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Beryl Davies
BERYL Davies was just 22 when she launched her own school in a rented house in Leeds to support her family.
And yesterday, more than 70 years later, one of her first pupils led her funeral procession as present pupils lined the streets to pay their respects.
The funeral of Miss Davies who died earlier this month, aged 95, took place at St Chad's Church in Headingley.
Her family and friends were joined yesterday by members of the Richmond House School community which she created and led for almost half a century.
One of Miss Davies' first pupils, Stanley Dovenor, led the funeral procession and pupils lined the street outside the church before the service.
Before his retirement, Mr Dovenor had run a funeral service and during the Second World War he evacuated pupils in his hearse from the school to Windermere.
Richmond House School was formed when Miss Davies began looking for work as a newly qualified teacher in the 1930s.
After her father died she was left with her mother to support and was forced to wander the streets of the city in search of a loan of 150 to start her school.
In 1935 Far Headingley Preparatory School was launched with 24 pupils in a rented house with Miss Davies' mother cooking meals for the children.
By 1938 the school had grown to take on 70 pupils and moved into a second house.
A distinction was formed between Far Headingley Preparatory School and Richmond House, with different uniforms as pupils moved from one to the other.
Within a decade the school had grown to include a hall, a gymnasium, and a television room and later Miss Davies also had a swimming pool built to allow children to learn to swim from the age of five.
Although the school has grown in size since its creation Miss Davies did not want it to get so large that she did not know every pupil by name.
A spokeswoman said: "Former pupils will remember her bay-windowed office overlooking the playground from where she kept a watchful eye at playtime, a beckoning finger summoning anyone seen misbehaving to come inside and face the music.
"Many of her educational views were groundbreaking.
"She educated children with disabilities alongside her other pupils believing strongly that this approach would benefit the whole school community and encourage tolerance and understanding.
"She once said 'Little by little children come to realise that the ability to share is one of the sweetest and finest of human qualities."
Miss Davies retired in 1979 but retained a strong interest in the school and stayed in touch with hundreds of former pupils.
After the service former pupils were invited back to Richmond House "to help celebrate a life-well lived."
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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