TRIBUTES have been paid to former Archway School headteacher Robin Lunn who died earlier this month aged 78.

The beloved husband, father and grandfather, who was head for 16 years, died on Sunday, January 4 after suffering with motor neurone disease.

A funeral service, devised by Mr Lunn, was held at Gloucester Cathedral, a building for which he had a great passion, on Monday.

Mr Lunn’s wife Gillian, former deputy headteacher at Maidenhill School in Stonehouse and a retired magistrate, said: “He was a loving husband and a marvellous man, we travelled to India a great deal and even took Archway pupils on two trips with us.”

The pair shared a love for travelling and spent a lot of time exploring European countries as well as other parts of the world.

Mr Lunn, a lifelong educator, became head at the Stroud secondary school in 1973 and poured his heart into the job until taking early retirement in 1989.

After leaving, Mr Lunn went on to work with new probationary teachers at universities in Bath and Bristol and later focussed his time on Gloucester Cathedral.

Close friend and former Archway teacher Brian Oosthuysen said: “I worked under numerous headteachers but he was the best, he was a very trusting man and we were given a lot of responsibility.”

Mr Lunn became headteacher when the school was designated as a comprehensive.

He took it through the difficult transition from a secondary modern, changing the curriculum and introducing new teachers.

Mr Lunn went on to restructure the house system and appointed four new heads of house for the first comprehensive year.

Rick Rutter, who started teaching at Archway when Mr Lunn was appointed head and is still a member of staff, said: “Robin was an innovative head. He believed in fairness, opportunity, hard work and respect for people. He was an intellectual, calm, thoughtful and thorough.”

Mr Oosthuysen’s daughter Juliet, a former pupil, said: “Mr Lunn was a marvellous head.

“He created an environment where, quite simply, we all wanted to be.”