An era in Bangor education came to an end last week with the retirement of Pearl McBride as viceprincipal of Bangor Academy. A special function took place to mark Miss McBride’s retirement after 42 years’ service to education in Bangor. Time-tabling is one of Miss McBride’s many superpowers so, in an effort to preserve secrecy, she was issued with her own special schedule and sent off to see pupils and staff for some specially tailored lessons. She was calculating in maths, picture framing in technology, making a pilgrimage in RE, perfecting ceramics in art and enjoying some poetic licence in English before reaching her final destination – the grand tea party. There were many laughs, much reminiscence and fond words. Academy principal, Mr Matthew Pitts, said it is impossible to measure the positive impact Miss McBride has had on the school community. “Your sense of duty and service to others is properly reflected by your recent MBE,” he said. “You always put the pupils first and your determined joy of tackling a problem, especially if it seemed impossible, has supercharged everything we do.”
