The Mollie Clay Trust makes a donation to the University

The Mollie Clay Trust has given a generous gift to name a room in the new library in St Mary’s Road campus. The Mollie Clay Room will be located on the third floor of the impressive new development. It will be primarily used for group study work, lectures and workshops.

The room will bear a name of late Edith Mary Royds Clay (known as Mollie among friends), a great humanist and volunteer. It is a befitting tribute to a remarkable woman who so readily helped those in need.

The gift is a continuation of the Trustees’ long standing support of the University. Over the years, the Trustees have generously donated to scholarships, bursaries and prizes for talented and bright students.  

Mollie’s links with the University date back to 1960s when she worked as an honorary secretary to the Ealing Overseas Students Committee, at the Ealing Technical College (now part of University of West London).

Mollie was born on 8 November 1921 in Beckenham, Kent. Her mother was a nurse and midwife and her father worked in Shoreditch for the Public Assistance Board.

Soon after Mollie was born, the family moved to Ealing where Mollie attended St Michael’s school. After completing at Notting Hill and Ealing High School, Mollie intended to read English and History at Cambridge but the war broke out and she spent time with her family in Penarth in Wales. She talked about her family looking after Jewish refugees there.

After the first air raid in Cardiff the family moved back to Ealing. Mollie became part of the ‘Carlton Singers’, a group of singers that started during the war and sang folk songs, often through air raids.

Mollie trained as a physiotherapist at Middlesex Hospital during the war. When asked about her choice of profession, Mollie’s response was that she wanted to be useful given that the country was at war. After qualifying as a physiotherapist, she worked at the Hammersmith Hospital.

Mollie had a great enthusiasm for life and loved to travel. She travelled extensively all over the world, from Cuba to Afghanistan and Pakistan, through to Ethiopia, Zambia, South Africa, Ecuador, Nepal to Arctic Circle and the Galapagos Islands.  Above all she loved Greece and even started learning Greek.  Mollie enjoyed going to the theatre, opera and ballet in particular and visiting art galleries and she always used to take her friends along with her.  She was closely connected with St John’s Church in Ealing, always offering a helping hand to other members.

In fact, Mollie devoted her whole life to helping others and had always considered other people’s needs.  As an honorary secretary to the Ealing Overseas Students Committee, Mollie provided invaluable support to the overseas students. She went out of her way to help students settle down during their studies and made sure that they never felt alone.

Mollie was an exceptional woman and we are pleased that her name will continue to be remembered.

Picture above:  Mr Hamid, Trustee of the Mollie Clay Trust, presented a cheque to Tim Wales, Director of Library Services at the University.