THIS week marked a historic moment for South Bromsgrove High School as its longest-serving teacher retired after 39 years.

History teacher Quintin Watt started his first and only teaching job at the Charford Road school in 1979, and has since held roles such as head of history and head of humanities.

Mr Watt originally applied to teach history as 'something to do before something better turned up', but quickly developed a passion for the subject, particularly the First World War, and later edited his own book The Bromsgrove Guild: An Illustrated History.

He said: "I always regarded myself as a modern historian. I particularly like teaching the causes of the First World War.

"One of the highlights of my teaching career is the First World War battlefields trip, which I started in 1981.

"In recent years I've been taking the children of people I taught much earlier on. The parents come over and say they remember the trip from when they were at school.

"That's one thing about teaching in a school for so long - you start to feel like part of the community."

Mr Watt celebrated his retirement, at the age of 61, with a party at Bromsgrove Golf Centre on Tuesday night, which was attended by students from his very first year at South.

Asked what he will miss most about the school, Mr Watt said: "The kids are wonderful at South and it has always been that way.

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"I've been able to spend most of my time focusing on teaching and sharing my passion for the subject."

Mr Watt is now halfway through another masters degree on his favourite topic - the First World War - and plans to continue pursuing his passion for history during his retirement, with plans to produce a 'new and improved' book on the Bromsgrove Guild.

A spokesman for South Bromsgrove High School said: "Quint is a remarkable man and his knowledge of Bromsgrove is extensive.

"His knowledge and exuberance for the subject has enthused many students.

"His vision was to create a desire in students to know about and to understand how we got to this point in history, and to make the journey exciting.

"Never too busy to answer a question and always with a ready smile, we will all miss him greatly. But I suspect there won’t be any slowing down. Another chapter starts here."