Duke of Edinburgh Gold Awards 

Photograph courtesy of The Courier, Dundee (3 July 2007)

On Tuesday, July 3 2007, pupils from Harris Academy joined with others from all over Scotland for the Duke of Edinburgh  gold award ceremony at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh.  While the school has been well represented at this ceremony for many years, this year was particularly special since it marked the final group of Gold Award recipients overseen by Mr David Stibbles M.B.E.

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Stalwart of Harris Academy retires 

Well-known Harris Academy physical education teacher and principal teacher of guidance David Stibbles (60) held his retiral dinner and ceilidh night at the Invercarse Hotel in Dundee last night.

He has taught at Harris for almost 40 years after doing a three year teacher training course at Jordanhill College of PE in 1968.  Mr Stibbles, a keen sportsman since his youth, was educated at the school himself and was a school captain there in 1965.

Many of his pupils have benefited from his commitment to the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, which he established at the school in 1970.  As a co-ordinator, he has been actively involved in helping pupils at every stage of the scheme. In recent years he has been involved in the first year pupils' residential experience, when pupils go on a school trip for several days to places such as Falkland.

Speaking previously, Harris Academy rector Jim Thewliss said Mr Stibbles' retiral would bring an end to a career that had touched so many lives in such a positive and influential way.  "The measure of the man is not the position he holds on retirement but the respect and affection with which he retires," he said.

Mr Stibbles lives with his wife Christine.  They have three children, two daughters and a son.  He hopes that in his retirement he will have more time for getting out on his bike and hill walking.

Photograph and text courtesy of The Courier, Dundee (27 June 2007)