In 1978, a teacher and his class from a south Manchester school appeared in the Manchester Evening News with a poem they had worked on together.
Exactly 42 years later, the teacher has worked on another poem with a new generation of students.
Between 1974 and 1978, Mike George was a teacher at Burnage High School covering Mathematics and Remedial Education.
During his last year at the school, Mike worked with his class to produce a poem.
The poem, based around skateboarding, went on to appear in the paper on February 1, 1978.
“I submitted the poem to the editorial team as I really wanted to showcase the hard work the class had done,” Mike George tells the M.E.N.
“We got a photographer to come over and take our photo, and our poem was published in a ‘Junior News’ feature. We were all so proud.”
Mike, who is from Moss Side, would go on to teach at Haveley Hey Primary School and would later work at Marketing Manchester for the City Council's Adult Education Service until his retirement in 2007.
It was during this time that he would be recognised with the Chief Executive's Award for a long and dedicated service.
In fact, prior to completing his teacher training, Mike even appeared in the Guinness Book of Records for a non-stop piano playing time of eight days, three hours and 17 mins.
He is also a co-holder of the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service for his volunteering role at Wythenshawe Community Radio.
Now, at the age of 75, Mike has returned to Burnage Academy for Boys as a volunteer teacher to help assist students.
To mark the 42th anniversary of the poem, Mike decided it was time to create a new poem for a new generation of students.
“The school does so many wonderful things, I am very happy that I can still be a part of it and do some creative things with the class,” Mike said.
“It is great to be able to show students how brilliant poetry can be.”
The new poem, titled Living the Game, is the work of class 7n2.
“In the 70s, skateboarding was the top trend but it’s totally different now - it’s all about video gaming,” Mike added.
“We had a few different ideas about what the topic for the new poem would be and then put it to a vote.
“Of course, there are some negatives to gaming but we wanted to focus on the positive and social aspects, and how people can live in their own world.”
Mike, who also celebrates his birthday today (February 1), says that it has been a ‘wonderful experience’ to work on the poem.
“It’s been just wonderful - It’s as if I have never left. The class has really got into the poem, and we made sure that everyone was able to have an input into it.
“The students have said how they wished all lessons were as fun as this and it’s an amazing feeling to be able to hear that.”
Mike says he is ‘so grateful’ for the opportunity to come back to teaching at the school and said he owes a lot to the teachers and staff there.
It’s a sentiment shared by staff too.
“Michael has always had a caring nature,” said David Lingenfelter, Assistant Headteacher at Burnage Academy for Boys.
“It was obvious in his first teaching engagement at Burnage back in 1974, he taught me maths as a pupil in his year eight class and his determination to do his best for the students was always foremost.
“Since his return, working in a volunteer capacity, he has continued in the same vein, helping students maximise their potential through personal one to one support or by helping the classroom teacher deliver top quality lessons.
“It has been a real pleasure to welcome Michael back to Burnage Academy for Boys and we look forward to benefiting from his continued support in the future.
Mike says he hopes that he will continue to teach at the south Manchester school for years to come.
“Having been there over two academic years, I can vouch for the quality of teaching and learning," he added.
"It's a school which provides for all levels of ability where pupils respect and relate to the teachers so well.
“This latest re-running of the poetry project, with accomplished and skilled teacher Ms Helen Roberts, has been the highlight of my year so far, and I now enter my 75th year with renewed gusto, enthusiasm and a bounce in my step.”
You can read the full poem below.
The poem was created by students Muhammad, Abdullah, Ismail, Mughees, Muhammad, Ammar, Adan, Ismail, Ahsan, Wali, Mohamad, Yasin, Qusam, Mohid, Shahaan, Omar, Abdullah, Furqan, Omari, Ammar, and Zeeshan.
