Kev Reynolds , the Man with the World ’ s Best Job www . kevreynolds . co . uk
WORDSMITH
Kev Reynolds , the Man with the World ’ s Best Job www . kevreynolds . co . uk
ONE MAN ’ S INSPIRATION
As an end-piece to his wonderful children ’ s story , Danny , the Champion of the World ( Jonathan Cape , 1975 ), Roald Dahl wrote : ‘ When you grow up and have children of your own do please remember something important , a stodgy parent is no fun at all . What a child wants and deserves is a parent who is SPARKY .’
I ’ d also add ‘ teacher ’, for a sparky teacher can inspire a whole generation of children . An inspirational teacher can unlock the door to a world full of wonders outside the standard curriculum . One of my teachers did just that , and his impact remains with me sixty years after I left his classroom .
‘ Skip ’ Seymour was his name , and he was headmaster of the small village Junior School located just round the corner from where I grew up . He ’ d been a pilot in two World Wars , flying delicate fighter aircraft with the newly-formed Royal Flying Corps during the first , and as a squadron leader with No 4 Bomber Command in the second , after which he returned to the Essex school where he ’ d been inspiring children since 1926 . He knew everyone in the village and everyone knew and respected him . He ’ d taught my father , my uncles and my brother before me , so there were no family skeletons left to rattle in our cupboards by the time I entered his classroom in the early 1950s .
Having survived two major wars , Skip found solace in the fields , meadows and woodlands that spread for miles around the village . To say he had a passion for nature would be an understatement , for his school was full of nature and its study intruded into every lesson he taught . His classroom was an extension of the countryside ; it was adorned with glass cases containing a stuffed barn owl , a stoat , a red squirrel and one displaying a tatty-looking fox with a single glass eye . A flight of mallard and teal had been painted onto plywood , then cut out with a fretsaw as a stand-up reminder of lessons past . We made nesting boxes out of lengths of silver birch , and learned to recognise the songs of robin , wren , thrush and blackbird before we were old enough to wear long trousers .
Skip ’ s enthusiasm for nature percolated through every lesson he taught , and any child who responded to that enthusiasm ( and I was one ) would be treated to nature walks at weekends and during school holidays .
With Skip we explored streams , ponds and ancient woodlands
Outside the school gates he would walk for hours with a brisk , regular pace , eyes constantly alert for signs of life in field and hedgerow , and I recall the naturalist ’ s patience that enhanced his powers of observation when he ’ d suddenly stop to focus on something far off . Without saying so , he taught us to be observant too . And to use all of our senses .
He would encourage the chewing of hedgerow leaves and gather half a dozen different grasses for us to identify by taste . He would send us up trees to study a deserted nest , then describe it – not just the way it was formed and from what it was made , but what it smelled like ! ‘ Go on , boy , stick your nose in it and sniff !’
With Skip we explored streams , ponds and ancient woodlands . He knew all the hedges , spinneys and ditches , not just as farmland boundaries , but as hunting grounds of fox and badger ; they also housed hedgehog , rabbit and deer . He taught us how and where to look for owl pellets , then with barely contained excitement would carefully unpick the black , furry covering to discover the skulls or teeth of field-mouse or vole on which the owl had fed and then regurgitated .
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Skip directed operations as we tried to unravel the mysteries of tracks pressed into the mud beside reedy pools where dragonflies zipped to and fro , and he ’ d interpret the song of a nightingale as though life could never be quite the same without that knowledge . What ’ s more , nature walks in his company transformed the gentle Essex countryside into a world as exciting and mysterious as the Amazon rain forest .
In his passion for the natural world , he not only brought nature into the classroom but took the classroom into nature ’ s back yard . For three and a half decades Skip Seymour inspired others and spread a gentle man ’ s wisdom in his own inimitable style , both in school and out . He taught with discipline measured with kindness , and his love and respect for life in all its forms was beyond question . A man with an enviable knack of transmitting his own deeprooted beliefs and enthusiasms , it was only natural that his advice would often be sought by grown men who had once been tousle-headed boys dreaming ( like me ) in his classroom .
Failing the eleven-plus , I left his school an incurable dreamer and an academic failure . But what I won from him was the knowledge that success is not to be measured by status or the size of one ’ s bank balance , but by the number of days well spent doing something you believe in . So I celebrate academic failure and retain a childlike sense of wonder for the world around me .
It ’ s possible , of course , that my own passion for the countryside would have developed without my coming under his spell , but my sense is that he pushed open a door and said : ‘ Go explore !’ I ’ ve been doing that ever since . I greet each day as the gift it is , and whenever I hear a woodpecker drumming on a distant tree , I think of him and offer a silent word of thanks for that one man ’ s inspiration .
summer 2017 | Outdoor focus