I was appointed to Ludlow Grammar School to introduce Geology at 'O' and 'A' level, and given a 'lab' on the top floor of what had been the old girls' grammar school - the lovely Georgian house at left in this picture (courtesy Wikipedia because, as always, I have no pictures of what I did at work). The Headmaster, a Mr Robert Burns, gave me a good budget and I had support from the County inspector, so I was able to equip the room. But the real joy of the job came from my first 'A' level class, many of whom were keen to come out with me at weekends to roam the countryside in search of minerals and fossils.
Shropshire is a geologist's paradise, with rocks in age from PreCambrian to Old Red Sandstone. The old lead mines in the Shelve district yielded some superb mineral specimens, like these crystals of chalcopyrite on calcite, but we tended to concentrate on the fossils, particularly those in the quarries at the back of Wenlock Edge - quarries to which, these days, we would never have access. So....
....we found creatures like the trilobite
Dalmanites myops in the Wenlock Shales.
In the Wenlock limestones we found corals like
Heliolites (pictured) which, when sectioned, showed a distinct banding. We concluded that the banding might have been caused by a nearby river which, in the rainy season, had brought muddy water down onto the reef where the corals lived. We applied to enter our findings for the BBC's 'Young Scientist of the Year' programme, and were accepted.
On a trip to a quarry at Buildwas on the River Severn one of the students, David Webster, found a fossil which I couldn't identify so he sent it to the Natural History Museum. A few days later a professor of palaeontology at Southampton University asked if he could drive up and be shown the site. The fossil,
Osculocystis monobrachiolata, was only the second of the species ever found, the first having migrated from Shropshire to a museum in New York.
I became involved in a teacher trade union while at the school, soon becoming the 'school rep' for the NAS. When during the coalminers' strike of January and February 1972 Calor Gas cylinders with open fires were placed in all the classrooms because the boiler had run out of coal I had the 'pleasure' of telling the Head that, either the fires were removed, or my members would walk out. A delivery of coal arrived the next day.
The geology and the trade unionism might have been exciting but the school was stuck in the past, very traditional, with a concentration on exam results rather than on educating the students. Some of the staff had, since they were eleven, only been away from the school to go to university and fight in the war. I always thought that I should have had this job, not in my mid-twenties but in my last few years of teaching, so I could have retired in Ludlow.
Enjoyed reading this.
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ReplyDeleteThank you so much for getting in touch and for being so kind about my teaching. Teaching geology is the happiest memory I have of the school - amongst many others. Jon
ReplyDeleteWell, my goodness, what a coincidence! I was in Ludlow last weekend, showing the family where I went to school. Walking along the Breadwalk I was telling my daughter that Ludlow was famous for its geology and that we used to find fossils regularly. In fact, I said, David Webster who was in in my year had found a really rare fossil which had excited all the paleontologists. I think David went on to Oxbridge?
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you! Yes, if memory serves, David went to Oxford and did well. He then became a teacher and wrote a geology text book. Sadly, we lost touch. I enjoyed Ludlow, particularly the geology, but had itchy feet, so we only stayed there for two years.
DeleteHello Jon, good to see this blog and thanks to piers for sending me the link. I worked with BP for 20 or so years after graduating - ending up in Glasgow - where I still am based. Did an Environmental Management MSc and worked for local government until taking early retirement. Built a house on Islay, wrote geology guide books for Islay, Jura Colonsay. Involved in a major research project on evidence for Snowball Earth on Islay and the Garvellachs. Currently Secretary of Geological Society of Glasgow and board member of the Fossil Grove Trust. You were an inspirational teacher, many thanks for setting me on this path!
ReplyDeleteDavid - How wonderful to hear from you, and thank you so much for bringing me up-to-date with all you've achieved over the years. Thank you, too, for your kind words about me as a teacher. As I said in this post, in some ways I wish the Ludlow job had been my last so I could have retired there. That said, I wouldn't have missed the places we saw in the years after we left Ludlow, particularly Ardnamurchan, which I loved. Sadly, we felt it was too remote for ageing people so we find ourselves washed up in Golspie, where we've built ourselves a bungalow for our old age. It's the second house we've built, the other being in Kilchoan, Ardnamurchan, which had views down the Sound of Mull.
DeleteIn all my 30 years of teaching, having you as a student stands out as one of the great pleasures of the job. I had one other outstanding student, at The Plume in Maldon, my last teaching post where, as with your group, I introduced geology and had another superb first A level class.
Hearing from you has made my day. Thank you, and all good wishes to you for the future.
Jon