A POPULAR teacher famed for his wacky ties is leaving a lasting legacy beyond his sudden death – by auctioning them off to help others fighting cancer.
Deryck Renton, 67, was given just weeks to live in April, after docs discovered his severe weight loss was cause by advanced pancreatic cancer.
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As the much-loved language and cookery teacher rang his way round friends and colleagues at Ellon Academy, Aberdeenshire, to tell them the tragic news, he had a special mission for geography teacher Fran Tomlinson.
The 56-year-old said: “He told me he was dying then literally in the same breath, asked if I would take his huge tie collection off him.
“He wanted me to sell them to raise money for Cancer Research and said he just wanted something good to come out of something awful.
“So even in facing death, he was thinking of others – it was so typically him.”
Deryck – affectionately nicknamed DJ Renton by pupils because of his former skills on the turntables – received no hospital treatment and instead spent his final few weeks at home in Aberdeen, supported by loved ones until he passed away on July 14.
Last month, Fran examined all 104 of his trademark garments, ahead of her arduous task of uploading each and every one of them to eBay – and couldn’t believe her eyes.
She said: “There was a tie for every occasion. There was a ‘teaching German’ tie, a French tie, a Remembrance Day tie, the pride tie, he’s got a good selection of Christmas ties.
“His most famous ones are probably the Rubik’s cube and the one decorated with a tree frog.
“He wore a black shirt every single day, I think to show off his ties.
“And no wonder. They’re all super loud – the wackiest ties you could ever find.
“There are a couple that have been gifted to him by pupils – that still have the names on them, and there’s a while tie donning the handwritten signatures of a whole class given to him for his retirement in 2020 – so I’m wondering if those specific pupils could give me stupid money to buy them back.”
The impressive and colourful collection is currently on display in the front foyer of the high school – where he taught from the early nineties – as a tribute to the gifted teacher, who was fluent in French, German, Russian, Italian and Spanish.
Fran added: “The auction will go live this week and I’m hoping to catch the flurry of former students who return to the area over the festive period.
“We have such a close knit community, so perhaps some will be reminiscing in the pub about their nostalgic school years, their fond memories of Mr Renton, and get involved in the bidding war.
“I’m banking on everyone to dig deep for a great cause and legendary teacher.”
In tribute, she added: “Everybody loved Deryck. The academic kids loved Deryck, the kids who got themselves into trouble loved Deryck, as well as the teachers and wider community.
“He was so clever, funny and kind. He knew everything about everything and was a collector of fascinating things.
“He was inspirational in every way and is greatly missed.”
The collection is available now on eBay here.