I was appointed to be Headmaster of BGS at the end of April 1970 and would take up the post in September later that year. It was made clear to candidates for the post, that there were plans for Bideford comprehensive reorganisation scheduled to be introduced in September 1975. These plans would involve combining the grammar school and the neighbouring county secondary school. It was also expected that the existing arrangements whereby successful 11+ girls took up county places at the Direct Grant school Edgehill and the independent Stella Maris Convent, would be phased out. Candidates were also informed that the post of Head of the new comprehensive school would be advertised nationally at the appropriate time and the BGS appointment was to be viewed as a separate exercise and carried no guarantee for what lay ahead.
It was to be my first experience of headship. At the time I saw the appointment as a good learning opportunity and likely to be for a few years only. I did not think that I had the relevant experience to be a candidate for the larger post which lay ahead. I was therefore very surprised when the Chief Education Officer, Dr Cook, summoned me to Exeter in November 1971 to designate me as the Head elect of the comprehensive school. Surprisingly too, I was to be entrusted with the headship of the county secondary school and the community college activities for the transitional period Sept 1972 -1975. How that arrangement got past the Dept for Education I shall never know!
Footnote: John remained Headmaster/ Principal of the new comprehensive until he retired in 1993.
