The teachers who taught more than just a lesson

MOST mornings, I would have preferred to stay in bed than go to school: my shrunken uniform jumper, the politics of school corridors, monotone teachers, popularity contests (which I never won) and soggy sandwiches never appealed.

I liked school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, though, because we had double English. Double English meant 80 minutes of books, plays, and poetry in Mr Floyd’s classroom, in the old school building of Ashton. It was the best part of my school week.

I remember Mr Floyd teaching us A Midsummer Night’s Dream for our Junior Certificate and thinking ‘This Shakespeare’s alright’. I don’t think any of us had realised, until then, that Shakespeare could be funny.