T H E R E I G AT I A N 2 0 2 0
DEATHS & OBITUARIES
ROBIN BLIGH 1929-2020 (RGS STAFF 1953-1994) Robin was born in Teddington in 1929, the second of five children, and the eldest of four boys. With a bossy older sister and boisterous younger brothers, even from an early age, Robin kept himself to himself. He was a man of few words, independently minded with professional discretion, who was trustworthy and governed by personal integrity. Our parents came together as Christian pacifists in WWI and continued to be conscientious objectors in WWII. Interestingly, before he married, our Father had an interview for the Headship at Reigate Grammar, but when they discovered that he hadn’t fought in the war, they ended the interview! In the late 1930s, our parents accommodated young German Jewish children fleeing Nazi persecution. It was one of those youngsters who introduced Robin to the Hampton Hills Sea Scouts, which he finally joined in 1942. Robin’s secondary education was a wartime experience – he was ten at the outbreak of war and 16 when it finished. Heavy air raids were common during his first winter at Hampton Grammar School. Indeed, his two-mile cycle journey in pea-souper fogs on icy roads in the blackout must have been terrifying. Robin could not join the Sea Scouts until Hitler had invaded the Soviet Union and air raids ceased. Supervision was thin at 78
times, because former Scout Masters were all away fighting, but Robin and his friends learned a lot of skills messing around in boats. Robin perfected his strong breaststroke in the Thames as there was little river traffic during the war. For summer camps they went along the river to Marlow or the River Wey. Food rationing made organising camps particularly difficult. I have no doubt that the skills Robin learnt at this time were passed on to the Reigate troops decades later. After leaving school, the post-war revelations of the Nazi atrocities meant that Robin could not follow the pacifist route and, in January 1948, he was conscripted into the RAF for 18 months. At Cambridge he attended a course on leadership for Scouts. He read Mathematics and Geography to strengthen his teaching potential and represented the University in the 200m breaststroke and Clare College in cricket, rugby and water polo. After Cambridge, he took a postgraduate course at London Institute of Education, specialising in the teaching of Geography. From April 1953 he applied to leading grammar schools, including Manchester and Leeds, without success. Quiet and analytical, Robin was a poor interviewee. He applied to Reigate Grammar saying, ‘I don’t mind if I don’t get that one!’. Perhaps because of this he was more relaxed and displayed more of himself. 36 hours later he received a telegram offering him the post. He stayed in Reigate for another 67 years!
He started and ran a successful Scout troop; organised foreign trips with adventures that were exciting and risky; was active in coaching cricket and rugby. All of these outgoing, visible-to-all activities seem at odds with the introvert he was at home. So, I asked him once, what drove this high-level of activity for 40 years? His statement was simple: he was interested in helping boys. This was a significant private declaration; central to who Robin was. He was a superb teacher, but what made his teaching superb? In helping boys he was not just teaching – he was interested in people at a personal level. Although superficially, the concept of education was about teaching a whole class, his methods were to ask questions of individuals and get them to use logic. This Socratic method suited his personality. He developed students’ thinking skills, not just imparted knowledge. The same principles applied in the Scouts, where older children were encouraged to mentor younger ones; to take their own decisions and assess their own risks. His skill was to create the conditions in which freedom could be responsibly exercised, where it was less about instruction and more about management of learning. The reticent, undemonstrative personality developed in childhood was conducive to this style of teaching decades later. Most statues or monuments are erected to great people. Robin was a quiet man and probably wouldn’t be classed as such, therefore I am so pleased that the school has planted a tree in his memory. He was much deserving of such recognition as the floods of personal testimonies Robin received on his 90th birthday bear witness. Robin was truly a model for humanity. Obituary with thanks to brother, Donald Bligh A Robin Bligh memorial event is scheduled to take place this Summer (subject to Covid restrictions). To register your interest for this event, please email the Foundation team: foundation@reigategrammar.org.
