My friend and former colleague John Foggin, who has died aged 80, was head of English at Boston Spa school near Leeds before becoming a local education authority adviser on English and then moving on to train teachers of English and literacy. In retirement he forged a new identity as a writer of powerful and evocative poetry.
Born in Batley, West Yorkshire, to George, a woollen spinner, and Marjorie (nee Terry), a mill worker, John attended Batley grammar school before graduating in English from Durham University in 1964.
