Students and staff at Kingsmead School in Wiveliscombe gave Head Teacher Geoff Tinker a rousing send-off after 11 years of devoted service. The whole school took part in an assembly which included anecdotes and messages of thanks from numerous staff and students, video messages from Kingsmead partner schools in Zambia, Germany and France, musical items by students and the staff choir, and the presentation of a picture painted by students, travel log and scrap book of memories.
To the sounds of the 1970s Cream anthem “I Feel Free” Geoff walked under a guard of honour of cricket bats into the Daimler limousine kindly provided by parent Anthony James of Taunton Funeral Services to depart from the school in style.
“I donated the limousine as a thank you to Geoff for all the school has done for my daughters and Wiveliscombe as a whole,” Anthony said
A further surprise was that the school had secretly arranged for Geoff’s twin daughters Rebecca and Beth to be waiting in the Daimler to escort their father to begin a well-deserved retirement.