34
35
Summer
2013
From a
Head Monitor
Am I trying to say that my time at Taylors’
prepared me for this sort of work? Not specifically
of course, but in general, absolutely.
“
”
I
am in Bali, having just arrived from
Sumatra, Indonesia. I have been over
there with my wife on a trip looking for
orangutans in the tropical rainforest. We
had planned to go to Borneo but there
has been an outbreak of serious violence
due to an incursion from the Philippines
and so it wasn’t thought to be safe.
Though I might not have thought that a
trip into the forest was a good preparation for
writing an article such as this, it makes you
reassessmany things and is a good time to
contemplate what effectMerchant Taylors’
had on you.
Abrief résumé of myself then; I leftMTS in
1979 andwent tomedical school in London
at the Royal FreeHospital. I trained as aGP
inNorthHertfordshire working at the Lister
Hospital in Stevenage and then as a trainee
GP in Letchworth. I applied for and got a
partnership inHitchinNorthHerts in 1988
and have been there ever since. At present,
I work 4 days per week as a normal GP,
the other day I work as a Child Protection
NamedGP and also as the Chairman of
Hertfordshire Local Medical Committee (the
organisation that supports and represents all
GPs inHertfordshire).
If I were to have any thoughts about what
MTS provided for me it wouldn’t be about the
academic results I achieved or the sporting
training; my viewwould be that it was about
the all-round education, the sense, even if I
didn’t appreciate at the time, of what one’s
relationship is with the rest of society.
Watching the guide – whose annual salary
is £2500 per annum– taking us through
the Sumatran jungle, andwhowould have
to spend all of that if they had any serious
medical condition, mademe appreciate
how lucky I am to have had the start in life
I had; and to be bornwhere I was. The skills
taught at Taylors’ of understanding that
and understanding the differences between
cultures and people are crucial.
The same knowledge and understanding
of our place in, and debt to society is an
important part of my safeguardingwork. I
teach and support other GPs regarding the
issues and cases involved in the protection of
childrenwho have been subject to some form
of abuse in their lives. At present there are
about 400 children on the Child Protection
register inHertfordshire; inmy day there
were 700 odd pupils atMTS to give you some
feeling for the numbers. The cases that I am
involvedwith, could, if youwere not careful,
give you a rather jaundiced viewof our fellow
human beings; and certainly whenwe were
discussing animal cruelty in Sumatra I was
thinking that people are just as or more cruel
to their fellowhuman beings!
My LMCwork also involvesme in a lot of
negotiating and discussions regardingmy
colleagues’ conditions of work and speaking
at meetings and conferences. Representing
your peer group is very satisfying but can
be quite stressful. Am I trying to say that
my time at Taylors’ preparedme for this sort
of work?Not specifically of course, but in
general, absolutely. The education clearly
prepared you to be confident and self-assured,
or at least appear so; to argue without being
aggressive and to try to understand the other
person’s point of view. TheHouse system
meant that you learnt what it meant to have
particular people withwhomyou had a
particular relationship and responsibilities.
I still have anOMT tie; indeed I have found
an internet retailer and bought myself and
my brothers a new tie each. I wear the tie
frequently and although I have only been
recognised once by another OMT (in London
and the other man had been abroad in South
Africa for 50 years) it still makesme feel
positive, even if it is rather garish.
To sum up, I think I gained a lot from
my time at Taylors’; the present pupils I
met at the former Head Monitors’ dinner
last year seemed clearly to be getting the
same sort of experiences and benefits;
long may it continue.
Jeremy Cox
was Head
Monitor in 1978/79. He recalls his time at
the school and his career in medicine
