DESS Oud Metha primary school honoured one of its most cherished figures, Harry Atkinson, by making sure his copy of the school's commemorative history book was delivered by hand and with a smile, to his home in Halifax, England.
Harry, who was the school’s first Headteacher in 1964, returned to DESS to celebrate the school’s golden jubilee in 2013 and then again as guest of honour at our 60th Diamond Ball. His amazing story is told in detail in our book entitled A Line In The Sand, which is available via the websites of our uniform supplier Trutex; trutex.com in the UK and trutex.ae in the UAE.
The book is a heartfelt tribute to the school’s history, featuring over 90 interviews, 400 photographs, and countless memories. Its author Paul Sowerby, himself a Yorkshireman, had the privilege of delivering Harry’s book.
When Harry first arrived at DESS back in the early ‘60s, his first job was less to do with academia and more to do with mixing cement and laying bricks!
“One minor detail that the job advert had failed to include was that the ‘new’ school hadn’t actually been built! Everyone just chipped-in and the school took shape surprisingly quickly. I do remember feeling a general sense that something amazing was going to happen and that Dubai was really heading somewhere special.”