In 1978, after 17 years at Woolverstone, Dad moved jobs to Hadleigh High School, where he became Deputy Head, and taught until his retirement in about 1995. In his first year at Hadleigh he taught me in what was my final year there. I was able to witness some of his practical teaching techniques, such as using a Van de Graph generator to get pupils’ hair to stand on end or make sparks jump from their ears or noses. Dad took up home computing when it was a “new thing”, and studied in the evenings how to use a computer long before most people had even considered owning one. He was very enthusiastic about computers and as well as going on to teach computer science, he also later got very much into using his various computers for editing his digital photos. His enthusiasm for rugby certainly never waned over the years. If he was watching a match on TV he would get really engrossed in it, joining in the action by lurching from side to side to dodge the tackles and occasionally hurling himself forwards onto the rug to score a try! Breeding and showing goats was a passion of his that lasted over 40 years. Much time was spent by my Dad and Mum at goat shows. Our sitting-room was always full of displays of rosettes and trophies that they’d won with their goats. Through Dad and Mum’s long involvement in the goat world they made many good friends. In looking for old photographs for today, we struggled for a while to find any that were not of goats! Many featured goats being held by various goatkeepers, usually with the person’s head and shoulders just out of view, with the goat taking pride of place in the centre of the shot. Dad’s photography skills definitely improved in later years; his range of subject material thankfully became much broader! Dad enjoyed judging goats at shows. In 1982 he became a licensed British Goat Society Judge, travelling as far as Scotland and Northern Ireland to judge goat shows and make more friends. He was a member of the BGS from 1966, Chairman from 1992 to 2001 and in 2009-2010 was President of the British Goat Society. However, in our house he was just referred to as The High Priest of Goats. I know he was a very capable and respected teacher, but he was also very keen on making sure he made enough time to spend on his many interests outside work; probably before the phrase ‘work-life-balance’ had been invented. Dad developed a keen interest in photography, and this grew to become his main passion. He went on many trips with the Ipswich & District Photographic Society, and enjoyed spending many hours editing and perfecting his digital images at home, and printing them for displays and competitions. He enjoyed his time with IDPS, and made a great many friends there, too, and was delighted to be made President from 2015 to 2017. During lockdowns, and while his health still permitted, he was still able to actively join in some of the meetings and technical discussions that the IDPS held online on Zoom calls. The photographic prints he produced were very important to him and he has left us a big stack of his excellent work to enjoy. 87 was a good age for him to have reached and he certainly made the most of all those years. He did what he enjoyed doing, and he encouraged, influenced and taught many people along the way. Dad had five grandchildren – Laura, Lucy, Leah, Rebecca and Josh. |