Blog Archive (June 2008)
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21st June 2008 - John's Funeral and remembrance service
There will be a remembrance service for John on 11th July at 1200. This will take place in Trinity Methodist Church, Trinity Rd, Sale, Cheshire, M33 3ED. This will be led by a minister who has been a close friend of John and Cheryl's since they were students. John's funeral in Canada was last Thursday and he was cremated yesterday; Cheryl will be bringing his ashes back to England and will, in due course, scatter them in the Lake District. A number people have asked me about charitable donations; John did a lot of work for Oxfam, including work in schools, and Cheryl feels he would want any donations to go to Oxfam; she is going to find out about a memorial fund for John and details will be announced at the memorial service and I'll post them here. John also has a Facebook site....[ top ]
14th June 2008 - Tributes to John
I have received many moving emails from those who knew John since I posted and mailed colleagues in the D&T community yesterday about his death. I've collated these here, partly so that I can let Cheryl know what John meant to so many people without burdening her with a pile of emails and partly as a form of a tribute to him. Please let me know if you would prefer your comments not to be recorded in this way - or wish to add to or amend them.[ top ]
13th June 2008 - John Martin
I am sorry to say that I've just heard that John died yesterday (Thursday 12-6-8). John had a history of heart problems and yesterday he was out walking (where he best liked to be) with his family in one of Canada's national parks and he had a heart attack, dying almost immediately. I will place further news in the main blog as I get it.[ top ]
13th June 2008 - John Martin
Earlier this morning John Martin's wife, Cheryl, phoned me from Canada, where she and John were holidaying with family, with the very sad news that John died yesterday (Thursday 12-6-8).
Many who knew John will remember he had a heart attack some years ago and a few will know that in the last 12 months heart problems had returned. Yesterday he was out walking (where he best liked to be) with his family in one of Canada's national parks where he had another heart attack, dying almost immediately. Cheryl tells me that he was at the time talking about the likelihood of his heart not lasting many more years.
This is not the moment for a full tribute; suffice it to say that John had wide interests in D&T education and was passionate about all pupils having high quality experiences. He was extraordinarily clear-thinking and combined this with great technical and pedagogical prowess to develop many ground-breaking developments, particularly in relation to the teaching of electronics and control.
When I first started teaching in the mid 1980s I attended a number of John's courses at Salford University and these greatly influenced both my teaching and my thinking about teaching. In recent years it has been both a privilege and a pleasure to work with John on a range of both national and local (Manchester) projects. I and many, many others both in England and around the world will miss him.
Last Summer John and I spent an enjoyable month together teaching at Buffalo State Univeristy in New York and, when free, walking in the state parks. The picture above shows John in Letchworth State Park looking over the Genesee River gorge - known as the 'Grand Canyon of the East'.
No firm decisions have been made yet about funeral and other services, but Cheryl thinks it likely that John will be cremated in Canada and she will return to Manchester with his ashes in due course. When arrangements have been made Cheryl will let me know and I will post the details here.[ top ]
