Matthew William Warn 1974 – 2009

Mat Warn

I was going to entitle this article ‘Matthew Warn – teacher to us all’. I then realised that this would be doing him, and those who knew him outside his professional life, a great disservice. There were many, many facets to Mat and as such, the following can only serve as a brief sketch of the life of a man who was loved so well by so many people.

Mat was born in Peterborough and spent his first two years in Ravensthorpe; Kirsty and Andrew only moving to the leafier charms of Glinton in 1976. It was here that he spent his formative years; and what years they were! As one of Mat’s two brothers, I have a head still swimming in happy memories from our shared childhood. The family walks across the fields to Peakirk stand out, when he’d astound us all by vaulting over the towering five-bar gates even though they appeared to be twice his height! Other highlights include the annual holidays on the shiny racing bikes Dad had constructed for us - Mat always the fastest and the first to dare to ride with ‘no-hands’. I also recall the three of us being tricked into clearing the countless leaves from the garden each autumn, as our inventive Mum convinced us that we were partaking in some kind of game rather than hard manual labour…

Mat attended both village schools and was a Glinton boy through and through. After completing ‘A’ levels, Mat went on to Bishop Grosseteste College, Lincoln, to study teaching; the profession he served for the rest of his life. A man fiercely proud of his Fenland roots (even his dissertation was on ‘The Land of the Three-Quarter Sky’), he returned to Peterborough taking up his first teaching post at Gladstone Primary School. His achievements were many; not least at cricket, where he led children to the national finals and a top 20 finish from a field of 17000 competing schools. When asked what his children had learned from this experience he replied, “they have learnt to lose with grace.”

He moved on to Fulbridge Primary School where he again thrived on the challenges and variety forthcoming from such a multicultural environment; with so many languages being spoken and so many different cultural backgrounds to consider. His Head Teacher said that Mat made every child feel very special. He joined Norwood Primary School in 2007 as Deputy Head Teacher where sadly he was only to share his enthusiasm and commitment to teaching for a couple more years.

If anyone needed confirmation of the high regard in which Mat was held in by teachers and pupils, friends and family, teammates and golfing buddies alike, they would only need glance at the wonderful Facebook tribute page set up in his memory. Reading through the scores of comments, one is overwhelmed with the sense of deep joy that Mat brought to so many lives. It seems that everyone who met him feels greatly enriched by having known him, however briefly. This comes as no surprise to me: I have never met anyone else so generous of time and support to all who needed it.

As Mat gave to the village, so the village have given back to us. The last few weeks have been so hard for us all, but how much harder they would have been were it not for the incredible support. From flowers and hugs to courgette cakes and pints, shared laughter and tears, all have been so, so welcome. Westgate Church was packed to the rafters for his funeral, the Warn family home has never been without caring friends, and at one point it was said that if any one us were to stand outside any other house in the village, someone would come out and give us a hug. I can well believe it! We thank you all

Ben Warn.

I’ve started so I’ll finish: Junior Mastermind at Pearkirk-cum-Glinton Primary school