Telford housing estate name honours former head
A new housing development in the shadow of a Telford school has forged a link with a past headmaster by being named in his honour.
Neal Court in Dawley, which comprises 18 new affordable homes for retired people, has been named after Richard Neal, who was head of Phoenix School in the town from 1965 to 1983.
And three of his sons - all former pupils of Phoenix - were invited to cut the ribbon.
Neal Court has been created with a £1.7 million investment from The Wrekin Housing Trust, a £500,000 grant from Homes England, and support from Telford & Wrekin Council. It stands a stone's throw from Telford Langley School, previously known as Phoenix.
The original Phoenix stood in Manor Road and was demolished in 2014 after the school moved to the new site.
The suggestion to name the development after Richard Neal was made by Telford & Wrekin Council leader Shaun Davies, who was a pupil at Phoenix at its old site from 1997 to 2002. His dad Paul Davies, and mother, Alison Carr before marriage, were also pupils there.
"It's really important for us to remember the school's past. With the school having moved up here away from the original location this is a nice way to link the history of the school with its future, and pay tribute to a fantastic public servant who literally thousands of local people remember," said Councillor Davies.
Special guests were three of Mr Neal's five children, retired teacher Jonathan, from Crawley, solicitor Quentin from near Birkenhead, and Shropshire Star journalist Toby.
Quentin said: "My dad and mum would be proud that he was still remembered with such respect and fondness. It has been a wonderful event, and thank you to all those who set it up."
Can-do attitude
Among those in attendance were Dave Hall, head of property at the Wrekin Housing Trust, Malcolm Randle, Mayor of Great Dawley Town Council, and Mark Chetwood, who used to work at the old Phoenix School as a senior technician in the science department in Mr Neal's time and now works at its Telford Langley School successor.
He said the former headteacher’s can-do attitude was admired by all.
“People used to moan that the school didn’t have a swimming pool and there wasn’t enough funding to build one,” said Mark. “However, this didn’t put him off as he organised teams of students and staff to do the digging – after that the school had its own swimming pool for many years.”
He added: “If ever he had a problem to solve he would take himself off to play the school’s grand piano. He was a marvellous player and we knew that when he was playing the piano he was thinking deeply – as soon as the music stopped we knew he had solved the problem.
"Mr Neal built some great community links and one of these involved teaming up with the Telford Model Railway Club. This led to a railway being built around the perimeter of the school grounds, along with a small 3ft high steam train which the children could ride on.
“Mr Neal was a believer in lifelong learning and opened the school in the evening so adults could take night classes. He wanted to raise aspirations in Dawley, whether that was through his work on the council or in the school.”
Mr Neal became head as the old Dawley Secondary Modern School turned comprehensive in September 1965, and chose the Phoenix name to reflect the change.
Ron Munt, who was chair of governors for 10 years, said: “Dawley Secondary Modern was a failing school. When Richard became headteacher the first thing he said to me was that his focus wasn’t going to be on the high-flyers, but instead on bringing up the ones at the bottom.
“As a teacher he was brilliant – he had so much patience with the children, and as a leader he was just as good. He turned a failing school into a successful school.”
Mr Neal, who would always bring his dog - a Staffordshire Bull Terrier - into school with him, served during the war as a fighter pilot in the Fleet Air Arm, seeing action in the Far East.
He was a councillor on Dawley Urban District Council in the early 1970s.
He died aged 79 in 2001.
