Every six months or so, I spot a C3 Picasso and the tall figure of Rob Lodge in Morrison's car park in Fakenham and have a chat. He lives in a neighbouring village of mine. He has been involved with geography in Norfolk for well over 30 years in various ways and has helped so many fellow teachers during that time. He is known by many, including Kit Rackley as "Rob Ledge"...
Rob Lodge was the advisory teacher for Geography for Norfolk when I first started teaching. He ran CPD sessions and was also involved in the National Strategies when they were first introduced. We had regular meetings at the PDC on the edge of Norwich and this was where I first started presenting to other colleagues - some short inputs, one on blogging, one on using Excel to make 3D landscapes. He was also leading a session on the internet which was actually the first time I ever went on the internet... I go on it quite a bit now.
He has also had the pleasure (I think) of observing me teach several times when I was teaching in King's Lynn and his brief was supporting certain departments within the school.
He has also worked as Head of Humanities at Hamond's High School: a school I have visited several times over the years as well, and contributed support materials to the GA's 'a different view' manifesto (of which more to come in due course)
Rob Lodge was also the co-chair of the GA's SPC when I joined, along with Alan Kinder from memory, or possibly Gary Dawson, or possibly Sarah Watts.
He involved me in the SPC from around 2004, and I remember in the first meeting listening to discussions which were going well over my head, and also the train journeys to and from Norfolk, where I talked about my possible further involvement with the GA. He was also a referee when I went for a job with the GA in 2008 which I was successful in getting. I will always be grateful to him for that.
He was also behind my first time presenting at the GA Conference in 2005 - although he was on holiday at the time!
The presentation can be viewed here still.
I remember that Fred Martin was last up - we over ran but by the time Fred started talking we were already nearly at our time limit - we still blamed him for the overrun :) Looking at it now, I can see quite a few of my ideas in there - the 'Have I got News for You' animations, and the use of Only Fools and Horses... quality still, plus GeoBlogs getting an early mention, This is your Life Old Harry, and some other classics...
He later had to widen his brief into the Humanities and school improvement, and also changes to the advisory service generally before it disappeared eventually.
He was also involved with events held at Gressenhall Rural Museum that I attended and presented at, and also an event in association with Norwich Castle museum. He has written a few articles with Colly Mudie from Gressenhall as well.
He organised a CPD session where I first met Jason Sawle and saw ESRI's Digital Worlds product - I later worked with ESRI and Jason for several years on various projects.
In 2009, I was in Dereham at an event that Rob had organised
http://livinggeography.blogspot.com/2009/03/norfolk-gis-links.html
He was/is a trustee of CPRE Norfolk, and is also a governor of the local Fakenham Academy.
He also got me involved in a conference at Holt Hall, along with Anne Marie Emmett, who has widened her links with the GA since, in 2012. I remember that event well. The venue is currently threatened with closure to save funds.
https://csapps.norfolk.gov.uk/csshared/ecourier2/fileoutput.asp?id=12062
References
https://csapps.norfolk.gov.uk/csshared/ecourier2/fileoutput.asp?id=15121 - CPRE involvement mentioned here.
Mudie, Colly, and Rob Lodge. “New Ideas in Norfolk Museums.” Teaching Geography, vol. 32, no. 3, 2007, pp. 127–128. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44633497. Accessed 23 Dec. 2020.Postscript
At the meetings of Norfolk geography teachers, Rob handed out Norfolk Geogers awards, and I am the proud owner of a Norfolk Geogers shield, handed out in 2006 when I was still teaching in King's Lynn, and before I started my GA journey.
Hello to all those teachers from past meetings, such as Graham Ridsdale, Terry Mansfield, Ben Utting, Kit Rackley, Kirsten Remer, Gordon Stone, Chris Clarke, Peter Coote, Helen Carty and many others from these events...
I'm not the only one to have a Norfolk Geogers award either...
I still have my Norfolk Geoggers medal proudly on display at home. The man is a legend.
— Alan Kinder (@GAChiefExec) December 23, 2020
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