Melda Townsley
Looking back over many years of happy examining I remember not just the brilliant achievers but the unusual persons or events and their impact during the examining tour.
One of these occurred when I examined a group of young pet owners in the sitting room of an old house adjoining and part of a school. It was Friday afternoon, and an eager group of pet owners was enthusing over a range of portable animals. One of these was a very pat-able cat, not too keen to come out of its cage but it was soon coaxed to allow patting and appreciation. After the talk, its owner said it would be fine just sitting under her chair, and so it was until the time came to pack it away at the end of the exams. It suddenly shot away around the room pursued by a group of little girls. I persuaded the owner and classmates to leave me to deal with the alarmed cat. But suddenly it raced away from my embracing hands and fled up the chimney scattering soot and ancient ashes into the room and on to me. Eventually, I did manage to charm it down into my arms and thence into the cat box. Its owner was delighted, and I was left with a hefty dry-cleaning bill.
On another occasion I had been examining a group of ASB Public Speakers. I had nearly managed to complete each report, placing all reports behind me on the shelf of an open metal cabinet which also held a jug of water and glasses. Suddenly, without any warning the whole set of shelves cascaded down scattering reports, glasses and the jug of water which ran over all the reports. It took over an hour to clean up the mess and to put the sodden report pages out to dry so when I got back to the motel, I could decipher what I had written. I do remember that the local secretary/supervisor was very cross with me for what she was sure was my fault in causing the accident... “Not guilty your honour!” Since then, I have taken great care to put vases of flowers and jugs of water well away from exam material, especially those precious reports.
Among my favourite candidates are those groups of home schoolers who always show such care and interest in all the members of their family. I remember one group where the youngest member of the family was asked to extend the end of the nursery rhyme ‘Hey Diddle Diddle the Cat and the Fiddle.’ Yes, she knew the rhyme and with a short pause she continued the story after the Cat ran away with the Spoon. “They got married, of course,’ she began ‘and they had a big family of children – a whole canteen of cutlery.’ Such a clever use of vocabulary.
We all may have heard of candidates sighing that they were ‘sick of exams’ but I saw the reality of this on one of my last examining tours. The secondary school student had not been well for a day or two but on the morning of the exam she said she was feeling better and thought she would be up to doing the exam and would not be letting down her classmates if she turned up. I didn’t know this but noticed that as the exam proceeded this lass seemed off colour. The group had just completed an improvisation and had excitedly gathered in front of my table to discuss their work. I had no sooner said to this wilting candidate, “are you feeling all right?” when suddenly she threw up all over the floor in front of my table. Not onto it, thank goodness. I hastily escorted the poor girl out of the room and into the hands of her concerned mother and teacher. The Local Secretary quickly found us another exam room on the other side of the building and re-routed the exams. This was the best that could be done but I do remember how well the groups of candidates who followed adapted to the confined and cluttered space and showed some quick thinking and successful improvisation to deal with the change. Well done candidates and my fervent hope that the poor patient recovered soon and now remembers the incident with some humour.
