Dick arrived in Guernsey in 1959 to teach history at Les Beaucamps, then the island’s newest secondary modern school. More than 60 years later – indeed until his final few weeks – Dick remained a regular and thoughtful contributor to public debate about education and a trusted advisor, debating partner and above all encourager to politicians who he believed shared his values and in particular his aspirations for young people.
In the years between, he was a senior and often innovative official at the Education Office, a founder of numerous initiatives and agencies which promoted new ways of learning and, later in his professional life, a leader of the island’s industrial disputes service.
These were serious public roles of importance to the island. There were times when Dick thought they had been too important to him.
Whenever we saw or spoke to each other, which for the past several years was quite often for hugely enjoyable chats from which I learned infinitely more than he must have, Dick would gently reproach me for repeating what he feared was his mistake of spending too many hours working and too few with his family. But his family were in no doubt about his loyalty and devotion to them.
‘Family man’ is overused but was apt for Dick. He adored his wife, Carolyn, who survives him and is pictured with him above. He was enormously proud of the not inconsiderable achievements of his four children – Claire, Jonathan, Christopher and Stephen. Frequently, and often emotionally, he evoked the latest experiences of his nine grandchildren when talking about the opportunities and challenges facing young people today.
Pictured: Dick Taylor had a significant and overwhelmingly positive impact on education in Guernsey from his arrival in the island in the late 1950s right up until the final few weeks of his life 63 years later.
At the root of his lifelong commitment to education and young people was the idea, once almost universal but now sadly less fashionable, that the next generation would live in a better world than their forefathers. Dick thought deeply about such things.
He was too practical to be a man of letters, but he was certainly well-read and intellectually curious. He often arrived for coffee with a book or articles cut out of magazines or newspapers and invariably annotated for reference in discussion. He was interested and interesting. To be sure, he had a good sense of humour and could laugh at himself. In fact, he was notably unpretentious. If he ever had much of an ego, he must have lost it a long time ago.
After leaving classroom teaching, Dick was a driving force behind the creation in the early 1970s of the Teachers’ Centre, the hub of the island’s first concerted effort to support the training and professional development of teachers. Later he became Deputy Director of Education, a demanding role which put him at the centre of most significant events in education in the 1980s and early 90s.
For two years while at the Education Office, Dick oversaw the administration of the 11 Plus, an experience which left him convinced of the need to dispose of it as a means of separating children into streams and consequently schools at the age of 11.
He had to wait until less than three years before his death to see the 11 Plus abolished in Guernsey. So delighted was he to live to see its abolition that he published a short paper of his thoughts in celebration. In his 80s, he spent quite a lot of time writing papers on various aspects of education. More than once, they informed policy letters to the States.
In the 1990s, he and the late John Roper – following the latter’s famous ‘meringue speech’ which raised concerns about skills in the finance industry – were the principal architects of the Finance Training Agency, later the Guernsey Training Agency, now part of The Guernsey Institute. He was also a training advisor to the Guernsey Financial Services Commission.
Pictured: Professor Richard Conder knew Dick Taylor for the last 25 years of Dick’s life and said he was a man of “great vision…enthusiasm, passion and commitment”.
Professor Richard Conder, a former Chief Executive of the Guernsey Training Agency and Vice-President of what is now the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture, knew Dick well from these years.
“I first had the privilege of meeting Dick when he visited Bournemouth University during the 1990s where I then worked,” said Professor Conder.
“It was immediately apparent that he was a man of great vision with a deep understanding of the need for small communities such as Guernsey to develop and enhance the skills of their workforce.
“He was a key player in developing links between south coast universities and this island and with John Roper was the architect of the creation of the Guernsey Training Agency, a unique institution which has served the Guernsey community for more than 25 years and been instrumental in producing a cadre of qualified and highly-skilled business leaders from amongst our own community.
“Dick was no less visionary in his commitment to standards and quality in all parts of our education system and passionately believed in devolving management control to those directly responsible for the leadership of our schools and college.
“Even in his later years, his enthusiasm, passion and commitment to securing the best educational outcomes for all parts of our community continued to shine brightly. Always engaged, passionate in his belief that high-quality education was the birth right of everyone, he has left a lasting impression and a legacy which continues to serve the island he loved.”
After retiring from his career in education, Dick somewhat reinvented himself as the island’s Industrial Disputes Officer. This was a role for which his endless patience and proclivity for conciliation made him well suited and greatly respected even by most of the quarrelling interlocutors between whom he had to mediate or adjudicate. He was part of a double act, working closely with his Deputy, Mick Fooks, and they remained great friends for the rest of Dick’s life.
Dick was a stalwart of the Torteval Parish Church, which is where his funeral will be held on Thursday. Dick was a Christian and a man of Christian values – and he more than anyone recognised that they are not always synonymous.
He was one of the most compassionate people I have known. He was kind; he was tolerant; and he was generous. He was a gentleman. And he was wise. I fear I did too little to show how appreciative I was of his generous support and wise counsel during my years in politics.
Pictured: Former Deputy Richard Graham said that Dick Taylor was “a principled man…a great servant to Guernsey”.
The latter years of Dick’s professional life coincided with Richard Graham’s tenure as Secretary and ADC to four Lieutenant-Governors. They remained friends during and beyond Colonel Graham’s later period as Vice-President of the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture.
“Dick was a principled man who retained his passionate interest in education right to the end. I spent many an hour with him listening and discussing local education issues,” said Colonel Graham.
“He was courteous and tolerant when responding to those who didn’t share his views, but there were two aspects of education that made him really cross.
“One such irritant were the comings and inevitable goings of successive gimmicky fads imported into the Guernsey educational scene by so-called experts. In his long career, he saw far too many of these and was intolerant of the damage they inflicted.
“He was also passionate in his belief in 11-18 secondary schools and was desperately sad when the States decided to abandon such schools and surrender the provision of them in Guernsey to the three private colleges.
“We should remember him as a great servant to Guernsey.”
Dick’s family have advised that donations in his memory may be sent to the RNLI via Richard Evans, Guernsey Harbours, PO Box 631, St Peter Port, GY1 3DL or to Torteval Parish Church via Mrs Anne Bourgaize, The Anchorage, Rue du Vidcocq, St Pierre du Bois, GY7 9AP.
Picture (top): Published with thanks to Dick Taylor’s family.