In this special 150th anniversary year of Norwich High School for Girls, we are proud to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of our alumnae through our Trailblazers series. Written by our Archivist and Historian Tom Greenwood, this edition shines a light on the life and legacy of Dr Joyce Lambert (Class of 1934).

Confronted by climate change it is more important than ever that we understand the impact humanity is having on the environment. As such, there is every reason to remember, celebrate and take inspiration from the life of Norwich High alumna Dr Joyce Lambert.

Dr Lambert was born on 23rd June 1916. She joined Norwich High aged 9 and left, aged 18, in 1934. Dr Lambert studied Botany at The University of Wales, before completing a PHD at London University. Many things make Dr Lambert remarkable, but this short biography will focus on two: first, her academic discoveries and second, her ability to work with others across academic disciplines.

The Norfolk Broads are a wonderful and unique landscape, a critically important ecosystem and a valuable leisure resource. But how were they created and what does this mean for their management? For many years the consensus was that they had formed naturally. In the early 1950s this view was near universally accepted, especially after the publication of an important work by the Geographer JN Jennings. Nearly universally accepted, because Dr Lambert thought differently. Through the 1950s she worked hard, taking borings through Broads silt and peat, finally proving that the steep sided basin-shaped Broads were man-made and not natural.

In 1952 she presented her ideas at the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists Society but her radical idea convinced few. So how did she prove her theory? To answer that question we need to appreciate Dr Lambert’s genius for collaboration and interdisciplinary work. Dr Lambert asked the University of Cambridge for help with historical archives relating to the Broads. These showed that in the Middle Ages there had been a huge demand for peat and that peat cutting had been carried out on an industrial scale across the Broads. By the 14th century those cuttings had begun to flood and were being used as fish farms! In 1960 her work was published as ‘The Making of the Broads’, which won the Gill Memorial Medal (RGS).

Sometimes academics can have bitter arguments over their theories, but not Dr Lambert. She also worked with supporters of the ‘natural creation’ idea and JN Jennings even became a co-author of the ‘Making of the Broads’! The answer to what created the Broads was therefore achieved by academic disciplines and individuals working together: Biologists, Geographers, Stratigraphers and Historians, all led by Dr Lambert and all happy with the eventual discovery of the truth.

Dr Lambert’s work did not end there. In the 1960s she moved to Southampton where she was one of the first environmental scientists, playing a leading role in the use of computers to map and analyse the distribution of plant species.

When she retired Dr Lambert returned to the Broads. She loved to garden and was a great supporter of Norwich City Football Club. She died in 2005 aged 88. Remember Dr Lambert, a great scientist whose perseverance and ability to use all methods of research, from the oldest to the newest should inspire us today. In particular, remember her ability to work with people in the pursuit of truth.