A eulogy to Martin Hill, Abbey Church, December 1st 2023.
Martin Hill worked at Downside as a member of the domestic staff for over 49 years. He spent many of those years polishing the corridors of the school. He died two weeks ago today after a short illness and today I think it is fitting that we pay our respects and honour his memory. So many of us here today knew him. We probably all knew him differently but one thing I think we all have in common is that he is someone we miss and whom we remember with great affection. We feel sad that he is no longer with us but we are here today to remember him and celebrate what he gave to our community and how he enriched our lives.
As I was walking up from Powell towards the mirror yesterday, I became conscious of the smell of floor polish which is so familiar to us and so it was not a surprise that, as I approached the mirror, the hum of the floor polisher grew increasingly audible. I knew that when I looked around the corner it would not be him I would see, but my thoughts were immediately of Martin. I imagine that I am not the only person to whom this has happened.
In a fast-changing world, where it is increasingly difficult to find things or people on whom we can rely, Martin was that dependable person. He was a constant. He lived all his life in Stratton and worked at Downside for just shy of fifty years. That’s not a common thing in this day and age and for many it would not be an aspiration. Some might see remaining in this small part of Somerset and dedicating your life’s work to Downside as restricting, but whilst Martin may not have jet-setted around the world, he touched the lives of a huge number of people, spanning every part of the world, by whom he will be remembered with affection and respect. He may never have travelled widely but his memory will burn bright in just about every continent.
In preparing to say something today, it struck me that during my years at Downside, I can probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of days on which I didn’t see Martin and say good morning, whether he was in the main hall or picking up the litter from the quad or Worth Lawn. For many of us the same will be true. He always had time to say hello and enjoyed greeting people but he took huge pride in his work and his greetings did not distract him from the task in hand.
One of his colleagues commented that ‘nothing pleased him more than to help make the school sparkle and that he was so proud of being a part of the team. He would beam when someone praised him for a job well done and he loved to come back to the tearoom to tell everyone about it.’ I swear you could see Martin grow an inch and his chest expand when someone told him what a good job he was doing. (and that was often)
I was reminded recently of a story about a traveller who came upon three men at their work bricklaying. He asked the first man what he was doing and why and the man said, ‘I’m laying bricks because I get paid to do it’. He asked the second man the same question and he said ‘I’m laying bricks because I’ve been told to put up this wall’. Then he came to the third man and asked him what he was doing. He said very simply ‘I’m building a cathedral.’
Martin saw Downside like the cathedral-building bricklayer. He knew what he was being asked to contribute and he played his part with commitment and pride. He also did so cheerfully. I say cheerfully, that was for most of the time. He certainly let you know if he thought people were letting the side down. He was not one for hiding his feelings. There were mornings when he would stride purposefully towards me and I knew that someone must have made a deliberate or needless mess, and he would let rip. I’m glad to say that this was a more frequent occurrence when the school was taken over by the summer school over the summer holidays.
Another of his colleagues remarked that Martin had time for everyone whether they were a teacher, a pupil or a colleague from the support staff, or even a prospective family looking around the School and he loved to chat to everyone. I remember clearly an occasion when a prospective family visited and on returning from their tour, the mother told me animatedly that she was sold on Downside and would definitely be sending her daughter. The deciding factor had been their tour guide’s greeting and cheerful conversation with one of the cleaners, who was quickly identified as Martin.
Halls and corridors are commonly seen as routes to a destination, to the place we need to get to, where we are going to do the important thing. We might be going to a lesson or a meeting, to our House or our office, we might be on our way to or from work. We can easily see the time spent in a corridor as pointless, as time wasted but as we walk, we can walk with others, we can meet others coming the other way, we can encounter those whose job it is to clean them and take care of them. Martin reminded us that corridors and hallways are places of encounter. As we remember Martin today, it is a sharp reminder of how precious those encounters can be, how important it is to see beyond a person’s function and recognise them as a person. Encountering others is never pointless nor is it costly. Martin understood this and took a genuine interest in those who passed his way.
Someone made an observation at a meeting I attending this week and it chimed with all of us who were present that recently they had heard quite a lot of bad language and swearing in the corridors and we also remarked how often we come across people walking along engrossed in their phones or devices. This is a shame and I hope that reflecting on the chance for meaningful encounter as we move around the School will give you pause for thought. Let’s use our corridors and public spaces as places to engage respectfully and considerately with those around us. How much poorer our lives would have been if we had just walked past Martin with our head in our phone.
Martin was a one off, unashamedly himself, entirely unique. Plenty of wealthier, more powerful people will undoubtedly arrive at the gates of heaven, but I do not think anyone will be welcomed more warmly by God than Martin. The halls of the Kingdom will never have gleamed more brightly and the souls who inhabit them will be having their eternal lives enriched. Rest in peace, Martin. Thank you for touching our lives as you did and thank you for your service to Downside. We’ll continue to build our school into the cathedral you were envisaging as you worked for all those years here.