Geraint Pritchard

We have learned of the sad passing of Geraint Pritchard on 22nd April 2018, after a lengthy battle with cancer.

We thought that we knew Geraint very well but what has become apparent in the past few days is how much his life has impacted all of you and many of those who can’t be here today. We’ve been overwhelmed by tributes and compliments you have paid, expressing your own personal relationships with Geraint. To quote a few of the words you have sent, inspirational, enormous enthusiasm, total dedication, geographer par excellence, ability to recall detail, larger than life, insatiable appetite for knowledge, a passion for people, and his joy of discovery. Thanks to you we feel we now know him even better. We would like to try to illustrate how he became that captivating person.

Born in the middle of the second world war his parents wisely took him from Muswell Hill to the relative safety of the Conway Valley, to be with his great grandparents thus nurturing his great love of North Wales. On his return to London, he had very happy years at Rhodes Avenue primary school until it was necessary for him to spend time in Barnett General Hospital and at Winfred house convalescent home, missing a period of nine months of school. As with the rest of his life he turned this episode around to be a positive experience. We suspect that this period was the start of his literacy career filling his time with countless letters and asking his parents to bring him more pens, paper, and stamps as his supply was running out.

During the school holidays the family travelled to Anglesey to spend time on his uncle’s farm, an eight-hour journey then, by car. Never bored Geraint would stand behind the driver’s shoulder (no seatbelt and of course.) watching and checking the route and learning and remembering road numbers developing his intrinsic sat nav. There would be a lot of fun and excitement with his cousins but also, he would be learning about different breeds of cat and sheep, hay making, and arable farming, thus starting to discover physical geography. Maybe it didn’t last or maybe it didn’t have that name then, but the seeds were sewn. Throughout his life the Jewin Church, as it was known, was an integral part of his existence. Attending three times on Sunday, forming many friendships which still exist to this day. There were a number of activities through the week including table tennis, singing, Scripture classes, and acting, his debut performance of a very short career as a young boy. He would also travel with his grandfather, when he was due to preach in other Welsh Chapels across the city, from Walthamstow to Ealing, Holloway to Lewisham, so already developing his knowledge of compass points and bus numbers never to be forgotten. Secondary school beckoned and even then, nobody would realise how much the Stationers’ Company’s school would be of such importance to him. They influence his years there, the new friends he made, his own teachers that he remembered so well, especially the Latin teacher and subsequently his teaching colleagues. They’ve all remained significant parts of his life so much so that if on a well-planned journey a Stationer dare to live within a 10 mile radius of the planned route, they would be unexpectedly encouraged to put on the kettle and would be forgivable late at his next destination.

Three years studying geography and one year studying education at Sheffield University let Geraint enjoy meeting yet another new group of friends many of whom have remained loyal. Not surprisingly living on the edge of Derbyshire, it was natural for Geraint to begin exploring the wonders of the Peak District, hills, caves, and caverns and learn the history of well dressings. His enthusiasm for returning to this beautiful area never waned and in fact Geraint was entertained only last year, during the well dressing period, by a Stationer, an ex-pupil of his and was treated to a Bakewell pudding. During his student days he would hitchhike home and often help his father, who owned a surgical instrument company, with his deliveries around the London area and sometimes as far away as Norfolk. Hence picking up new knowledge and skills including being able to list, name, and compare, the quality of surgical instruments from England (Sheffield of course), China or Germany. To this day he could still name the doctors and vets in the areas he visited.

For the next three years he developed his teaching skills in St Albans in preparation for the call to Stationers. The opportunity was too great to miss once there he totally immersed himself in every aspect of school life encouraging learning within the classroom and just as importantly beyond the classroom. We still have Old Stationers visiting who graphically recall those legendary Field trips, some of whom found in inspiration for their future careers because of their enhanced knowledge and understanding of geology and geography, learnt through the soles of their boots! Many of those city children had never experienced the sites and sounds of the countryside, let alone be up close to farm animals, enjoying the majesty of mountains, or wash their frying pan in a stream. To gain the skills of orienteering, Geraint introduced the idea to the students of the Three Peaks Challenge in Yorkshire, the starting and end of which would be recorded in the Pen-y-ghent, but those not familiar with this challenge it involves climbing three mountains totalling 5200 feet of a cent over a distance of 24 miles within 12 hours on completion. Geraint was proud of their achievements as much as the students themselves. We understand these trips to Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and his beloved North Wales, were highlights for children and staff.

Due to the closure and demolition of Stationers’ school, Geraint secured a position Nower Hill High School in the borough of Harrow. He attended the position of deputy head and soon found himself enjoying the new challenges of management. Subsequently, he found himself with a budget to be used to build new facilities to enhance the school and spent a happy year visiting other schools up and down the country to learn how he could maximise the use of his budget by looking at the best of their facilities. His final teaching post was in the East End of London at a technology college where he embraced new challenges in communicating with students, where their first language was not English – in fact, there were thirty-five different languages used by children in that school.

Retirement was looming and Geraint began to look forward to planning his many hobbies and interests. Leading up to the year 2000 his mobility was decreasing due to deterioration of his hip joint, and the thought that it was goodbye to those precious views from high peaks. However, several years later following a successful operation his new hip took him back up to his beloved Peak District and enjoying once again his cup of tea in the Pen-y-ghent Café and even more challenging a trip back to Snowdon. A dream of the challenge he thought he would never do, was becoming a possibility. He began to plan to walk the 268 miles from Edale to Kirk Yetholm – the Pennine Way and indeed he did.

There are so many stories we would like to share with you, but time is restricting us. Please let us share these three more. A German prisoner of war who had been stationed at Geraint’s Uncle’s farm, returned years later to Wales with some members of his family so as to introduce them to the Welsh family who had looked after him so well. On hearing this it became another piece of information to store in Geraint’s already very full address book for the future. In 1973, on his return from the North Cape of Norway Geraint just happened to pass a small village of Elm near Hanover and found Eric the prisoner-of-war announcing, “I’m from Anglesey” and a new lasting friendship was forged with Eric, his children, and his grandchildren involving many visits to each other’s countries. The second story involves meeting a salesman of an agricultural machinery company way up in Scotland who discussed with Geraint, the various Show grounds visited throughout the year. Several months later you can imagine Geraint’s delight and the salesman’s surprise having been tracked down at the Anglesey show. Finally, doing another holiday in France following an evening meal in Contabre, on hearing a couple speaking English G managed to intercept them with the question “Where do you come from”? After chatting and exchanging information about tea shops an invitation was given “If you’re passing our way do call in for a cup of tea.” Another address went into the diary and two years later during a holiday based around the Aberdeen area our intrepid explorer somehow navigating his way to a fairly isolated spot hidden from the road. Along a track through some woodland, as darkness was approaching, he knocked on the door to claim that cup of tea. Who could be more surprised than the inhabitants, they became good friends and regular communicators. Geraint experienced the joy of the companionship of many friends and associates, one diary and one address book has hardly ever been adequate they wear out with overuse the collective people to communicate with either by pen and ink, electronically, by telephone, or his preferred choice, by face-to-face contact. Very few people he met escaped. A school French pen friend, as well as his cousin’s friend from 60 years ago are still in contact and we are visited regularly. His illness never got in his way. He journeyed alongside it. He continued with his writing, his communicating, his teaching, and his beloved Stationers’ magazine. A larger-than-life personality known and loved by many, he will be greatly missed but what a joy and a privilege it has been to be part of that life. Thank you, Geraint!