After the Wake

Last night I was at the most cheerful wake I've ever been at, especially considering that it was not an Irish wake or somesuch. It was one at which otherwise distinguished members of society told poignant jokes about the very dear departed, including his habit of pronouncing certain things 'no bloody good' and his love of photography, audio systems and cars with 'oomph'.

This dauntless hero and giant educational leader of our times will be subjected to funeral rites today, beginning with a church service this afternoon. The school anthem will be sung. But I do not expect the grieving to be entirely funereal. I expect them to be subversive with bright joy and the full appreciation of a life well lived, a life which took no prisoners but set captives free.

In parting, for a time, I remember perhaps three main lessons that he taught me about teaching. He repeated these phrases, I suspect, to many people during the span of his long life. As a life-long teacher himself, he had these things to say to those of us who later became teachers in his footsteps: "You're a graduate, get on with it man!" "If you teach, you have to make sure they learn something." "Nobody is hopeless, you have to help them do their best."

He lived that life. He did it all, and never counted the cost (or at least, not in public). He was an exemplary professional, and because the world is poorer for his parting, we who have learnt from him must strive to work better and make the world that much richer in compensation.

And as the foundation stones at each House of the Wyvern say: "To the Glory of God, and for the Youth of the Land."