Tributes to former school headmaster

5:00pm Tuesday 22nd July 2008

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A FATHER-OF-THREE who used to be responsible for the education of hundreds of York pupils has died after a short battle with cancer.

Geoffrey Cushing, of Nether Poppleton, York, was head teacher of the former Nunthorpe Grammar School before taking early retirement in the mid-1980s.

He was also a Methodist preacher and was well-known in York for his lively talks about seeing Europe from a lorry.

The 78-year-old leaves a widow, Shirley, children Patricia, Peter and Timothy and five grandchildren, Carole, Claire, Michael, Philip and Elizabeth.

Shirley, 73, said: “He was loved and known by a lot of people and I haven’t got a surface in the house that hasn’t got a card on it.

“He was a very private man – very quiet and very thoughtful – but he was also slightly eccentric and there won’t be another one like him.

“Losing him is like losing a limb. I will just miss him being there.”

Geoffrey was born in Salford on November 25, 1929, and went to school at Nottingham High School before studying classics at Cambridge University.

His first teaching post was in Watford, where he fell in love with Shirley, who he met during choir rehearsals at Queen’s Road Methodist Church.

The couple were married at the same church in 1957, before moving to Nottinghamshire, where Geoffrey was deputy head teacher at a school in Mansfield Woodhouse.

In 1967, he was appointed head teacher at Nunthorpe School, and the couple lived in York ever since.

Shirley said: “He had a keen sense of humour and he loved steam trains.

“He would go anywhere for a steam train ride and we often used to go to Grosmont.

“We had lovely holidays abroad when we were younger and when we were first married he used to take parties of boys from Nottingham High School in the back of a lorry on trips abroad. He’s got many a tale to tell about those trips.

“He was a very spiritual man with a very strong faith and he loved music. He played the piano and also liked singing in choirs and listening to Classic FM. Music played a big part in both our lives.”

Geoffrey had been ill since May, but was only diagnosed with cancer of the colon last month. He died at St Leonard’s Hospice on July 14.

A service of celebration of Geoffrey’s life will be held at Poppleton Methodist Church on Wednesday at noon.