Teachers

Throughout my life I have met people who have had such an influence on the way that I think, it would be impossible to forget them. They all formed in part the way I behaved as an adult. The biggest influence of all was, my Father, but there were people on the fringe, people who were part of my life for only a short time but who laid the foundations for the person who is me.


Mrs Meadows, my primary school teacher. She was the first female that made me aware of the subtle differences between men, and woman, I was always a confident child, but in her presence I became jelly man. I knew that girls couldn't run as fast as boys, or throw a ball properly, and they had that annoying habit of sticking their bottoms out that I came to love in later years. But Mrs Meadows was different in a different way; she made my head itch which was a sure sign that we were made for each other. The fact that I was eight years old, and she must have been in her late twenties made not the slightest difference to me. I was going to have her, and that was that. Over a period of a few days I formulated a plan. It was very simple, I would sing her a love song, and she would instantly fall in love with me, I knew it would work because a chap had done the same thing on the telly, and he had got the girl. When the day came to put my plan into action I was nervous but confident. As the class filed out of the lesson to go outside to play, I told her that I would very much like to sing her a song, "sing away David" she trilled. So sing I did but not the love song I had practised, I couldn't remember a word of that so instead I gave her a rather long rendition of Tulips from Amsterdam, which went down rather well. After I had stopped singing she thanked me for the lovely song, there was quite a long silence as she looked at me expectantly, finally she asked if there was anything else that I wanted. Yes I said "could I have a quick look at your knickers", from this point on the proceedings took a nose dive I don't remember her screaming but I was told later that she had, and it could be heard all round the school. I ran out of the classroom, into the playground, and hid behind the dinner bins, I was still there when the other kids went back in, sure that I would be sent to prison for my crime. I stayed there crying until Mrs Meadows found me. But instead of the telling of that I thought I would receive for my terrible deed, she began to explain that there are certain ways to behave in front of ladies, and that what I had done wasn't so bad after all. She was a very kind woman with a very kind way about her, and I remember her for that.


Mr Winstanley My form teacher in primary school. A wonderful man who made you see everything as it was. There was no ambiguity with him, the only teacher I knew in any school I attended who could explain things in such a way that one instantly understood, no matter what the subject. He was also the teacher who directed, and produced the school plays that were performed twice a year, and I was in every one, I loved performing, and enjoyed my short-lived fame. Years later in a school play at secondary school I saw him in the front row watching his old student ham it up in a production of Beauty and the Beast. He clapped loudly at the end of each act, sadly I didn't get to talk to him, he left before we were out of costume. The strange part about this is that I found out he had died of cancer four months before that night.........I swear I saw him.

Mr Walmesley Chemistry and physics Secondary school. It was a joy to be in this mans presence, he bubbled with enthusiasm about everything scientific he was always making plans for the next lesson or devising a new way to explain a lesson, and he spoke to you as an equal, a very rare thing for teachers in the sixties. There is an old joke about the students blowing the lab up. With John Walmesley it was the other way round, rarely did an experiment go to plan, but because of this you remembered every second of every lesson he taught, and somehow he got the message across, a genuine eccentric.