Philip James Naylor: – [Heath 1943–1949]
Philip Naylor, who lived in Malvern, died at Christmas, 2003.
He left Heath in 1949, carried out his National Service in the Royal Air Force and then went to Borough Road College to train as a teacher. He subsequently taught nine year olds at a school in the City of London; however he left after three years when he married one of his colleagues. He then taught at a boys’ Secondary Modern School in Hitchin in Hertfordshire until 1960.
Philip then moved from teaching to computing, but after short spells of operating and programming, he found himself teaching again! However, this was teaching adults on behalf of computer manufacturers — a very different environment to school teaching, and one in which he worked for fifteen years, before spending five years as a computer advisor for the Department of Employment. This was followed by ten years as Head of the Department of Computing in a college of Further Education in Hertfordshire, until he took early retirement in 1989, when he moved to Worcestershire. There, he enjoyed watching cricket and travelling on the steam trains of the Severn Valley Railway.
In a letter to then Editor of the Heath Old Boys Association Newsletter some eight years ago, Philip recalled his days in Halifax (where his parents had been the wardens of the Waterhouse Homes in Harrison Road for twenty-five years from 1942) and memories of Heath, and particularly of the school dramatic society productions such as the 1948 staging of Caesar and Cleopatra, in which he, suitably blacked-up, played the part of a Nubian. He also recalled other plays, The Rivals and Scuttleboom’s Treasurer. Lady Audley’s Secret, performed by the staff, was another memorable event, with Lady Audley being played by ‘Biddy’ Taylor, and ‘Larry’ Gain taking another female role.
We extend our condolences to his wife Pat and family.
Just looked at the obituaries and note you have question marks on Philip Naylor.
He was born in 1929 and came to the school in Sept 1943 and he died in December 2003.
He was the last of my contacts from the school. I was there from April 1943 to the summer of 1948.
Regards,
Malcolm Lumb [Heath 1943–1948]
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