Some thoughts from Miriam Gifford, Kevin Moffat, Leanne Williams, Emily Breeze, Rebecca Freeman and all at Warwick’s School of Life Sciences. The image was used on a gift from the School on her 90th birthday.
“It feels almost wrong to try and sum Norma up in a couple of short paragraphs as she was just incredible, in both her knowledge and her utter determination to maintain such high standards for all of us. We were lucky to know her since Warwick became involved in hosting the British Biology Olympiad finals in 2014. Her vast knowledge and experience in anatomy, taxonomy, and physiology – particularly of plants – was combined with her determination to bringing young people into the subject. She was keen for students to gain hands-on experience and loved showing them how to adeptly generate sections of plant stems and to truly investigate biological samples with dissection and observation. Norma was passionate about widening the Olympiad to as many school students as possible, not just those at academically selective or independent schools.
She was a key member of the organising committee for the 2017 International Biology Olympiad, held at Warwick, and attended every set of British finals up until this year, well into her 90s. She was humble (we don’t recall her mention the MBE that she was awarded in 2002 for services to the British Biology Olympiad!). Her knowledge and dedication were matched by her equally sharp skill in keeping academics on track and critiquing practical design – the nod of approval from Norma was held in the highest regard as we admired and feared her in equal measure!
Norma – Queen of the BBO – will be greatly missed but we will take her guidance forward to finals of the future.”