We are very sad to announce the tragic death of Paul Patrick, co-founder of what is now Schools OUT and LGBT History Month.
Paul died on Thursday 22nd May after a long battle with a chronic lung condition.
A MEMORIAL FOR PAUL WILL BE HELD AT THE DRILL HALL ON SATURDAY 4TH OCTOBER 2008
The Schools OUT and LGBT History Month team would like to invite you to this event to celebrate the life and many contributions Paul made to all our lives.
It will feature a number of his TV and radio appearances, rare DVD footage, music, a performance by Woking’s Peer Productions Youth Theatre and an excerpt from The Rossendale Players performance of The Vagina Monologues, which Paul directed.
There will be an open mic for people to make their personal contributions.
The event will be held at the Drill Hall, 16 Chenies Street, London WC1E 7EX, from 3pm till 6. Admission is free and the bar will be open.
RSVP please to chairs@schools-out.org.uk
Please feel free to send this on to others you feel would want to know about this.
We look forward to seeing you there
FROM THE FAMILY OF PAUL PATRICK
We have been very deeply moved by the wonderful sentiments expressed over Paul, and we fully realise that he touched many peoples lives beyond the family. We are still in a state of shock and are struggling to come to terms with our loss, so we can imagine how many of you are still feeling numb at the news especially if you had not seen him in recent months. He always projected a peter pan type image looking less than his years and behaving accordingly. Unfortunately he was not immortal and has been taken from us far too early. His life may have been short but believe us it was very full, and its impact will live on for many years to come.
We apologise in many respects for choosing to have a quiet funeral but this is due to our mother who is very frail and would not be able to live through the enormity of the sort of celebration that should really take place. Had she been well enough for those of you who have met her you know that she would have been at the heart of things. While the cremation will be quiet, meaning in numbers we still intend to see him out in style otherwise we would not be forgiven.
On closing we can only add that your very kind thoughts and words are helping us to get through a very difficult time. There will never be another like him.
We have chosen to have family flowers only, as Paul would have hated to see the waste, and would ask that if anyone would like to make donations in his memory that they are made to LBGT History Month, a cause very close to his heart and one which he worked tirelessly to raise the profile of right up to his very last days. Alternatively you could always buy a bottle of red wine and share it with him and your memories.
Thank you once again.
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Paul attended South Shields Grammar School but moved to Burnley at the age of fifteen and attended Burnley Grammar before going to Phillipa Fawcett College, London (a college of the University of London) where he studied English and drama.
He became a teacher in 1972 at the Roger Manwood School, Lewisham. He quickly became Head of Drama and a member of the teachers’ advisory panel for Greenwich Young People’s Theatre in Education Company and worked with the teachers and advisors who produced the Inner London Education Authority’s “Drama Bulletin.”
In 1976, he co-founded the Lewisham Association for Multicultural Education. In 1983, he became the Equal opportunities Officer for the school he had just helped into amalgamation as a member of the Crofton School Advisory Team. While continuing to teach English and Drama, he became the co-ordinator for a project bringing adults with learning disabilities into the school to use the facilities and work with pupils.
This work was recognised by the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) who appointed him an advisor for equal opportunities in the areas of Expressive Arts, particularly Drama & Theatre Studies, PHSE and the pastoral curriculum. Soon he was co-opted to the Relationships and Sexuality Project and was a member of its steering group, became the Multi-ethnic Inspectorate representative on the Authority's P.H.S.E. Advisory panel, a member of the Authority's video panel. He also worked with the ILEA publishing section to produce materials, videos and guidelines for teachers. This was until the abolition of the ILEA in 1990 when he returned to teaching English and Drama at Crofton School.
In May 1996, he took some time out to concentrate on writing and his training work and co-founded Chrysalis,a training collective with his close friend and colleague, Sue Sanders.
