Teacher David gets ready to say 'adios' after 32 years

The 61-year-old is retiring as head of Spanish at Colchester Sixth Form College and fittingly being replaced by former student Anna Hope.

Mr Huggon has taught at the college since 1989 and started teaching mainly French.

He was then put in charge of Spanish in his first year and, having begun with just four students, he now has an enthusiastic class of 35.

The start of a new era - David Huggon and Anna Hope

In addition to his sterling work in the classroom, Mr Huggon has organised countless trips to Spain while he and his students have raised around £250,000 for charitable projects in Paraguay, Peru and Ecuador.

It is something he feels hugely passionately about.

“In total, we’ve enjoyed 12 trips to South America, starting in 1997,” he said.

“Our trips have always had a charitable focus and we had a big emphasis on fundraising in the year leading up to our visit.

“We began in Ecuador because I had contact with an old student who’d gone out to do volunteering work and established a link with a small school in Quito.

Cultural experience - Sixth Form College students (above and below) during a trip to Paraguay in 2019

“On one trip we helped raise money to have an annex built.

“They called it El Edificio Colchester and had it blessed by the bishop of Quito.

“We also have a link with a school for disabled children in Lima, Peru.

“There are severe problems out there with poverty and when young people are disabled they have a really tough time.

“It was great for us to see how cheerful and positive the community is - a true inspiration for us all.“In the last four years, we’ve set up a link with a school in Paraguay through a charity called the Santa Maria Education Fund.

“We always raise money for projects in advance.

“So, for example, in Paraguay, we raised funds for poorer children in outlying rural areas, so they would have a grant to be able to come to school and have extra lessons. Lessons they wouldn’t normally be able to afford.

“We also used part of the money to enable some of their students to come to Colchester.”

On two occasions, small groups of 18-year-old Paraguayans travelled to north Essex.

Mr Huggon believes it was beneficial for his students to hear about their lives and how they value and treasure their education.

“It’s a particularly big thing for the Paraguayan girls, who have never set foot outside their region,” he said.

“On the second day they were here, we took them to London.

“As they stood at Colchester station, they suddenly started jumping up and down as the train came into view. They hadn’t ever seen one before.”

Sadly, María Elsa, one of the girls who came to visit in 2018, died six months ago. The cause of her death is unknown.

Mr Huggon described her as a “wonderful and brave young woman, from a very tough background”.

Deeply affected by her death, staff and families of students raised £2,500 in an emergency appeal last November.

That money has now been sent to the family to help them cope with their loss.

“Taking into account all the various projects in South America we’ve contributed to over the years, we’ve raised about £250,000,” said Mr Huggon.

“We’re proud of the fact we don’t use any profit-making organisations to arrange our trips.

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“We’ve always worked directly with small charities so the funds we raise go directly to them.

“These trips have been so good for my students, who are able to go out there and see how the money they raised has been spent.

“I believe the experience has been hugely educational for us all, in a broad sense of the word, and I’d like to pay tribute to the hard work and generosity of everyone who’s contributed to our projects over the last 25 years.

“Obviously, none of the charity projects would have been possible without the support of so many groups of people - not just the students themselves but also the families involved.

“I’d also like to thank the staff at college who contributed in a thousand different ways.”

Mr Huggon, who is married to Anne-Marie and has three children, Tom, 30, Chris, 29, and Patrick, 20, has also run trips to Spain every year since starting at the college in 1989.

Last year would have been his 31st Spanish trip, but it was cancelled a week before because of Covid.

Mr Huggon’s plans for retirement include gardening, working on his allotment, travelling, woodwork and tandem cycling with blind people.

Spending more time with his family is also high on the agenda but he will miss his colleagues and students.

“I’ll miss the wonderful camaraderie within the modern languages team and the joy of working with such inspiring people, instilling a love of languages in the young,” he said.

“The youthful energy and positivity of the students is a real inspiration.”