I must be one of the luckiest people around. I have enjoyed the privilege of being able to earn my living by doing something I love for the last 40 years. Don’t misunderstand me; it has been no cakewalk and there have been days when I began to wonder whether I might need a change. But taken as a whole it has been a fantastic experience.

I don’t think it’s widely known that I trained at St Luke’s College Exeter (the finest around at the time) to teach secondary (chemistry and maths actually). Because I was a baby boomer (you know – 1947 and all that), there were hoards of us trained that year and we all came onto the market at the same time. Not surprisingly, I couldn’t get a job – at first. Well, I came back home to live (as many did in those days) and somehow the head teacher of the school I attended as a boy found out that I was looking for a teaching post. He asked me to pop in and see him, offered me a job (which was a complete act of faith on his part) and the rest is history. I loved it from day one and spent three very happy years working alongside some of the same staff that had taught me when I attended! One of them was Mr Griffiths, my all time absolute favourite teacher. I need to explain that way back then, teachers were much more inclined to spend most of their career in one or two schools and mobility was quite low compared to now.

With my one and only, I moved to sunny Leighton Buzzard and here we have remained. During that time I have only taught in four schools. First Totternhoe, next Heathwood, Beaudesert as deputy head for 19 wonderful years and finally the mighty Pulford for the last and final ten years of my career.

Initially, I found my role at Pulford exceptionally tough but, over these ten years, my team and I grew strongly together and made it one of the very best and most popular little schools in the town. My heartfelt thanks goes firstly to my team and then to all the families that kept faith with me and entrusted their precious children to my care.

Thank you to you all; I have a feeling that you were not disappointed.

Jim Meager