In 1997 he joined the staff of Accrington and Rossendale College, working first in their Student Services Department and later moving on to full-time lectureship. In September 1999 he joined their Performing Arts Team to work full time teaching BTEC Foundation, BTEC National and HND Performing Arts. He also directed several plays including an education piece on homophobic bullying which toured local schools and was performed at teachers’ conferences. He then moved to Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School where he taught for three years, leaving after a period of illness. He continues to work as a supply teacher enabling him to devote more time to his writing, training and public speaking.
He also worked as a consultant to the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights.
In 1974, Paul Patrick co-founded the Gay Teachers’ Group (Schools Out since 1981) and was its secretary until 1982. He was the first teacher in the UK to come out to parents and pupils and retain their job and went on to be promoted. He then became the first single gay man to be allowed to foster a young heterosexual male.
In his work, he addressed the International Conference of Teachers of English, been the UK representative at an international conference held in Finland on the development of lesbian and gay issues in the curriculum, and been a member of the National Union of Teachers.
In 2002 he became the Co-chair of Schools Out together with Sue Sanders. He also became the Equal Opportunities Officer of the National Union of Teachers - Lancashire Division and a member of the NUT’s LGBT Working Party.
Since 2004, he was a member of the Steering Group of the LGBT History Month (UK) for which, together with a team of teachers, he created and veted lessons and assembly suggestions. He also toured the country promoting LGBT History Month to a wide range of groups and organisations.
As well as being a teacher, Paul Patrick wrote on a range of issues and sub-edited others' work. His articles were published in many prestigious publications including Gay News, The Guardian, The Times Educational Supplement, The Teacher. He also worked on several educational video programmes.
Articles in: Drama Bulletin, Diversity Xpress, Gen, Gay News, Gay Times, Health in Schools, Issues of Race and Education, Multicultural Education, Teaching London Kids, The Guardian, The Times Educational Supplement, The Teacher.
Interviewed in: Daily Express, The Guardian, Gay News, Gay Times, Pink Paper, Living Magazine, The Mercury, The Observer, The Observer Magazine, The Teacher, The Times Educational Supplement.
Authoring: “Biting the hand that feeds me” – first volume of autobiography, currently in preparation.
Co-authored: Model equal opportunities & anti-bullying policies, endorsed by all the major teaching unions, Section 28: A Guide for Teachers, Parents and Governors (ALTARF Press 1988), Positive Images - a resources guide to LGBT materials for use by teachers and librarians in secondary schools and further education colleges (Inner London Education Authority 1986).
Chapters in: Open and Positive (1977), Equality Matters (with Helena Burke) (Multilingual Matters 1993), Challenging Lesbian and Gay Inequalities in Education (Open University 1994) Adding Value? - "Towards Some Understandings of Sexuality Education"(with Brenda Hanson) Genderwatch (Trentham Books 2007.)
I am also currently part of a team of teachers creating and vetting lesson and assembly suggestions for a DfES funded website of examples of good teaching practice. I have sub-edited: Section 28: A Guide for Teachers, Parents and Governors, Positive Images, Travellers and Education (Minority Reports), Teachers' Guide to "A Different Story" (see below), sections of Collins Educational Press Key Stage 3 English Course.
Video programmes:
Researched, advised on, co-edited and presented: “A Different Story - the lives and experiences of a group of young lesbians and gay men”(Inner London Education Authority 1986), “A Question of AIDS” (Inner London Education Authority 1987).
Devised, scripted, presented, co-directed and co-edited a set of six interactive PHSE / Drama video programmes for Key Stage 3: “Play It Out” (Inner London Education Authority 1987)
Scripted: training video for social workers on child abuse (Inner London Education Authority 1988); training video for ILEA workers on equal opportunities policy and practice (not made due to cut-backs).
He has lectured on PGCE and M Ed courses at Goldsmiths College and the Institute of Education. He is a tutor on the Teach First summer school.
Teacher Paul Patrick explains how he came to be a foster father in unusual circumstances.
English Teacher and Head of Year Paul Patrick had a troublesome pupil called Roger Waters; "every time he was naughty he was sent to me, so he’d end up sitting at the back of the class and I’d spend time telling him off, and bit by bit we got to know each other." Paul learned that Roger had been living with foster families and in a hostel and had never seemed to have had much stability in his young life. At this point the social worker looking after Rogers suggested that as he got on so well with Paul that Paul should become his foster father.
