I tracked down my inspiring school art master... at age 103

ARTIST Ted Parker never forgot the teacher who inspired his work.

But only now has he got back in touch at the age of 68 – to find his mentor is still around at 103.

Ted was completing paintings and photographs for his latest exhibition when he thought how his school art teacher Douglas Higgins “would have been proud that I had got this far”.

He had not seen him since the early 1960s when he was a pupil at Birley secondary school in Sheffield.

But he tracked down Douglas via relatives. He said it was like finding a “needle in a haystack” but he found him in a care home in Derbyshire.

Ted, who now lives in Yarm, near Middlesbrough, said: “It was a bit of a wild thing to do as I realised that if he was alive, he would be very, very old.

“But incredibly I managed it, first finding his son and daughter. Douglas is as alert and sharp as ever he was.”

Ted visited the care home with some of his paintings and Douglas recognised his old pupil immediately. They then spent a morning chatting.

Ted said: “I was flabbergasted and so pleased that I could thank him at last for his inspiration and support when I was his pupil.”

After school, Ted worked as an industrial scientific photographer for British Steel on Teesside and then ran a video production company.

Now in retirement he paints fulltime, focusing on trains, and has an exhibition opening next weekend at Richmond rail station in North Yorkshire, entitled Boats And Planes… But Mainly Trains.

Ted has published several art-based books and gave one to Douglas.

In return, Douglas gave Ted a copy of his autobiography about his Yorkshire days.

Douglas told Ted: “You have made my day.” He added: “It is marvellous that one of my boys has made such a success of his life.”

Ted said of Douglas: “It just goes to show that when teachers take the initiative and provide encouragement they can have a profound effect on a pupil’s future life.”