Headmistress, Mrs Lindsey Hughes, talks about some of the highlights of her whirlwind 48 hours in Kolozsvár, Transylvania. 

Our link with the János Zsigmond Unitarian College is a tradition that dates back to 1892, when a scholarship fund was first set up by the Reverend Robert Spears and the Sharpe sisters, founders of Channing, and Bishop József Ferencz of Kolozsvár. It was designed to build links between the new school for the daughters of Unitarian ministers in London and the birthplace of Unitarianism in Transylvania. One girl came to Channing for a full year every year until 1948, sometimes as young as 14, other than in the years of the First and Second World Wars.

The current scholarship was revived in 2012 by Amanda Davidson, whose mother, aunt and grandmother all benefited from the original scholarship scheme. Amanda is also the great-great-granddaughter of Bishop József Ferencz. For the last decade a 16 year old girl has come to spend the first half of the autumn term at Channing each year. The scholars live with a Channing host family, attend A level lessons at Channing in three subjects of their choice, participate in extracurricular activities and have the opportunity to explore London and experience life in the UK.

My visit was timed to coincide with the graduation ball of Ezster, this year’s scholar, and her classmates. Along with her Channing host family, who also came out for the weekend, it was wonderful to visit the school and meet so many people whose lives have been touched by the scholarship. On Friday afternoon Ezster presented to her year about the 6 weeks she spent at Channing - there was much excitement about the contrasts to their lives in Transylvania and in particular a school timetable which featured only three subjects and an unheard-of luxury - free periods! Photos of the Sixth Form Centre, the friends she had made and the places she had visited demonstrated the huge value Ezster had derived from being with us even for such a short time.

This was reinforced on Friday evening, when I was inspired to hear the stories of four of the recent scholars. All of them were highly articulate about the ways their lives had been changed forever by the experience of coming to Channing. The independence they gained from travelling alone to another country and the improvement in their language skills were just the start of it - each of them credit some of their life choices, including what to study at university and taking up options to work or study abroad in their careers, with the values and self-belief they got from their time at Channing.

I was delighted to meet Timea, who has been chosen as this year’s scholar and who was avidly excited to hear the stories and advice of the former scholars over that dinner

I won’t bore you with how much I enjoyed my walking tour of the city, which is beautiful and really interesting It became very clear that, as one of my hosts put it, ‘everything here is a little bit political’ - the region has only been part of Romania for 100 years, and their strong Hungarian heritage is alive and well. Any city which has three names in different languages, depending on who owned it at the time, is fascinating for an historian like me; add in the experience of nearly 45 years of Communist control and there was plenty for me to explore. I was also taken up into the mountains to visit a traditional village and ruined castle, as well as eating a lot of traditional Hungarian food. Suffice it to say that my visit to Kolozsvár was only the start of what I hope will be a deeper and stronger friendship between our two schools. I am already investigating a couple of possibilities for next steps and look forward to telling you more about them when they come to fruition.

We have a number of students who attend Channing every year, for the first half of the Autumn Term, to study alongside our students, experience the vibrancy and culture of London and, in turn, enrich the lives of our students as they get to know one another and their respective cultures.

Many such scholars have spent time here at Channing and we look forward to welcoming many more. It is another testament to the generosity of the Channing community that said scholars are hosted by families of current pupils, which is invaluable in allowing the students to experience everyday life at Channing: a huge thank you to our families, pupils and the Transylvanian Scholars themselves. 

Do you have any memories of the Transylvanian Scholars from your time at Channing? Were you one? We would love to hear from you.