UNIVERSITY OF SUFFOLK CONFERMENT OF A DOCTORATE ON CYNTHIA CAPEY
UNIVERSITY OF SUFFOLK Oration:        Cynthia Capey Orator:          Fiona Fisk Deputy Vice-Chancellor, the Senate of the University has resolved that the degree of Doctor of the University be conferred upon Cynthia Capey. Cynthia was born to Christian parents in South East London and grew up attending church regularly each week, singing in the choir and teaching a Sunday School class.  At this time Cynthia was totally committed to this Christian path; she studied hard, asked lots of questions and won a special prize in Sunday School for her outstanding knowledge. Studying Greek, Latin and English Literature in 6th form Cynthia worked hard to secure a place at Cambridge where she studied initially Classics and then Theology.  In what can be a unique atmosphere at Cambridge Cynthia sought to remain grounded in ordinary life, running a youth group in a deprived part of the city and joining Franciscan missions to parishes in Morden and Camberwell as well as the strawberry fields of Lincolnshire alongside pickers and their families from the East End. Having spent a fourth year of study training to be an RE teacher, Cynthia taught for three years before marrying a Curate and moving to Suffolk which is where her long association with what was then the Civic College, then Suffolk College and is now Suffolk New College and the University of Suffolk.  It was during these initial years that Cynthia laid the foundations for a Religious Studies/Theological department at the College and for the establishment of a Chaplaincy which saw the beginnings of her inter-faith work to which Cynthia has remained dedicated to since. Since this time, Cynthia has worked tirelessly and voluntarily to integrate communities and faith groups for several decades achieving tremendous results in building interfaith relationships in Ipswich and Suffolk. Her achievements are numerous, too many to share in the time available here but to give you a flavour of some of her key achievements: She introduced many people to the ideas of diversity and discussing faith and culture by setting up the Suffolk Inter-Faith Resource (SIFRE) which was established in 1991 and grew out of her religious studies courses at Suffolk College.  SIFRE began running courses in Religious Education, diversity religion, faiths of the world, holding seminars, workshops, conferences and discussion groups bringing people, of all faiths and none, together to share ideas and experiences. Cynthia is quoted as saying: "Most people have got some kind of spiritual awareness and are interested, but don't necessarily want to be tied down to one religion. The principles that the faiths share are the building blocks of society. Rather than being afraid of interacting with people of different faiths, the deeper one goes into them, the more one finds that is common at the core of a basic concern and compassion for humanity." In 2010 Cynthia received an award from the Muslim News – this was the international Annemarie Schimmel award for excellence in Championing a Muslim Cause. Cynthia, with her many years of working for inter-faith reconciliation, received the beautiful Astrolabe insignia. But her efforts are not limited to Christian–Muslim relations; they also include the Baha’i, Buddhist, Hindu, Humanist, Jain, Jewish, Pagan, Sikh, Taoist and Zoroastrian faiths. This is not Cynthia’s first award from those of a different faith to her own; the Pagans had previously awarded Cynthia with the Symmachus Award. Multi-faith events have been, and continue to be organised through the East of England Faiths Agency (EEFA) and The Faith and Spirituality Network for Suffolk, (which has replaced SIFRE) from the newly established Multi-Faith Centre at St Helen’s Street in Ipswich - all of which Cynthia formed.   This latest Centre in St Helen’s Street was negotiated with the East of England Co-operative Society and has led to five rooms being provided to include a training room, seminar room, library and resources room and “hot desking” and storage office for faith and interfaith groups to use. During the period of co-location within the College grounds of both the chaplaincy and SIFRE, Cynthia was able to extend support to asylum seekers and refugees in the area.  At this time the various statutory and voluntary organisations were working independently of each other and so, through the work of SIFRE and chaplaincy, these groups were brought together to form what was then the Suffolk Refugee Support Forum, Cynthia being their first Chair.   Cynthia says that this work with asylum seekers had the most profound effect on her and her later work. Alongside all of Cynthia’s work within the community she has written or edited several books and devised a board game ‘Diversity’ in further support of her work in the multi-cultural sector.  It should be no surprise that Cynthia writes a game – as a child she made her own copy of Monopoly.   