Cannington College (2)

Norman D

Norman was a Scot who became Head of Food Technology after the untimely death of Brian Galloway. Although Norman was a good teacher he seemed to me to struggle as a manager - he tended to have favourites and nothing destroys morale quicker than a manager doing this. That said he went on the greater things with Network Training so I can only suppose that I never saw him at his best! 

Mike B

Where to start? Mike was very much a colleague with two contrasting sides to his character. I always thought that he was capable of sustained high quality work when it was in his interest to do so! When there was honour, glory or recognition to be gained perhaps? But if it was a project being run by somebody else it was a very different matter and non-participation was usually the name of the game. Mike went on greatness with Network Training working alongside Norman Dickie.

Richard F

I always think of Richard F and Mike S (see below) as a pair. This would seem strange to people that knew them both because in reality they were as different as chalk from cheese. They both started at Cannington a couple of months before me and Richard took over from Norman D not long before I accepted a promoted post in Daventry. It was impossible to dislike Richard although he and I had little in common.

David M

Dave knew more about bakery technology than the rest of us put together. I liked Dave because in true Liverpudlian fashion he didn't suffer fakes or frauds or pomposity gladly, or indeed at all. Dave and I made an, unsuccessful, attempt to set up a small business selling pictures which I still think should have worked better than it did. All too soon Dave left post-16 teaching and returned, so we all thought, to Liverpool. Much later I was told by a former student that he was still living in Somerset several years later. All rather curious. In 2012 I received a very strange email that claimed to be from him but when I replied it all went quiet again.

Steve S

I shared an office with Steve for many years. A really nice bloke and an excellent teacher. It was a great loss to further education when Steve moved up to Blackpool to run a hotel. Steve used to eat a lunch of bran - just bran with no extras - for reasons that were not clear to the rest of us.

Mike S

Mike had a lot of experience in the dairy industry and this was his main teaching responsibility. He was respected by the students but some of his colleagues were very unimpressed by Mike lecturing them on "professionalism". My favourite memory of Mike was when he and I attended a job interview near Nottingham. He seemed to have zero interest in the job on offer and was only applying because he could not bear the thought of me getting a promoted post before him! I still remember the unflattering song that Steve S wrote about him.