An ‘inspirational’ teacher dies, 74

Dai Gabriel lost his battle with vascular dementia, after a long spell of illness, on Tuesday, July 19.

Born in Ferndale in South Wales, Dai moved to Dunstable for work in 1959, after qualifying as a teacher the year before, and took a job at Priory Middle School, where he became head of history.

Son Alun Gabriel said: “He taught in Dunstable for about 45 years. He was just getting the first examples of fourth generation kids from families he’d taught.

“He was an inspirational teacher. A lot of schools he worked at had kids from fairly deprived areas. On several occasions he took kids who had no interest in literature to winning national competitions.

“His real skill was being able to identify and pull out a talent from them.”

Dai, (pictured above) who lived in Hillyfields with his family, moved from Priory Middle to a head of arts post at Millvale, before transferring to be head of year at Manshead Upper School when it opened in the 1970s.

Dai was also deputy head at Streetfield Middle School before he headed to Five Oaks in Caddington where he was headmaster for seven years.

He retired as headmaster in 1995 and then taught as a supply teacher, mainly at Priory Middle, until 2003.

Outside of school, the father-of-two had two main loves – rugby and singing.

He was a member of Dunstable Rugby Club and did stints as both chairman and president. Dai also was a founder member the Dunstable Rugby Club Choir, which is still going strong, and was a valued member of the Vauxhall Choir, performing with them more than once at the Royal Albert Hall.

Dai’s popularity led him to turn on the Christmas lights for Dunstable Town Council one year.

“They asked my dad because he was so well known in the town,” said Alun. “He was chuffed to bits. That’s a measure of how popular he was.

“He knew so many people over the the years that you literally couldn’t go anywhere without people asking how’s your dad.”

Dai leaves wife Pat, sons Brian and Alun and four grandchildren.

Dai’s funeral will be held on Tuesday, August 2, at 2.30pm at The Vale Crematorium in Stopsley.

Family flowers only. Donations for the Alzhiemers Society can be sent via S A Bates Funeral Directors, 115 West Street, Dunstable.