Diversity has been distributed nationally and world-wide to encourage conversation on our differences and more importantly our similarities. She is currently working on a new game, “Staging posts on the Journey of Life” which opens the dialogue around topics such as education, employment, family and death; this is being trialled in residential homes with a view to its wider roll-out in the coming months. In sharing this small part of Cynthia’s life journey and contribution to our community, I cannot forget her family – Cynthia, with her first husband had two children and adopted a 3-month Indian baby girl and a 3-year-old West Indian boy.  Later Cynthia married a widower and became mother to his three children and together, they completed their family with another son. Cynthia is rightly proud of her family and all that they have achieved in their lives but equally, I know that they are so proud of her achievements which are being recognised today by this award. From her retirement until her eighties, Cynthia has been working tirelessly for interfaith understanding and until COVID intervened, has continued to set up courses on religious literacy, culturally competent care, arts and spirituality, elders and visionaries, safeguarding awareness and police training. Cynthia, in her sharing with me notes that she has been challenged in her studies, her work, friendships and by her family to travel hopefully, and to appreciate the gifts and insights that others have to offer.  She said to me “I am learning to recognise my fellow-travellers, who have set out from different places, and who are still, like me, finding their way”.  As I draw to a close this celebration of Cynthia’s achievements and reflect on her journey I would encourage you, as our new graduates, to take Cynthia’s advice and “let there be no barriers to [your] learning; travel light, not encumbered with fossilised ideas and entrenched attitudes.  Like great thinkers over the years, embrace and honour questions which, in the facing of them, will help you to know each other and yourself better”. Deputy Vice-Chancellor, I present to you Cynthia Capey. CYNTHIA CAPEY’S SPEECH Thank you, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, for bestowing this honorary award on me and thank you, Academic Registrar, for your kind words.   I do need to say that whatever I have managed to achieve has been because of the support I have received over the years from countless people, both within the college and in the wider community especially from my husband. As has been mentioned, although my BA degree was in Greek, Latin and Theology, followed by training as an RE teacher, my first employment at the then Civic College was to teach Liberal Studies.  Most of my students were apprentices on day release who were keen to do their practical classes as bricklayers, carpenters, plumbers, gasfitters and motor vehicle mechanics etc but definitely were not interested in Liberal Studies though we did our best to engage them.  One of my colleagues who was a musician taught the gasfitters to play tunes on gas pipes! I should just mention that some of these students came from various small Suffolk towns and villages which they had never left before.  Coming to Ipswich, even from Needham Market was a big deal and they were definitely out of their comfort zone.  But, the learning was a two way process – for example they warned me not to drive through Ipswich with my door unlocked! It was generally thought by my colleagues in the Liberal Studies team that if you could just manage to stay in the classroom for an hour with some of these groups, whether or not you taught them anything, you had done well!  I did also teach Liberal Studies to Business Studies students on BTec and HND courses who were much more responsive! We were supposed to impart useful knowledge like how to open a bank account, how to use a library and how to function generally as responsible citizens.  I vividly remember an occasion when I took some of my students to the county courts to see what went on.  As they straggled along, they were actually stopped by the police who asked them what they were doing.  They replied “We’re with ‘er – we’re the Civic College!  They obviously did not yet look like responsible citizens! It was possible to find ways of being creative – I arranged to take groups of motor vehicle mechanics with classes of hairdressers once a year by ferry from Felixstowe to the Netherlands over long weekends by rearranging their day release timetables.  The motor vehicle students visited a car factory in Eindhoven while the hairdressers had an alternative appropriate experience and then they had various cultural experiences in Amsterdam.  You can imagine some of them! A more adventurous outing was taking a mixed age group of students to Greece in 2 minibuses hired from a pub in Bury St. Edmunds.  