Joiner Bob Webb, 74, is finally putting away his toolkit after being a fixture at the Royal School for the Deaf Derby for nearly 50 years – and he’s loved every minute. Here, he looks back at a career that has included close encounters with the royal family, a visit from Elton John and 9,666 school dinners.
When Bob Webb spotted a job advert in the Derby Telegraph almost half a century ago, he would never have imagined the role would lead to meetings with royalty, pop legends and his future wife.
Although the 74-year-old was told the role was ‘a job for life’ he didn’t expect to stay at the school for 49 years – or to enjoy the job as much as he has.
Derby born and bred, Bob was 25 when on June 7, 1972, he started at the school which had recently moved into a brand new, purpose-built building on Ashbourne Road, with pupils yet to set foot through the door.
“I worked in a factory called Rowley’s which made hosiery,” he said. “At dinner time, someone came in with a copy of the Derby Telegraph and at the time the back pages were full of jobs.
“I cycled over to the school to make enquiries and within 10 minutes I was sat with deputy head teacher Mr Walbanks. I told him what I did and that I had my City and Guilds in joinery.
“He directed me to Mr Tom Green, the principal, and within 20 minutes I’d been given the job, pending references from my current employer. By the time I’d cycled back, my boss said; ‘I hear you have a new job’. So, I said, ‘While you’re here I’ll hand my notice in’.”
Bob Webb, 74, on his most recent bike that he uses to commute to work.
Bob started during the school’s summer holidays, carrying out basic jobs like installing coat hooks, toilet roll holders and moving things for the teachers.
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When the pupils arrived in September, Bob was based in the woodwork room, where he had a bench in one corner where he stayed for the next 42 years.
He said: “I had never met deaf people before and it was a whole new world to me, I didn’t know what to expect. I thought deafness was total and that the pupils wouldn’t be able to speak either.
“There was an assembly every morning and the children would all sit on the floor. Mr Walbanks played the piano and the children sang All Things Bright and Beautiful. I was staggered – I had no idea they would be able to sing.”
An early job for Bob involved making a stage for the pupils, for which he was allowed to use the facilities at Kedleston Road college, using the school bus to transport the timber. “I also made four double-sided tables for needlework,” he recalled.
Bob Webb in woodwork classes with pupils.
He built a maintenance shed to work from, which became the base for the electrician, the painter and ‘the chap who took the rubbish out’.
Toilet facilities at the time involved a 2.5 kilo coffee tin. Ever the joker Bob said: “we did take the coffee out first!”
Over the years he has been at the school, Bob has worked with five of the school’s seven principals, plus nine woodwork teachers; five cookery teachers; eight science teachers and seven nurses.
And there have been some famous faces along the way; the first was Princess Margaret, who paid a visit to the school a year after Bob joined, in 1973.
“She unveiled a plaque and I had to put up a curtain with the pull cord. When it was over, I was told to take the curtain down and I took it home. I use it in my bedroom now.”
The Queen has also visited the school, along with the Duchess of York, Eddie the Eagle and Elton John, who pulled up in a yellow Aston Martin in 1978. “The driver got out and then it was a good five minutes before Elton got out in these high heeled boots,” remembers Bob.
“He was introduced to the principal and went back to his house for tea and cake afterwards. I think he made a donation, but he didn’t want anyone to know.”
The Duchess of Kent was another Royal visitor, who had an unexpected run in with Bob.
“I was working in a room off the corridor and wasn’t supposed to be around,” recalls Bob. “I opened the door to see what was going on at the exact moment she was walking past.
“She thought I was opening the door for her to enter the room, so she shook my hand and came in – which must have been a bit of a disappointment for her. She was quickly ushered back out and onto the official route.”
For the first five years that Bob worked at the school, there was not much for him to do, since it was a brand new school. But teachers at the school still found work for the young joiner.
“I was allowed to keep myself busy by making all the furniture for my home. Over the years virtually every teacher has asked me to jobs at their house,” he recalls.
As well as the curtain he put up for Princess Margaret’s visit, he has other fixtures from the school in his home: “The school bell is in my bedroom. I found it in one of the dustbins when it was replaced with an electronic bell with flashing lights.”
Over the years, Bob says that there has been remarkably little stress involved in working at the school: “It’s such a family atmosphere – I can’t believe how lucky I have been,” he muses.
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The only time he has been slightly under pressure, he says, was in having to make the backdrops and props to stage the Christmas play.
He even met his wife Sarah at the school – her role as housekeeper saw her in charge of cleaning and cookery.
“Between us we have done 92 years here!” he laughs. When, in 2017, Bob finally left the maintenance department, he then came back to the school as a handyperson. The only drawback to this arrangement, says Bob, is that his wife was then his boss!
Some incidents over the years stick in the memory. There was the boy who felt unwell in his woodwork class and had to be carried to the sick bay on a stretcher that had originally come out of the trenches of the Second World War.
“It was so heavy we had to put him down halfway there!”
In metalwork, a mass of molten steel was the failed result of a two-week project in the forge. “The teacher got the class together, took them through the football pitch, down to the pond, and he told them to throw it in! I’ve never seen a happier bunch of kids!”
When it was built, a lot of thought had gone into making the school as good an environment as possible for teaching deaf pupils. Rooms in the secondary part were not square so the acoustics would bounce around. There were no posters on the walls, only small noticeboards, so as to provide the optimum acoustics.
The years between 1977 and 1982 saw Bob teaching woodwork to small groups of pupils, and these were the “best times of my life”, he says. Woodwork has been a constant theme over the years, with Bob also setting up an evening class for teachers to learn skills with timber.
Bob Webb in woodwork classroom with pupils.
Bob has made many friends within the deaf community over the years and still seems many of them from a pint and a catch-up.
“I have made some wonderful friends over the years and people like David Day, Trevor Johns, Peter Eastwood, Michael Lefevre and Eric Hatton are still a huge part of my life.”
The day he leaves will be the “saddest day of my life,” he says, but adds: “It was time to go. I didn’t want to die here and have the kids stepping over me! It will be very emotional.”
Ever the joiner, Bob has been busy in his spare time making bird boxes for other staff members when they leave the school. “My signature is a little spider because my name is Webb. Takes me nearly as long to make the spider as it does the box,” he says.
Staying in the same job for so long can notch up some pretty impressive statistics. Over the years, Bob has had a school dinner as part of his wages: “I worked out I’ve had 9666 meals – including pudding – and I’ve only put on half a stone!” he marvels.
Part of the reason for not putting on the pounds might be the other common factor in Bob’s school day: “I’ve cycled to work every day, which is 73,745 miles,” he says. “I believe the mileage at the council is 9p a mile – do you think I can make a claim?
“Mind you, I have got through 12 bikes and goodness knows how many tyres.”
One thing that Bob does know for sure, is that his time at Royal School for the Deaf has been the happiest career a man could wish for.
He says: “Right from the outset I was told it was a job for life and in the 70s you could believe that. The only lines on my face are laughter lines. Often I’ve been crying with laughter – and there’s not many people who can say that about their career!”
Head teacher Helen Shepherd said: “Bob is remarkable and has a great love of the history of the school, with an excellent memory.
Bob Webb with Royal School for the Deaf sign.
“I can always ask Bob about people and items from the school’s past and I am hoping that after his retirement he will help create an archive of the school’s more recent past – in between making his incredible bird boxes.
“Bob is one of the most well-known and loved members of staff we have. He will be missed enormously.”
