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The 80s pop idol fondly recalls one 'motherly' teacher who invited him to tea, and another who gave him his first-ever gig in the school hall
After attending Crawley Green Infants and Ramridge Primary School in Luton, I moved to Ashcroft High School in 1967. At that time, the school was going through a transition, moving from an all-girls' to mixed-school status.
During the four years I spent at Ashcroft, I was lucky to have two approachable and caring form teachers: Miss Mullings and Mr Barnard.
Miss Mullings was a motherly kind of figure who taught English and history. Although I wasn't the best pupil academically, I was pretty good at English language and literature. When it came to words, I must have had a photographic memory, because my spelling was always spot-on.
She was a lovely teacher, balancing a softness with a stern edge, drawing upon it when needed. She seemed to have a soft spot for me. It would probably be frowned upon now, but my mate and I were occasionally invited to her house, which she shared with her mother, to play with her dog...