On this occasion the motor vehicle department really came into its own as we included 2 students with advanced driving certificates as well as mechanical expertise.  It took us several days and nights to get to Athens and there were some hair-raising experiences. I also took study groups to Israel, on several occasions.  The last time, while visiting Jericho, which is in Palestinian territory, I slipped and broke my ankle.  19 weeks later when the traction was over and the plaster had finally been removed, the Diversity training game which Fiona mentioned had emerged in a basic form.  It has sold internationally, but locally it has been deployed for professional training (police, health and social care service, councillors etc) and also for informal groups and voluntary organisations.  I have even played it in the street and in shopping precincts. That game gives basic knowledge about the different faiths and philosophical paths that are found in our society and presents some of the challenges that we may face when we encounter people from different backgrounds.  It is a way of gaining what is known as basic religious literacy and it challenges prejudice. My encounter with refugees and asylum seekers who passed through the college certainly opened my eyes.  Just over 20 years ago there was an influx from many parts of the world:  Iraq, Turkey, Palestinian territory, Bhutan, Estonia, Cosova, Albania and Afghanistan.  They signed up to do courses at the College and we had the privilege of trying to help them find their feet.  They brought so many terrible memories with them, and their one hope was to study. Anyway, when eventually I was able to develop and lead a Multi-faith Religious Studies department at the Suffolk College and to set up various Interfaith and multi-cultural, projects in Suffolk and around the Eastern region, I was better prepared.  While out of my comfort zone, I had developed a range of teaching skills and techniques but, more importantly, empathy for people, whatever their background or academic ability. I appreciate the opportunities I received to gain professional experience in such a dynamic enterprise as the Civic College, Suffolk College and the emerging University of Suffolk. The point I am making is that you may study and train hard and then you may not get the job you had really set your heart on.  However, whether or not you get there in the end, the skills you have picked up, the lessons you have learnt and the unexpected experiences on the way can be a real bonus.  Nothing need be wasted. Around 40 years ago I embarked on a Ph.D.  I had an initial meeting with a Professor at Kings College, London and we agreed the area of research.  I don’t remember paying any fees up front, which is very odd!  Anyway, divorce intervened, and I was not able to continue.  Looking back, I realise it was too early in my life to do it.  I had the basic knowledge but not the wisdom gained from life experience, to accomplish it at that time. The board game which my organisation is now completing “Staging Posts on the Journey of Life” relies on passages of prose and poetry ancient and modern. I thought I would end by introducing you to some of the material from Staging Post 4 – Education and Training.  The first two come from the 1st century CE. Leaving Home; You wonder, “What are my folks at home saying of me?”  They are thinking I am making progress in my studies, and they say, “He’ll know everything when he comes home.”  Well, once I did, I suppose, want to learn everything before going back home, but that takes a lot of hard work., and nobody sends me anything, and the baths at Nicopolis are rotten, and my lodgings are bad and so is the school….’     Epictetus, 55-135 CE Training courses; “We trained hard—but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we were reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing, and what a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while actually producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.”  Petronius Arbiter, 27-66 CE (or 20th century!) Lifelong learning;  From - SPRING TERM WITH THE WEA: I am introduced to Maud. ‘She’s ninety-four – our oldest member.’ Maud smiles at me.   ‘I’m a little hard of hearing, dear.’ She puts a sign saying ‘Speak Up’ on the table. She sits down, and her eyes begin to close. We try out the microphone. Maud wakes up. Briefly. A white-haired woman looks at me reproachfully. I have disturbed her universe. ‘The numbers are all right,’ the Treasurer confides to me.  ‘ Mind you,’ she sighs, ‘We did lose two last year. They died you know. Still,’ she brightens up, ‘They did have all their marbles when they went.’ Caroline Phillips, 1939- Congratulations to you, Graduands, from Suffolk Business School, and very good wishes for your future lives and life-long learning!
THE OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE DEGREE CEREMONY
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