INSPIRED by ‘a very full life’ Redditch man Roger Henry Lippett has written a book on his life which began living on the Batchley Estate. He went on to serve in the Royal Navy and wants to share his story.
He was born on January 30 1939 on the council estate, with his dad’s name Henry, being given to him as his middle name.
Here he sheds light on his life family and friends as a social record of sorts that may be of interest to his children, grandchildren and the people of Redditch.
Although he said he had never achieved great wealth or fame he felt his life had moments worth recounting.
In his words: “I now live in the beautiful city of Plymouth in Devon but I will always be a Batchley boy.
“Far have I traveled, and much have I seen and this is my story, serialised in the Redditch Standard.”
Part 30
IN SEPTEMBER 1985, I began my first year at Knowles Hill School – now renamed Newton Abbot College.
The main site was the old building which was originally Newton Abbot Grammar School, at the back of which were ‘the huts’ several wooden huts which provided additional classroom accommodation.
There were two staff rooms, the main staff room and the Dyrons staff room.
My commute to school meant a 30mile journey each way, but it was a pleasant ride along the A38 with fields and countryside all the way.
At first I found myself doing the journey on my own but eventually I found others to share lifts with.
There was Lucinda, head of girls PE, Helen who taught drama and dance, Elaine, head of French and Kim head of humanities. It was a nice team of staff at KHS, especially my head of department John Skirton.
John had considerable experience of life before he became a teacher, including an engineering apprenticeship and time in the RAF where he had spent some time in Singapore so we had much in common and we got on well together.
The headmaster at the time was Mr Sturt. He in his past had been an army officer and had served in Malaya.
And so the first year passed but my position was only temporary and so reluctantly at the end of the year I searched for another job.
In May 1986 Mr Sturt wrote to the Area Education Officer asking if I could be granted a full time permanent post, to which they agreed. I was so pleased as Knowles Hill was a happy school and I enjoyed my work there.
Now at last I was a full-time teacher in a permanent post and would remain teaching at this school for the next 12 years.
I taught the age range 11 to 16 and also up to 18 years on the B-TECH course who were on day release from a local engineering firm. So, with my own classroom and the backing of the head, I began to make a few changes to this rather staid ex-grammar school.
I introduced something previously unheard of – music in the classroom. I put speakers up and during practical work sessions I would allow background music to be played which seemed to go down well with the pupils.
It was pleasing to see the kids beavering away at their work with the music playing whilst I sat quietly back and only helped out when asked. Another of my innovations was to introduce TV to the classroom long before this was commonplace in schools as it is today
When I purchased a new TV for our home I took the old Hitachi TV in its teak case to school and, with the help of Dave Crooke, the technician, placed it high up so it was easy to view, and subsequently I was able to hire and show educational and relevant films.
Dave was a fine engineer and also a member of the Dartmoor rescue group. He made my life so much easier. He was always there to prepare materials for me at short notice and to see that all the machinery and equipment was in working order.
Together we arranged the classroom so every tool and piece of equipment had its place.
I have long been interested in the welfare of animals and formed a club which became known as ACE – Animal Care Enterprises.
I ran the club during lunchtime on Mondays for any year pupil who wished to attend.
Not only did we discuss the many issues relating to the ill treatment which many animals were subjected to but we decided to do something about it and set about raising funds in order to donate to animal charities.
