Doug Yeabsley (retired 2002)

Doug joined the Chemistry department in 1964 directly after leaving St Luke's College, Exeter and has devoted his entire teaching career of thirty-eight years to the care and education, in every sense, of the boys placed in his charge. In 1971 he was appointed Housemaster of Russells and, as the youngest housemaster in the School, he brought with him a fresh approach to the ideas of pastoral care in a day school. He fulfilled this role for fifteen years so that three generations of Haberdashers benefited from his style of leadership.

Outside the classroom, Doug has made an enormous impact on the Haberdashers' sporting scene. In addition to his commitment to cricket where he seems to have the ability to inspire individuals and teams to exceptional achievement, he has coached rugby both at 1 st XV level and with an age-group side. He was responsible for the introduction of sports tours to the school's fixture list, which began with him generously opening up his family holiday home for an end-of-season cricket tour to Devon and then expanded these to include a number of memorable tours to the Far East.

His experience in raising funds for these tours led to him being asked to organise an appeal which helped to launch the vital regeneration of the 1960s' buildings. To support this programme Doug began the massive task of building up a complete database of Old Haberdashers as the first step to forging new and stronger links between the School and its former pupils. In addition, he agreed to co-ordinate the work of the newly-created Parents' Social Committee which was established to encourage parents to feel more of a part of the school community.

We are delighted that Doug has agreed to continue with this vital work of liaising with parents and old boys and look forward to benefiting from his knowledge and experience for a while longer.