Speaker:- Michael Tiddy

Michael started his talk by explaining to Rotarians that while in the past he had given talks on his major interests, namely clock restoration, making and repair and his interest in the violin; he had never spoken about a career that spanned nearly forty years and was his professional life.
He started by explaining the origins of his Cornish surname and tracing his family to about 1650. He continued to outline aspects of his early life. He lived in Dore near Sheffield during the Second World War during which time his father was in N. Africa. He gained a scholarship to grammar school and later progression to Sheffield College of Art where he spent the first part of his Art education. He followed his parents to Cornwall and spent a further three years at Falmouth School of Art and on to the Education Department at Bristol University for a further year.
After that he taught for a year in Bridlington and then at a secondary boys' school in outer east London where the intake was from east end slum clearance and very tough. Then came nine years at a large comprehensive [1800] school in Bristol as a head of department from where he was appointed a school inspector to Cumberland later Cumbria. There, as well as school inspections, head teacher appointments disciplinary proceedings, working in schools alongside teachers, he developed a series of in-service courses for primary teachers on his passion for children's drawing. This activity in primary schools develops motor skills and language and communication skills. He ran courses for the then Department of Education and Science.
Due to time constraints he talked briefly of his work as a Duke of Edinburgh's gold award assessor for the 5 day expedition in wild country, in this case the Lakeland Fells.
He finished with a group of slides showing course work by primary teachers and a series of drawings of primary age children done in schools.

MT