Clive Prestidge - 'A wonderful man and an inspiration to many'

The school has been richly blessed in the past with the service of many outstanding teachers. Few have been more important than Mr Prestidge to its development and progress, particularly during the years following its opening in 1969. 

He was the school's first head of mathematics from 1969 and soon led a young team into an outstanding department. From 1977 to his retirement in 1997 Clive was deputy head. It is in this role that Clive is especially remembered with affection and gratitude by thousands of former pupils and hundreds of colleagues.

Clive had a penetratingly analytical mind and an ability to see clearly all round an issue. One was always left with a strong impression of the fairness of his judgements and actions in any issue, and of an integrity in the execution of decisions. 

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Colleagues rarely left Clive's office after grappling with some difficulty without feeling better for having shared those concerns. Clive had an infinite capacity as a patient, courteous listener who recognised and appreciated the worth of every single pupil of the school; when former pupils talk about the school, invariably their first comment is, "I remember Mr Prestidge. He was great."

Over his 20 years as deputy head Clive supported three headteachers and contributed to nearly all areas of school life. That the school became the school of choice owes much to his leadership, loyalty and dedication. Clive was acting head in the interregnum between Mr Winkle and Mr Wilkinson in 1985-6; he carried out this role to the great satisfaction of all, and to the regret of many that he would not continue in the office.

Born in Southampton in 1936 it was during his childhood evacuation in Wales aged eight that he learned of the death of his father whilst on duty with the Royal Engineers in 1944 - a unit with which he undertook his own National Service after schooling at King Edward VI Southampton and before training as a teacher at King Alfred's College (now the university) in Winchester.

Following his retirement Clive and his wife lived in Burley for 27 years and he continued to work with the community in his roles for Citizens Advice, the Courts Service and as a church warden. 

A devoted family man, his cricket ambitions as a young man having been frustrated by lower back problems, at his final service he was borne by three of his grandchildren to the commentary from last summer’s final Ashes Test match when the description of Stuart Broad as ‘one of England’s finest’ had a rather unexpected but apt resonance to many in attendance. The service closed with his daughter’s reading of Rudyard Kipling’s If, a poem which those leaving his school office over the years may have noticed pinned to the back of his door.