A MUCH-LOVED teacher and Year Head at Queen Elizabeth’s School in Crediton has died, aged 79.

Such was the respect and admiration for David Cunningham, that, whilst only a few family and close friends gathered for his funeral at Exeter and Devon Crematorium on May 7, dozens of others watched the live streamed ceremony.

David Alistair Cunningham was a War baby, born and brought up in Preston; many will remember his soft Lancashire accent with great fondness.

Young David was a shy boy and had a pronounced stutter, which made conversation difficult, but he spent many happy hours digging dens, playing football in the field near their house and roaming along the river bank.

Passing his 11+, Dave gained a place at the local Grammar School where he was lucky to have some excellent teachers, his favourite one being his Biology teacher.

However, when he expressed a desire to teach Biology himself, David was called to the Headmaster’s office and told, "Cunningham, with your stutter, you can forget it!"

As one former colleague wrote, "the style was cheerful and positive but there was an inner steel."

And so it was that Dave set off to Keele University to study Biology and Geology, and stayed for a fourth year to gain a diploma in Education; he was awarded a commendation for that final year.

No-one quite seems to know how he got rid of the stutter!

The next few years saw David spending time in Malaysia on VSO, teaching English and dodging snakes in the rainforest; studying for a diploma in Youth Work and breaking up fights between Mods and Rockers at the local Youth Club; teaching in a boarding school and living on site; and then, training as a counsellor, he landed in London where the pupils were rather different from the boarding school boys!

But time brought Dave to Devon and, in 1972 he was appointed to be Head of Cheshire House (then Shelley School) and teach in the Biology Department at Queen Elizabeth’s School.

He understood the challenges faced by students from a rural background and he was keen to develop courses which related to contemporary issues and topics which mattered to young people.

He established MACOS, a course for the intellectually less able, he pioneered a Social Biology CSE which was adopted by other local schools and he shared the teaching of the A level and AS level Social Biology Courses.

For many years David was Head of Sixth Form and, as such, helped many young people get to College and University from our rural school.

Never noted for his paperwork, Mr Cunningham was rarely bothered about league tables or the syllabus, but when it came to the real business of education, he had no equal.

Bouncing round the classroom with infectious enthusiasm, his passion for his subject shone throughout every lesson and he made learning fun and interesting for his students; his charisma made it unnecessary to be an authority figure.

But he was patient, kind and encouraging, too. He treated pupils like adults, he gave them the tools they needed to succeed and he nurtured students’ confidence to question and evaluate.

Students will remember quotes from "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", lessons squeezing eggs and the phrase "sinker or floater"!

He loved extra curricular activities. Dave Cunningham led many a barge trip in Activities Week, he arranged field trips to Wembworthy for many years, he took students to sleep rough on the banks of the River Thames, pushed hospital beds around Exeter and pulled fire engines around the town.

One former pupil wrote: "he was the most inspiring teacher I ever had."

Dave’s colleagues saw him as a father figure and role model.

He gave many other teachers much support, helpful guidance and gentle words of encouragement over the years and his genuine and warm, far-sighted and respectful ways were much appreciated by school staff.

His was a positive, caring and generous spirit and he gave of his time and expertise without hesitation to every individual that needed it.

As his friend and former colleague, Alan Worthington said: "Dave made so many people feel special - colleagues, students and their relatives; but more than that - he made us feel that we wanted to be better teachers; better colleagues and better people.”

This was recognised by Ofsted rating the sixth form outstanding, and by the award of a lifetime achievement award for Dave in the national teaching awards in 2001.

David was passionate about community: he taught at Exeter Prison; he helped steer the building of the new hospital in Crediton and it is poignant to remember that he masterminded a charity event for students to carry bricks to the workmen on the Hospice building site in Exeter.

Dave was a skilled builder and he renovated several semi derelict homes.

He loved his family and the countryside and he retired happily to the house he rebuilt in Spreyton, enjoying working in the woods and bringing firewood back to the house and maintaining the hedges and gates. But he yearned for another big building project. And so it was that he and his wife bought a stone barn in a small rural area of Brittany; being warmly accepted in another community was something that gave him great pleasure.

He hadn’t been in the best of health for many years and David died in Exeter Hospice on April 23. He leaves his wife, Beverley; Luke and Joel; and granddaughters, Felicity and Tabitha; and Grace.

At the funeral, his son, Joel, read the words of Robert Louis Stevenson: "That man is a success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent people and children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who leaves the world better than he found it… who never lacked appreciation for the earth’s beauty or failed to express it; who looked for the best in others and gave the best he had."

Whose life is an inspiration and whose memory is a benediction.

Alison Orchard