Bleddyn encouraged, inspired, informed us
IT was with great sadness that I heard of the passing of Bleddyn Jones.
I spent some of the best years of my teaching career working with Bleddyn at Snarestone School.
Bleddyn’s father died when he was very young and he was brought up by his mother and grandmother.
His ability in rugby was encouraged at school, and he never lost contact with his old headteacher; he would telephone Bleddyn after school, and I would often hear Bleddyn speaking to him in Welsh from his office.
The years working with “BJ” in his first headship at Snarestone were some of the happiest of my teaching career, because of Bleddyn the person, and his style of leadership. He was very self-effacing yet had so many strengths; he was always honest, respectful and generous in his input to “the team”.
He was a collaborative leader; he inspired, informed and encouraged, and he worked with gusto to build the reputation of the school, leaving a rich legacy behind him when he left for Little Bowden. His ability was to enable rather than prescribe, and to facilitate rather than demand or criticise; he encouraged us all to grow as a staff and brought out the best in us.
Bleddyn saw the important things and acted instantly on them. When he moved from his inner-city school to our small rural one he was aware of the sharp contrast between the two, and he realised that both schools would benefit from a school exchange; most of our children had not been in a mosque and many of theirs had not visited a farm (the difficult part was borrowing enough wellies).
He sometimes was forgetful; I would pick up the phone on a Monday morning to Jonathan Agnew (lovely voice) asking if Bleddyn had the Radio Leicester tape recorder again; but there was never any pretence with Bleddyn and it was easy to excuse such a genuine person.
It was a time of great change in education, with the introduction of computers into schools and the implementation of the 1981 Education Act and the provision for children with special needs becoming a new responsibility for school governors, and we were able to carry things forward in our remote corner of North West Leicestershire because we were a strong team.
Bleddyn’s prowess as a rugby player was not only a great ability on the field, but also a great foundation for teamwork throughout every aspect of his life, and underlines the importance of sport, and especially team sports in children’s education.
Jean Foulds, artist, Cornwall.