studies which, I believe, involved two lessons per week; I chose German O level as my other additional subject.

It seems on reflection that the Medical Sixth was a well-honed machine, led by the wise and gentle Donald Hall. The tangible proof of his teaching success was apparent when I began my medical training at Guy's Hospital Medical School and six other Old Millhillians were studying or practising medicine or dentistry at Guy’s. Doubtless other Schools of Medicine were similarly endowed with Old Millhillians from that era.

Passing it on

Such was my gratitude to Donald and his colleagues that, when asked by Graham Drake and Peter Wakeham to help create a medical bursary I jumped at the opportunity. In collaboration with Nick Priestnall and with the support of many Old Millhillian benefactors, the  Donald Hall Medical and Science Bursary was born in 2013 and is still being awarded today. I hope my somewhat sketchy recollections will not only enable others to reflect on their time in the Science Block, now the Crick Science Building, but that it might encourage them also to consider donating to the Donald Hall Bursary.

Dr Russell Cowan MD FRCP FEBG

Weymouth 1958-63