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MARK O’NEILL, who has died at the age of 58, was born in Dakar in Senegal in west Africa, where his father was a diplomat.
His family returned to Britain when he was two, but there were further spells abroad, in Germany and in Gibraltar.
He attended preparatory school in Deal in Kent, and Westminster public school.
His son Daragh said his father’s time at public school, which he hated, was Mark’s “first step towards communism.”
“It gave him an understanding of the ruling class and their belief in their entitlement to rule,” he said.
He far more enjoyed attending a comprehensive school in Gibraltar.
He studied engineering at Leicester but left after a year.
His subsequent involvement in the design and running of children’s adventure playgrounds led him to study for a degree in education at what is now John Moores University in Liverpool.
He met and married Deirdre, the daughter of Irish immigrants.
He taught at many schools, in Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Yorkshire, including Mosside in Manchester, Blackburn, Burnley, Halifax and Leeds, and became head at a comprehensive in Skipton in North Yorkshire.
He gained a reputation for being an inspirational head teacher, turning around underperforming schools, particularly in areas of deprivation and difficulty.
Leaving teaching following the reforms introduced by Michael Gove, he took a job with Calderdale Council in Halifax in West Yorkshire, working in the area of special educational needs (SEN).
He and Deirdre lived at Mytholmroyd in the Calder Valley in West Yorkshire.
He was an active trade unionist. One of his proudest moments came at the 2018 annual conference of Yorkshire and the Humber region of the Trade Union Congress when his son, Daragh, was named Young Trade Union Activist of the Year.
In the same year Mark was found to have cancer, from which he died on Friday December 13.
The funeral is at 11am on Friday January 4 at Tarn Moor Memorial Woodland, Skipton BD23 3LA. There will be a gathering after the funeral to celebrate Mark’s life at Hebden Bridge Town Hall, Hebden Bridge HX7 7BY at 1.30pm. Friends wishing to attend the latter are asked to contact Deirdre so that the family can make catering arrangements.
