The enduring legacy of teacher David Brown
David's family have chosen to support a SHINE reading project in his memory
When teacher David Brown died at just 54, the scale of his impact was immediately clear. His funeral, held in the largest church in Harrogate, was filled with former students, colleagues and friends – many of whom spoke not just of his intelligence or professionalism, but of the of the lasting influence he had on their lives.
For Gill Brown and Alicia Brown – David’s wife and daughter – that outpouring made one thing clear: his influence as an inspirational teacher could not end there.
The David Brown Foundation was created to ensure that the values he lived by – belief in education, respect for teachers, and the power of learning to shape futures – would continue to make a difference.
David began his career teaching sport at recreational centres, later moving on to teach business at Harrogate College and Leeds Met University. As his career progressed, he pivoted into academic research and later into staff development at Askham Bryan College, in York, where he was able to fulfil his passion for improving the quality of education.
David faced immense personal challenges along the way.
In 2007, he underwent a kidney transplant after four years of dialysis. Just five years later, he was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma – yet he approached these trials with the same resilience and focus that marked his professional life. Even while navigating his own health battles, he remained deeply concerned for others. He began studying for a PhD focused on the effects of life-changing illnesses and planned to open a cancer retreat to support people transitioning back into normal life after treatment.
Tragically, in 2021, David contracted Covid-19. After a two-month battle, he passed away.
Throughout his life, David became known not only for his expertise but for the way he inspired those around him.
“Anybody we ever came across in Harrogate who had been taught by him all raved about him,” Gill recalls. “They all said he was the best teacher they’d ever had.”
Even now, several years after David’s death, messages still arrive from former students and colleagues, often prompted by chance meetings. “It’s all the time,” Gill says. “I still get these messages saying how people thought he was amazing.”
David understood the transformative power of teaching because he lived it. He also understood the pressures teachers face and the shortcomings of the education system. “I think he knew the faults of the education system as well, and he wanted to try and make a positive change,” says Alicia.
“We just felt it was really important to carry that on and do what we could to help.”
For Gill and Alicia, education matters because it shapes lives at their earliest and most influential stages.
“He always used to say, ‘everyone has that one teacher’ – that teacher who they always remember because they made such an impact on them,” Alicia recalls. “If you find a teacher you click with, it can change your whole life.”
She adds: “It takes a special kind of person to be a teacher, especially nowadays. I think he was trying to make a difference in that respect too. It’s so important.
“Unless you know a teacher, you don’t realise quite how hard it is and how much passion you have to have to have for the role.
That belief in the importance of good teaching led the Foundation to partner with SHINE.
“That’s why we resonate with SHINE, because one of the charity’s focuses is on teachers, through the Let Teachers SHINE programme,” says Alicia.
The Foundation’s partnership with SHINE has also allowed them to support a cause that David cared deeply about: literacy. Through SHINE, the Foundation is helping to fund Fixing Fluency, a reading project led by Yorkshire-based teacher Jessica Mellor.
The programme has been designed to develop the fluency of primary-age pupils – particularly those aged between 7 and 11 years. Fluent readers can read aloud accurately, quickly and naturally, without stumbling or hesitating.
“We really wanted to do something with reading,” Gill explains. “Of course, this is the National Year of Reading too, so that really spoke to us as well.”
Gill’s own experiences have reinforced how critical reading is. Volunteering at her local library, she has seen parents reading to children who are “tiny, tiny – can barely sit up” and has witnessed the joy in their faces.
“On the other side,” says Alicia, “There are more and more kids who are getting to age four and starting school and they’ve never read, they don’t know what a book is; they don’t know how to turn a page. It is frightening.”
“Parents sometimes have to have four jobs to make ends meet,” Gill says. “So there’s no wonder they don’t have the time to read with their children.”
Supporting this work has also energised the Foundation’s own fundraising. At their annual Christmas charity lunch in Harrogate, Gill’s speech which mentioned the reading partnership with SHINE helped the Foundation raise nearly double what it had raised in previous years. “It’s the specifics like this of the reading that made a big difference to people that day,” she explains.
Asked what David would think of the work his family is continuing in his name, “I think he’d be a bit embarrassed,” Alicia says. “But I think he’d also be secretly proud,” Gill adds.
“He’d love it for all the good that it’s doing,” Alicia says.
Find out more about The David Brown Foundation at www.thedavidbrownfoundation.com
Click here to find out more about legacy giving for teachers.