The obituary notice of David John LUMB

A huge thank you to everyone who helped me celebrate Dave’s life and say goodbye to him last week. Also many thanks or your generous contributions to the RCN nurses strike fund. We collected £1150 at the funeral and I know some people have also made separate donations online. I have also made donations in Dave’s name to Nottingham Hospitals Charities (Blood Cancers), Music for Everyone, Notts Wildlife Trust and Islington Managua Friendship Association. The funeral will be available online for the next 28 days. Please contact me if you would like the login details.
Thanks also for all the lovely messages and tributes to Dave, I miss him terribly.
Carolyn

I absolutely LOVED drama A Level with Mr Lumb! He was utterly brilliant. When my older brother Jack (who attended Rushcliffe) realised that Mr Lumb was going to be a teacher at the Girls' High School he said how lucky I was, and he wasn't wrong. We all have those favourite teachers from school and he was, without a doubt one of them, for both of us. We are so fortunate that we were both taught by him.

Condolences to his family, please know he was loved by so many and helped to shape so many of us x

David Lumb was my drama teacher, and a fantastic one at that! A lovely bloke who supported my endeavours (acting, magic and filmmaking) both inside and outside of school.

His little Spanish friend, PEPE, helped me get an A* at GCSE (Point, Evidence, Performance, Evaluation).

I had hoped to pay my respects today in person at the funeral but sadly I was unable to attend. He truly was an excellent teacher that I will remember forever.

Rest in peace, Mr Lumb.

Mr Lumb shaped my life and career in a lot of important ways. (A case in point: a throwaway comment in an A Level Drama class set me thinking about a particular playwright in a particular way and now I have an academic career built around it.) But more importantly he had an irreverence combined with a real love of books and theatre that made me see the importance of taking what you do seriously without taking yourself too seriously, and I still carry many of his catchphrases around with me. (Just the other day I came across something involving Robert Lepage and found myself telling my girlfriend about my old drama teacher who used to say of him—and of Steven Berkoff—‘the man’s a god!’.) He was one of those rare teachers who made you feel like it was ok to step out of your comfort zone and take a risk, and his classes gave me the space to have a go and be a bit rubbish until I’d found my feet. I was so happy that we kept in touch, and would always look forward to an out of the blue Facebook comment from ‘Drama English’ on some book-related post or other. He was a real one-of-a-kind; we’ll miss him.

Mr Lumb, without a doubt, was my most impactful teacher. So sad to hear of his passing. What a fantastic teacher and memorable character. Sending my condolences to his friends and family.

Mr Lumb, you taught me English Language at NGHS and you were absolutely brilliant. So kind, and with a fantastic sense of humour as well as oodles of patience. I will never forget you and I'm so sorry to hear that you've passed. My condolences to David's family x

One of the greatest teachers with such a passion for English, I will never forget his lessons that inspired me to study English at university

Mr Lumb was an amazing English teacher and a great character. He had an amazing sense of humour and always made lessons fun whilst nurturing a love for literature amongst his students. I am so grateful to have been Mr Lumb’s student and extremely sorry to hear of his passing. My sincere condolences to his family and friends.

The best teacher I ever had. I talk about him all the time. His catchphrase used to be “if you don’t understand that’s on me not on you” and I’ve carried that with me for years. Heartbroken to hear of this.

A good friend for over forty years. We will miss Dave so much and those breakfasts that turned into lunches, lots of laughter ( your brilliant wit),and talk about anything and everything especially books, books and more books. Such wonderful company.