Having known Martin over 60 years, I was saddened by news of his passing on, as was my wife, Janet. I first met him in the summer of 1959 at the Jubilee Pool when I became friends with younger brother, Robert, before starting at Penzance Grammar School. Martin was about 4 school years above me. He once created a zany catchphrase which spread throughout the school!
Amazingly, we were to discover via a chat between parents that we were distant cousins. I remember Martin at the Tutthills’ house in Treassowe Rd when playing with his brother Robert. Martin had an enormous collection of lead soldiers and artillery which were deployed in army games played in the garden. Martin’s family would take me with them on sunny Sundays to their favourite beach, Porth Chapel.
Predictably, Martin left school to train as a soldier in the Army but suffered two bad injuries, one of which caused deafness in one ear. I well recall on the radio also the shocking news that he had fallen when climbing near Land’s End.
Obliged to leave the Army, Martin trained as a teacher and proved to be a lively and popular personality in the classroom, though sometimes implementing a controversial methodology. For nearly two years, I travelled to Camborne with Martin in his car where we were both working at the time. Martin possessed great knowledge and a wide reference library of his own. He had very definite views, sometimes alarmingly so, and would argue his point heatedly. However, his heart was very much in the right place. Being generous and kindhearted, he was ever ready to offer help to anybody without prejudice.
He would visit third world countries which did not figure large in most people’s wishlist as holiday venues. One such was Liberia where he supplied a school with pencils.
Martin once took me up in a glider at Culdrose as a member of the club. He had an indomitable character, surviving cancer some years ago so it was sad to see him grow frailer in recent times. God bless, Martin. RIP
Philip Knight:
20/02/2021
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