Roger says it was a bit of a surprise to be fostered by his teacher; "it was a shock but it was alright...I was please as it saved hassle and moving around and being pushed from pillar to post". Although there’s nothing unusual in fostering a child, it was an unusual situation because Paul is is an openly gay man "I was in my work in the school and all the children knew." He explains "we need to take about it more when I became his foster father. He was living in my house and obviously he would want to have his friends around and there was no way I was going to pretend to be anything other than gay so they had to cope"
Paul and Roger’s neighbours knew Paul was gay because he didn’t hide it and as Paul says "it was an interesting bit of gossip". After Roger moved in he began to invite his friends around and this meant that a lot of 15 year old boys would be coming and going to the house.
One neighbour who didn’t know Paul and Roger thought something odd was going on and decided to call the police, and Paul found himself facing a police officer on his doorstep. After some explanations the situation was made clear to the police who Paul says were very helpful. Paul said initially he felt very angry; "how dare this woman interfere in my life....but I thought about it and she was doing it because she felt there was an issue and as a teacher I know full well that if you suspect the slightest level of abuse you have to do something about it. I went round and talked to her and it was all fine after that"
Was Paul’s sexuality ever a problem for Roger and his friends? Paul say not; "His friends had more problem coming into the house of a teacher rather than a of a gay man". Roger says that his father was a "a normal nagging parent, he brought me up, took me in and took care of me so he’s just my dad really"
Paul says that Roger’s friends found him no different to their own parents; "I wanted to know what time he was coming in, where he was going, why he hadn’t done the washing up, nagged him about his room...I was a pretty dull foster parent really"
Does it surprise Paul to find that this boy he expelled from school should end up being his son? "Surprise doesn’t express it...I’m gob-smacked but it’s the best thing I’ve ever done in my life"
Taken from "Home Truths" BBC Radio 4
Paul attended South Shields Grammar School but moved to Burnley at the age of fifteen and attended Burnley Grammar before going to Phillipa Fawcett College, London (a college of the University of London) where he studied English and drama.
Paul Patrick was born on July 23, 1950 in South Shields.
Founder member of Lewisham Association for Multicultural Education
Founder and Secretary of the Gay Teachers' Group
Member of the Icebreakers Collective - a telephone counselling service
Chair of Roger Manwood School Staff Association and later Chair of Roger Manwood School Equal Opportunities Working Party
Member of Crofton School Advisory Committee
Member of British ROSE (Research on Sex Education)
Member of UNESCO Child Development Project based at the Institute of Education
Co-chair of Schools OUT www.schools-out.org.uk
Equal Opportunities Officer of National Union of Teachers Lancashire Division.
Member of National Union of Teachers’ LGBT Working Party.
Member of National Union of Teachers’ North West Region Council.
Vice-President Rossendale National Union of Teachers.
President Rossendale National Union of Teachers.
Member of Steering Group LGBT History Month www.lgbhistorymonth.org.uk
Paul Patrick directs the British mainland amateur premier of the award winning Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler.
The show was produced by The Aphra Behn Society and had performances by E.Maureen Jackson, Amanda Pierce, Sheila Godfrey, Hazel Mrozek and Emma Mills.
It took place at the New Millenium Theatre in Rossendale, Lancashire in October 2007.
All monies from this production were donated to the Lancashire Rape Crisis Centre and Local Victim Support for projects on women's safety.
The Vagina Monologues
New Millenium Theatre
Waterfoot
Lancashire
Paul Patrick died on 22 May 2008 after a long battle with a chronic lung condition. He was working on Biting the hand that feeds me!, the first volume of his autobiography.
Both performed and directed with the Rossendale Players at the New Millenium Theatre, Burnley.
With Claire Watts and Keegan Curran delivered a series of Drama Workshops with young people to create a new Youth Theatre.