Obituary - Donella Stirling, teacher and leading figure at the Citizens' Theatre

Died: 11 May 2016

DONELLA Stirling, who has died aged 78, was a teacher and a passionate advocate of education, the theatre and the arts who became a long-serving member of the advisory committee of Theatre About Glasgow (TAG), the Youth wing of the Citizens’ Theatre. She also joined the board of the Citizens itself, becoming a supporter, guide and advisor to its former artistic director Giles Havergal.

Brought up in Possilpark, she attended Possil Senior Secondary School before going to Glasgow University to study for an arts degree. It was here that she discovered her love for English language and literature and also the man that she would marry in 1961, Glen Stirling. With their children, Catriona and Euan, she and Glen shared a long and happy marriage.

It was in her career as an English teacher that her talent, commitment and drive came to the fore. Children and staff at Possil, Holyrood, and Victoria Drive Secondary schools benefitted from her time there.

A colleague from Victoria Drive, Marilyn Copeland, recalls the inspirational role that she played. “She cared about all pupils no matter what their social standing or intelligence. As I said to you before, she was the first principal teacher I had - after about 12 or 13 years of teaching - who gave me a model of what I wanted to do rather than showed me what I did not want to be like.”

That model was based on attention to detail and a constant quest to ensure that what was on offer to her pupils was as good as it could be. Her daughter remembers the pain of exam preparation. “It was bad enough having to sit exams at our own school but Mum would have us sit the ones she’d written for her pupils to check them out. The worst year was when she lent us out to one of her colleagues who didn’t have children to test her exams. All we got at the end of it was a Mars bar for our trouble!”

Her vision of education embraced the firmly held belief that it should include access to the world of theatre and drama. She was a pioneering spirit in this regard. In the early 1970s when teaching at Holyrood Secondary School she invited TAG to bring a play to the school. Her criticisms of the play in a letter to the director, Ian Wooldridge, prompted an invitation to her and a group of senior pupils to rehearsals for his next production. It was a link that would be formalised when she was asked to join the TAG advisory committee where she served for many years. Later she was asked to join the Citizens’ Theatre Board by Giles Havergal.

In her time at Victoria Drive Secondary School she introduced cultural and educational events as an integrated part of her running of the English department. Her aim was to develop an understanding of literature and drama beyond the words on a page, to make that message accessible and as widely available as possible. She welcomed adult returners to certificate classes and invited lots of visitors to share their expertise with staff and pupils, among them notable figures such as Edwin Morgan and Norman MacCaig, two of Scotland’s finest poets. When studio space became available at the school she lost no time in suggesting that there were “sound educational reasons” to make it available as rehearsal space for TAG. On her watch there was nothing unusual to find young hopefuls such as Blythe Duff and Bobby Carlyle sitting in the English base talking about their work. The best of both worlds as Jon Morgan, then General Manager at TAG, recalls: “She had a passion for theatre and a strong belief and understanding of its importance as part of the education and personal development of children.”

When she retired from teaching in the early 90s, she devoted more of her spare time to her role on the board of the Citizens Theatre. Giles Havergal described her as not just a supporter of the Citizens but as “a hands on and helpful board member. In my last few years she was a proof reader and picker out of misprints on publicity material and did it assiduously. She was always so encouraging and enthusiastic and incisive about the work.”

Another Citizens stalwart, Suzanne Brady, recalls a meeting on her first anxious day as an usher: “I just thought she was a nice lady who wanted to know my name and what I did outwith being an usher. This was not because she was on the board, this was because she was genuinely interested in people and continued to be just as lovely on each encounter after that. As she was to us all at the Citz.”

Those characteristics - encouragement, enthusiasm and incisiveness - accurately portray what was always on offer to family, friends and those who worked with her. Her organisational skills she used to good effect in her husband Glen’s burgeoning sports reporting business, the Glasgow Sports Agency.

Her proof-reading talent was legendary and many dissertations, essays, articles, scripts, promotional and publicity material have been greatly improved under her careful eye. Most of this work she did without payment.

Her dedication and loyalty to her beloved Glen, her children, Catriona and Euan, and grandchildren, Daniel, Ruairidh and Heather was total and she was never happier than in their company.

WENDY NIBLOCK