3 faces of Des Peter

After the war Des Peter eventually went to Brincliffe Teachers' Training College in Sheffield having initially wanted to join the Hong Kong police.

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He met Eileen Harris, born in Cwmnantyrodyn Mynyddislwyn in Monmouth. Her father Clifford Harris was born 21/3/1891 Six Bells Llanhilleth, Monmouthshire. His father William Harris was an active member of the industrial and political movement in South Wales and her Mother was Sarah Elizabeth Harris (nee Keeling) . Her Grandfather Alexander Keeling had been a Blacksmith living at Tin Town Birchinlee  whilst helping to build the Derwent Reservoir. She had gone to Brigg Girls High School in Monmouth and had been a Corporal in the WAAF and had made maps at

RAF Hemswell, Lincs during WW2. (Her Polish fiancé had  been killed during the war).

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Peter often talked about his courting days and the nostalgia that he and Eileen had for the original Sheffield tram.  He taught at Philadelphia in Sheffield.

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After their marriage  they went to teach in Africa for a few years, travelling on the Union Castle Line, with Peter teaching with the Army Schools in Tel el Kabir and Tripoli where their daughter was born and christened in Tripoli Cathedral.  They made many friends out there, a lot of them American, including "the man who came to dinner and stayed for 6 months".

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A couple of years later they moved to Swaziland,

South Africa for Peter to teach at Goedgegun High and Bremesdorp, Swaziland and came back to England when their daughter was about 5 years old.

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They stayed in Sheffield with family initially and then moved to Bedford first living at Barley Way before moving to a village called Swineshead where Peter became Rural District Councillor.  He taught at Silver Jubilee School for Boys in Bedford, Bushmead at Eaton Socon and then Longsands near St. Neots where he ran a Film Club. Eileen taught at the Margaret Beaufort School in Riseley and then at the Convent of the Holy Ghost, Bedford.

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When their daughter was 16 they moved to Faversham, Kent where Peter taught at Rowena School for Girls in Sittingbourne.  Des Peter was due to retire in January 1981 when he was 60 but he had a cerebral haemorrhage on Boxing Day and died the day after.  Eileen had died just after their 25th Wedding Anniversary from viral hepatitis and Peter had only recently remarried.

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Peter was a true "Made in Sheffield", very proud of his Sheffield roots, appearing to have a rough, tough exterior, but really quite shy and very kind and thoughtful to the needs of others.  He would always give a lift or helping hand to a stranger and he was extremely supportive when Eileen had had to have a radical mastectomy for breast cancer and was a "new man" before the word was invented. 

 

His favourite song was Wonderful World by

Louis Armstrong and his favourite colour was red and his favourite flower was a rose

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He had a bit of a charmed life, surviving injuries during the war and afterwards badly burning his legs with a flame thrower, a broken leg which wasn't set properly so he walked with a limp after falling through a cowshed roof and he also nearly died from peritonitis

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