Stanley James Read

We received the sad news of the death of Stan Read from Simon, his son. Stan died on the 30th of August 2010, at the age of 84. He had spent most of his retirement, after moving from Wanstead, in New Alresford, Hampshire.

The funeral took place on Tuesday, the 14th of September 2010, in Southampton Crematorium. The hymns were the ‘King of love my Shepherd is, Whose goodness faileth never’ and ‘Dear Lord and Father of mankind, Forgive our foolish ways!’ The Music played at the beginning was ‘Moonlight Serenade‘ by Glenn Miller and another piece of Glenn Miller was played at the end of the service ‘Strings of Pearls‘. Appreciations of Stanley were given during the service, together with prayers and a reading. Family and friends returned to the family home in Meadow Close for refreshments, after the service Old Stationers present where Mike Fitch, Keith Mullender and Geraint Pritchard.

We send our condolences and extend our sympathy to Stan’s sister Rosa Read, Simon and Hazel and family, son and daughter-in-law, and Alison and Colin daughter and son-in-law and family, and friends.

Stanley J Read or as he was often known SJR.
The Teacher
The Administrator
The Friend

My First Encounter – The Teacher
A tall man, with black hair, moustached, bespectacled, swept into the room 22 where Form 1 had their base, in the tower of Stationers’ Company’s School, in the September 1954, 56 years ago this month. With full gown flowing, he moved quickly onto the dais and took his seat to teach this raw recruit and 30 others. I was fortunate to have been taught by ‘Sam’, his nickname in Forms 1 and 2. The syllabus in Form 2 was Southern Continents; a year’s excellent groundwork in continents south of the Equator. His outline maps of the world tests were a real challenge, with places to be located on the map, like the ‘Gulf of Aqaba’ and ‘the Sunda Strait’ taxing one’s brain to the limit but also pushing back the barriers of knowledge.

Stan also taught me in the fourth form (Year 10 today) – a wonderful introduction to the British Isles and ‘O’ Level Geology in the Sixth Form. He was a very thorough teacher and followed the syllabus rigidly covering all aspects of the content, at the same time making the subject interesting to his pupils and also preparing them well for public examinations.

Having started his career in 1952 he became Head of Geography in 1962 taking over from H W Symons, who became Deputy Head.

In 1970, when the school had become Comprehensive with 1300 pupils, I went back to teach Geography at Stationers, as Head of Department with two former teachers in the Geography Department. SJR was now already Pastoral Head of Year. Now the image of him in his office was one of puffing his pipe, in his shirt sleeves with jacket off – a much more relaxed member of staff. He had been at the establishment already 18 years and was very much part of the senior hierarchy. We shared the A-level teaching of geography for the next 13 years.

The Administrator
In 1972 Sam Read was made Second Deputy Head, a new structure for many large secondary schools all over the country, sharing an office with his geography colleague H W Symons.
R D Baynes, in his book ‘A History of the Stationers’ Company’s School’ (1987) describe Stan’s appointment “Read enjoyed both the confidence of the Common Room and of the Headmaster. He had succeeded BD as Careers Master, and was respected by the boys for his judicious advice in planning their futures, as for his meticulous prepared teaching. His mastery of the minutiae of timetable planning eased the administration of a complicated teaching machine. One of his minor achievements was never to let a staff birthday or other cause of celebration pass without a cheerful word of congratulation snd encouragement. Read stood in the old tradition of Deputy Heads and Second Masters, he had served Stationers’ for the whole of his teaching career and he knew the place inside out”.

Many will remember the board with multicoloured pins in the Deputy Heads’ office, which indicated where every member of staff was teaching in the school. Herman William Symons, ‘Joe’ too many of us, retired in 1975 and Stan shared the Deputies office with both Simon Hensby and Sean Wilkinson for the periods of four and three years successively.

On the retirement to Robert Baynes in December 1982, with the school due for closure in August 1983, again an extract from Robert Bayne’s aforementioned book, “Mr S J Read was appointed as Acting Headmaster for the last two terms of the School’s existence. Mr Read made an appreciation of the situation and concluded that his most important function was the preservation of morale – no easy task”

“GP”, as Stan always called me, “we shall not be miserable and depressed as we know the school is going to close” (a decision of the London Borough of Haringey, of which Rosa a former teacher in the Borough will be well aware) “but we shall go out with a positive approach”.

On the 22nd of March 1983, in the final prize-giving, SJR proclaimed in the Headmaster’s speech, “To be Headmaster of a closing school could be a traumatic experience with low morale and with a why bother attitude. That this is not the case, is due to the loyalty and cooperation of a splendid staff – from my two deputies to the youngest probationer and here I include the office staff, technicians and caretaking staff”.

R D Baynes writes on, “SJR succeeded admirably and the staff and pupils recognise the value of what he did. The gathering of friends of the School, including many Old Stationers, in the final week of the final term might have been a wake, but in fact was a celebratory triumph. We were not regretting the future, but giving thanks to the impressive record of positive achievement of the past”. On the last morning of the School’s existence, a bugler sounded the Last Post on the front steps and one and a quarter centuries came to an end.

Since the closure of Stationers’ in 1983, when Stan went to Langham School, I spent many a convivial evening in Wanstead in the company of Norma and Stan, and when they moved to Alresford, we continued the friendship built on working together over 13 years at Stationers’.

Also, earlier trips of the Read family, Stan, Norma, Alison and Simon, to Llandudno, North Wales, included an annual excursion to Anglesey to my mother ‘s home, from where tours of the island or of Snowdonia took off with the local guide. Stan has been a great mentor, colleague and friend to me for over half a century.

I extend my sympathy in your sad loss to all members of the family. It was a pleasure to have known your father, grandfather and brother over all those years.