My junior school headteacher, Alan Harper, who has died aged 86 of vascular dementia, seldom forgot a pupil’s name, even decades after they left.
With Lancasterian County primary school – affectionately dubbed “The Lancs” – five minutes from the River Severn, in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Alan took personal responsibility for ensuring that all pupils learned to swim. He also excelled at teaching adults, which developed into a teach-the-teacher role, and became one of the most qualified learn-to-swim instructors in the UK.
