Mr. R. Edgecliffe-Johnson, the Head of the English Department, retired at the end of the Summer Term after twenty-three years' service at Drayton Manor.

When he came to our school in 1953 he was no stranger to Ealing, having taught at Ealing Grammar School immediately after his demobilisation from the Army. From Ealing Grammar he went to teach in Lincolnshire, where he stayed for some years before accepting an appointment at Drayton Manor.

One of his first tasks in his new post was to re-organize the Library where for the first time a scientific system of cataloguing was introduced.

In 1958 Miss M. Redman who, besides being Deputy Headmistress was also Head of English, retired and Mr. Johnson took over the department. His jovial character, his immense patience (and occasional impatience!), his lucidity of explanation even when presenting the poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins to the Sixth Form, earned him the respect of the many generations of boys and girls who passed through his hands and therefore passed their examinations. It is perhaps not widely known that, of all the major subjects, English has had over a long period the best record of examination successes. It is not only his pupils but we, his staff-room colleagues, who will be the poorer by his retirement. We shall miss his wit and wisdom, the cheerful bonhomie which enlivened so many a Monday morning.

Sadly, Mr. Johnson has not enjoyed the best of health during the last few years but we hope that the removal of stress and strain will restore him to complete fitness again. I am sure that everyone will join me in wishing him and his wife, Vida, a long, happy and peaceful retirement:

"And I have asked to be Where no storms come, Where the green swell is in the havens dumb, And out of the swing of the sea."

F. R. J. R.