Punshon

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Hello everyone! We are Heather and Derek, and we live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. In fact we have lived in various small towns in Saskatchewan for over 40 years, although we were born and raised on the banks of the River Tyne in County Durham, England. That makes us Geordies!

Before we came to Canada, Derek lived in Dunston, and Heather lived in Axwell Park, Blaydon - but we both went to infant and junior school in Dunston, then passed the 11 plus and went to Blaydon Grammar School.

Then we went to University in Durham - Derek to the College of the Venerable Bede, and Heather to St. Mary's. We both trained as teachers.

Derek taught at Swalwell and at Dunston County School. Heather taught at Hookergate Grammar. We lived at Blaydon, first at Stella Park, then at Axwell Park. If you would like to see some old pictures of the Blaydon and Dunston areas, take a look at the Gateshead Library web page.

In 1965, we decided to do some travelling and flew to Canada, where we had accepted teaching jobs in Major, Saskatchewan. Over the years, we taught in other schools in rural Saskatchewan - Kerrobert, Loon Lake, Kincaid, Ferland, Vanguard and Dodsland, - as teachers and as principals.

After more than thirty years in schools, we retired from teaching high school, and worked for a few years as lecturers at the University of Saskatchewan in the College of Education. Heather decided that one of her retirement projects would be to obtain a PhD degree - and she graduated in the year 2000 - Dr. Mom. Her field of interest was education finance, and she researched the costs of schooling for students with special needs.

Derek taught trainee teachers how to teach Mathematics, and at the same time studied school buildings and how they are used. Since retiring in 1994, Derek has worked in several schools on long term temporary contracts, teaching Calculus, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. These include Glentworth, Kindersley, Clavet, Aberdeen, Blaine Lake, Lafleche, Hillmond and Paradise Hill.

Much of our spare time now is spent on our hobbies - Derek fixing cars, photography, woodworking and HAM Radio - Heather on the computer, doing digital photography, writing story books, researching family history, and in the summer in her flower garden. We also enjoy visiting our offspring - and spoiling our children and grandchildren.

We attend church at the Cathedral of St. John - a beautiful Anglican church on the river bank of Saskatoon. Heather makes the announcements every Sunday, and we act as greeters and coffee hosts on a regular basis. Derek belongs to the men's club, who meet for breakfast once a month - and have made a very successful renovation of the church Kitchen. Heather belongs to the St. Cecilia's ladies' group of the Anglican Church Women. As well as meeting for Bible study and discussions, this group also makes and sells turkey pies twice a year, and supports the Sunday School, the Men's Breakfast Group, the funeral lunch group, and other groups within the church.

We have always enjoyed travelling - you can see some of the places we've visited on the Travel page.