Tower and Town, March 2020

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Marion Gordon-Finlayson

My conversation with Marion Gordon-Finlayson about her Polymathy divulged a joyful whirlwind of experience, as well as many deliberate acts of learning, providing a lifelong balance between the intellectual and the creative.

An amiable people person, her positivity and inquisitiveness about the world around her is infectious. Now approaching her 70‘s, her good health and fitness are due to many on-going pleasurable pursuits like walking, art classes, music, gardening, water sports, ‘kitchen’ bridge, an ardent love of cycling and more recently beekeeping with her husband, Ian. Perhaps, because of the bees, she agrees with Robert Twigger in his book Micromastery that ‘the various parts of the brain need ample cross fertilisation.’ “Our honey is delicious. Only been stung once”, said Marion. As her mother was a practical woman, it is no wonder Marion once completed a Car Mechanic’s Course!

After a broad childhood education and later a rigorous Secretarial Qualification, Marion put her typing and shorthand skills to good use landing a London job in 1970 with the British Tourist Authority. This underpinned a desire to travel and see the world. During the first 6½ years of her 46-year marriage to Ian, they found themselves on a steep learning curve working in Paris, immersed in a completely different culture and a new language. Fortunately, a challenging job for Marion in the OECD Environment Department proved fun. Back in Marlborough years later, her amateur psychology and counselling skills were tested while working for SLCA, the Specialist Letting & Caretaking Agency where every day was mind bogglingly different. “Fortunately, I dislike regimentation. At times, I was comforting a tearful divorcee having to rent; on another day a mournful widower or possibly a couple who had been forced to sell their beloved house due to a failed business”.

As Dr Robert Ornstein says in his book Healthy Pleasures, ‘The great surprise of human evolution may be that the highest form of selfishness is selflessness.’ So, engaging in philanthropy for the past 16 years, by holding an annual play for charity performed by the resourceful Cornish Miracle Theatre has been one of Marion’s foremost life achievements. Her welcoming Ogbourne Maizey garden is the venue for the stage where a core of regular actors as well as new recruits make up the troupe. “Having an avenue to raise money for others less fortunate than ourselves has been very gratifying, last year’s charity being Diabetes UK. In 2020, Youth Adventure Trust is our chosen charity. An average of about £1700-plus has been raised each year with an ever-increasing audience of now over 250 people. This year’s epic production of King Lear on 22nd July will be perfect for the offbeat and inventive Miracle treatment - the only real worry is always the weather and we hope it will treat us kindly!”

I asked Marion what she had learned from observing the actors over 16 years. “Besides acting, dancing and singing, they are all polymaths” she laughed. “Their practical skills kick in when needed; carpentry, costume design, as well as the electrics. A truly professional company, with high standards, they’re very deft at lots of things, not just with iPads, mobile devices and laptops. They’re self-reliant nomads from June until August; with no fixed theatre, instead they travel from venue to venue We house and feed them. In fact, over the years they’ve become part of our extended family.”

Marion often attends the Summer School. I wonder what course she has chosen for 2020? One has the feeling that Marion’s thirst for knowledge will continue until her last breath; and then - the Universe will be her oyster!

Lucinda Hall