Summo was my form teacher at sacred heart in 1978, he actually punched me to the ground during a cancelled PE lesson at chaffers due to rain. I was only about 8 stone dripping wet in those days but still remember good old Summo , who i seem to remember played rugby most weekends , punching me in the ear and then dragging me around like a wet dishcloth. I was a gobby little kid in those days but good old summo knew how to handle kids like me that may have had underlying issues for their behaviour. A good wallop or a threat to bury them in the nearby waste ground when he taught at St Bedes always did the trick. Sadly, teachers like Summo would never be allowed to teach today , he would have been thrown out on his ear , but I can honestly say the only teacher I feared was Summo. A year or two after leaving school I had straightened myself out and was attending Hugh Baird college as an apprentice heating engineer. Along with the main engineer we actually installed the heating on Summos house in Crosby. He was surprised to see me but genuinely glad I was doing well considering he had wrote me off and done nothing to support me in any way. I can honestly say it gave me no pleasure to see the man’s entire career go down the drain. Last of a teaching breed, rest in peace Summo
