The Third Decade (1978 - 1988)

I first met Anna Freud in 1973, when I became a visitor at the Clinic for that academic year. I met her again in 1977, when Manna Friedmann was making plans to retire and I came to be interviewed for the position of Nursery teacher. I knew that Manna, who personified all that the Nursery believed in, would be ‘a hard act to follow’, but when I was offered the job, I felt privileged and warmed to the opportunity that it presented. However, when Anna Freud told me, ‘You realize that you must be another Manna Friedmann,’ I had to explain apologetically that I could only be myself!

At Anna Freud's suggestion Manna Friedmann and I spent the spring term of 1978 together in the Nursery. That term taught me how the Nursery was run and provided a period of gradual transition for everyone.

Of course the most crucial part of the learning for me centred on observations and reports. I remember clearly the first report which I gave, on Sam, under Manna's instruction. Miss Freud sat at one end of the table and I at the other; before I began, she leaned across the table smiling and said, ‘I just want you to know that you have my condolences.’ That kindly and humorous remark launched my delivery of the first of many Nursery reports under her benevolent eye.

Manna spent the following term in America, leaving me to develop and consolidate my own role in the Nursery. I remember my concern and fear that I might not be able to carry off successfully the famous magical Christmas parties without Manna; but armed with a Father Christmas outfit made by her, and with the support of Aileen Berti, my assistant teacher, and a now greater familiarity with the traditions surrounding those parties, I managed.

Aileen Berti and I have worked together in the Nursery over these last 10 years, with Manna coming once each week to engage in some special activity with the children. Manna's visits have proved beneficial to everyone, and I have valued her support and advice as well as the on-the-spot sharing of