I heard recently that Ros Bayley died and I felt a deep sense of loss and also an immense appreciation to her for all that she contributed to us in early years; for her joy, fun, intelligence and wisdom . I recently read her book "The Cleverness of Boys" and I felt so very grateful to her for this publication and also to Sally Fethersone, who I know worked extensively with Ros. I want to offer my condolences to all who knew and loved Ros, especially to her family.
Ros will be missed by us all and also always remembered.
Ros was a treasure....... I think the whole heavens lit up when she entered...
My experience of getting to know Ros personally, was when we trained together in the early 1990's in Bristol. We were both attending a "TOT" programme, which is the High/Scope Trainer of Trainers programme. This was the first training for this programme delivered in the UK and it seemed like the first time I had felt able to be myself in a learning situation...we relaxed and shared life, explored our beliefs and attitudes around our own childhood experiences and our interactions as parents and as early years professions and trainers.
This training was amazing, it not only changed my practise, it changed my life and some of this was due to the people I met on this programme. The discussions were enlightening, inside the classroom during breaks and later back at the hotel with the help with some good food and wine (or maybe not so good!). My experience of Ros during this period was that she was warm and embracing.
She was authentic. Her message was absolutely serious about our work with children and at the same time it was playful and she loved to have fun...Her inner child was fully alive..
Years later, I remember meeting her at some High/Scope conferences.
One time, at a conference, we met in the toilets, just before she was about to deliver a talk to hundreds of practitioners and she told me that she was feeling nervous, which for some reason was a surprise to me and in that moment, I realised that I was surprised because in my own mind, I had elevated her to a position which was almost Guru like... (which of course she would not have wanted at all!) She was travelling all over the world, speaking to hundreds of practitioners. She was so very knowledgeable, had written so many publications and I couldn't imagine that she would be nervous!
I saw her once again as Ros, a women with an amazing heart, such creativity and so much to give and I was reminded once again that no matter what happens to us, we are the same in so many ways - we are human; we live and we die; we have fun; we celebrate; we work; we play; we feel happiness and pain, fear and shame and sometimes when we are courageous enough to share ourselves with others, to put ourselves in centre stage...we feel nervous. .
I sat in the audience, at this conference and I watched her in her fully glory..moving around the platform, explaining how to foster a love of learning through story telling. She engaged us with her stories which were mesmerising and spoke deeply into the stories of our own lives.
I felt humbled by this experience and grateful to her...for reminding me that all we have to offer to others in this lifetime is ourselves. She was doing wonderful works and now she has left us a legacy
Lets remember all that she taught us .Ros Bayley Publications
As I sit here thinking of Ros, this poem comes to my mind and so I thought I would share it with you
If
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
Source: If by Rudyard Kipling, Famous Inspirational Poems http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/famous/poem/if-by-rudyard-kipling#ixzz1weyksAbU
www.FamilyFriendPoems.com
Tracy
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