WITH the passage of time, memories fade, so reading the article on the re-introduction of Latin at Cheney School through the Iris Project (Oxford Mail, December 27, 2013), brought back many memories.

You’ll note that I said re-introduction, as both my children studied Latin at Cheney during the years 1983-88 and both took and passed O-Level exams in Latin.

They had an excellent teacher in Miss Smith, however, I well remember helping them with revision and being a bit foxed, as Miss Smith’s teaching was of the old school. She had done her Latin when taught in tandem with Greek as the Classics, and she pronounced the Vs as Ws, whereas my Latin was of the Catholic Church, from my childhood, which caused some amusement in pronunciations.

Reminiscing with my children during the Christmas holidays, I mentioned the article headline: Historic: State school classes are a ‘first’ for Oxford, and we presumed it was referring to offering A-Level at Cheney. It is correct that it was not on the curriculum in the sixth form at Cheney in the 1980s. However (according to my children, now 49 and 43 so hopefully their memories serve them correctly) if interested, you could continue Latin to A-Level by transferring your studies to the sixth form at Cherwell. Neither of them did, but can still quote big chunks of Virgil.

KATH MULLIGAN Leiden Road Headington