Walking with confidence on London’s catwalks

Diane Kenyon (nee Whitehall) attended Mary Hare between 1951 and 1956. Mr Askew, Headmaster, encouraged Diane to take singing lessons – she went on to be the first pupil to sing on Parents’ Day!

Diane was a boarder in the Manor and remembers practising her singing on summer evenings with the windows wide open.

After leaving Mary Hare Diane went on to become one of London’s top catwalk models working for Dior, Yves St Laurent, Fortnum & Mason and Hardy Amies. Diane now imparts her experience, giving talks to groups on modelling in the 1960’S.

Diane was involved in the work of the Breakthrough Trust for deaf/hearing integration, founded by her husband Andrew and others, and now called Deaf Plus.  Through this charity some wonderful residential and non residential projects were created by deaf people to show what could be achieved with communication at the heart of everything. Diane has also run communication courses for hearing people giving them the tools and confidence to communicate with those with a hearing loss.