Teacher from 1966
Reception Class, Juniors, special needs, comprehensive and Physically Handicapped.

Learning advisor in Shropshire Community School and 8 feeder schools
Designed curriculum
Head of special needs in Peterborough for 10 years
Designed teaching material across the curriculum for core teaching and including extension for gifted and learning difficulties
Provided in service training for staff enabling them to work with all abilities
Diagnostic and prognostic assessment of learning difficulties
Worked with Newton and Thompson at Aston University to establish identification of Dyslexia and provide assessments and teaching material

Served on committees to site and helped establish a teacher's centre and later a multi racial centre.

Served on committees in Cambridge representing teachers e.g., Cambridge report on implementing both the Bullock and the Warnock report.
Served on an investigation into materials available for learning difficulties

Various community involvements from 1966 to today including youth leader, playgroup committees, fundraising committees, Chairman of the African Child Trust for two years in London and Uganda to currently establishing a local Community Development trust.

Left teaching full time 1984
Researched Celtic material

Worked as Technical support supervisor for Cheshire Wildlife until contract ended
Duties included illustrating and developing material for community workers and sales, developing a team including volunteers, planning displays and public contact material, devising training programmes dealing with media and supporting other departments including Biology staff and Field development staff.
 

Morgans Art Inspiration
 

 
"As an artist I was greatly inspired by Alphonse Maria Mucha of the Art Nouveaux period and the Pre Raphaelites. I always loved the romance in art and words of poets also inspired me to paint. I love John Clare's poems. He was the Peterborough poet, contemporary with Shelley but his poem of the skylark gave me an image to paint that Shelley's poem never quite inspired for me.

Words such as Tennyson's Lady of Shallot and Edgar Alan Poe's Annabel Lee sent me scurrying for paints and brush. But my favourite inspiration was artist Jim Fitzpatrick who was also a fan of Mucha. Reading Gregory, Charlotte Guest and Yeats and finding Fitzpatrick's work sent me on the trail of Celtic and Arthurian legend. The summit of all praise for me was when I had a card from Jim Fitzpatrick in which he praised my work and was flattered I saw him as my mentor as much as he saw Mucha as his. I still prefer Fitzpatrick's work which was created before we had today's digital magic.

I myself still prefer to paint with brush and paint but I can see the artistic and aesthetic merit in the work of artists such as Jason Engles. My daughter Kat is a brilliant digital artist and I love some of the images she creates using some of my works and some of her own. I could never catch up with the skills required in using computer graphic techniques, I am still reliant on the skill of my hand and eye wielding the brush and the pen to create my work and I encourage all those who can not to neglect that skill in favour of technology but to develop both aspects."

Morgan Fitzsimons