IS Arthur Dyball from Tenbury the oldest working teacher in the country?

While there may be teachers as old as Arthur doing some part-time tutoring there will not be many, if any, still working on the staff at the age of 80.

But that is what Mr Dyball is doing and he had no plans yet to stop.

The Octogenarian teacher also brings a whole new meaning to the term ‘long service.’

He joined the staff at Bedstone College in south Shropshire at the age of 23 and has remained there ever since.

Just before Christmas he took part in his 100th end of term assembly.

And Mr Dyball also continues to take on a varied range of roles at the independent school where he still teaches Latin.

But more than that he is the lay chaplain, part-time organist, curator of trophies, and is also involved in the teaching of swimming and cross country running.

The 80-year-old is closely associated with sport and is the official time keeper at the sports day events.

As a young man he was told by his mother ‘when you get a job damn well keep it’ and in this respect he has not let her down.

Mr Dyball joined Bedstone College at Bucknell with a teaching degree from Oxford having previously read history at Cambridge University and this is a subject that he taught for many years.

He was also a houseparent looking after boarders at Bedstone College for 29 years.

During that time he has seen many changes including a doubling of the number of students that range from the age of just three to 18.

One of the biggest changes came in 1971 when the school went co-educational and allowed girls to join.

Mr Dyball may be from the old school but he has no doubt that this was the right thing to do.

“You could see the benefits straight away,” he said.

“It improved the boy’s behaviour, particularly as far as language was concerned. "Socially, preparing young people for the outside world it is an advantage.”

He had an '80 not out’ celebration party at the Charlton Arms in Ludlow on Saturday attended by some of the many pupils he has helped over the years.

These included the explorer and TV presenter Monty Hall, the international mezzo soprano Rebecca Afanwy-Jones, the astronomer royal Sir Martin Rees, and politician ?.

Despite the huge changes in education Mr Dyball still retains an enthusiasm for the job and claims to remember almost all of the former pupils that he has taught.

Tenbury is known as a place where dates on a birth certificate do not make a lot of difference.

In 2014 a 97-year-old women was ‘maid of honour’ at a wedding at the Pump Rooms making her one of the oldest bridesmaids in the country.

And this year Tony Penn has declared that he will seek re-election as a member for Tenbury on Malvern Hills District Council at the age of 81.