Former Hunter High teacher will be missed Alasdair played an active role in community life
Denies throwing bottles
Tributes have been paid to a popular former Hunter High School teacher who was awarded an MBE for services to education.
Alasdair Sutherland, a retired principal teacher of modern languages, passed away last month at the age of 76.
He was the youngest of six children and is survived by his brother, Bill, and four children – Pascale, Etienne, Marc and François.
His love of France, which started with a school trip to Paris, was cemented by a year in the country as part of his degree.
After graduating from Glasgow University and undergoing teacher training, Alasdair began his teaching career in the High School of Glasgow.
He met first wife, Monique, when he gatecrashed a party for French assistants, pretending to be French.
Such was his command of the language that he was accepted into the company.
Alasdair and Monique married in 1965 when he moved to East Kilbride to teach at the former East Kilbride High School, which was in the Village.
He then became principal teacher of modern languages at Hunter High School where he taught until he retired.
While there he organised regular trips to France and led a folk music group.
In the 1970s, he was on the working party for ‘Tour de France’, a new French course, Family man which was widely used throughout the country.
It introduced the use of language laboratories.
There was always a “beep” after a French phrase when pupils had to repeat it and Alasdair was affectionately known as “Monsieur Beep”.
After retirement he continued to work in primary schools, helping with teaching French, and he also ran French classes for adults and children in his home.
In the 1990s he was awarded an MBE but when he got the letter from Buckingham Palace, he initially refused to believe it, thinking a colleague was playing a practical joke on him.
A short while later he received a phone call from the East Kilbride News asking him about the award and so he realised the letter was genuine.
Alasdair joined South Parish Church in 1965 and was ordained as an elder in 1969.
He started off serving as a BB officer, but over the years was a tireless worker, particularly running the book stall at church fairs and served as Presbytery Elder for 20 years.
Alasdair was also prominent in organising the Men’s Breakfasts and was a great supporter of all aspects of church life.
He was on hand on Wednesday mornings to help his second wife, Sheena, with the Smarteenies toddler group and provided juice and biscuits for the children attending church and Sunday School.
Alasdair was a regular attender at Bible Study and keen on fostering relationships with the other churches in the Murray area.
Outside his teaching and church life Alasdair loved the arts, running bus trips to the theatre, opera and ballet performances.
Enjoying good food, he organised regular lunches for former colleagues at South Lanarkshire College.
A keen sportsman, he had played rugby, cricket, tennis and golf.
As a regular supporter of East Kilbride Rugby Club, he helped forge links with the Châlons-sur-Marne rugby club and acted as translator on exchange visits.
He supported the Alliance Française both while working and in retirement, and continued his love for language by learning Italian.
The retired teacher was also interested in politics and stood for the Liberal Democrats in local elections.
Alasdair spent a lot of time in France, but he also enjoyed holidays in Spain and Italy, and more recently Seoul in South Korea in 2015.
A family friend told the News: “Alastair was a devoted family man and extremely proud of his four children and of his grandchildren.
“He was a real ‘people person’ who valued his friendships with a wide variety of people.
“Alasdair’s passing leaves a big void in the lives of many people and the large turnout at his funeral was a testimony to the affection in which he was held by many people.” Trial was set for a 28-year-old accused of throwing glass bottles from a bridge on to a busy road.
Damien Fleming denied throwing the bag of glass bottles on to the East Kilbride Expressway from a footbridge near Burns Park in Calderwood on New Year’s day.
He also denied resisting two cops on the same date by allegedly preventing them from applying handcuffs.
Mr Fleming, of Fleming Way, Hillhouse, Hamilton, also pled not guilty to being in possession of the class A drug cocaine and a separate charge of being in possession of cannabis on the same date.
And he further denied trying to headbutt a cop.
At Hamilton Sheriff Court, trial was set for June 6, with an interim hearing due to take place on May 11.