This spring marked the sad passing of Gerald Mark Patterson — a passionate educator, fisherman, and angling instructor. In memory of Mark’s lifelong dedication to fishing and the natural world, his loved ones kindly donated in support of our work. In this guest blog, Mark’s friend and colleague Edward Montgomery MBE DL (former Secretary of The Honourable The Irish Society) explains how Mark inspired countless schoolchildren through a pioneering ‘Salmon in the Classroom’ project.
The project started back in 2007, when I was introduced to Mark by Gordon Sim, who was the fishery adviser to The Honourable The Irish Society — a grant making charity of which I was the manager. The idea was to have someone run a project with local schoolchildren, which would educate them about their local river environment and the fish that live in those waters, especially focussing on Atlantic Salmon. Additional benefits included pairing schools from opposite sides of the Northern Ireland community for parts of the project, including site visits to rivers and a visit to the government’s salmon hatchery in Bushmills.
The unusual and innovative central idea was to set up mini hatcheries in each school’s classroom. This would enable Mark to teach the children how to rear salmon from eggs (which he provided) to free-swimming fry, before returning them to the wild (usually around 800‑1000 in all). The scheme’s additional objectives were to develop the pupils’ ability to record information, manage their mini-hatchery between visits by Mark, and learn about the aquatic environment and the threats posed to it by human activity. Further, they learned about water safety and how to enjoy the natural environment.
The project launched as a pilot scheme in February 2007, and was immediately hailed as a great success, thanks largely to Mark’s personality and his rapport with the schoolchildren and their teachers. He demonstrated a great talent for working with children and getting them to understand the hidden life of fish in their local rivers, as well as the need to protect and nurture them.
The following year, the project expanded to encompass 10 schools, and it remained hugely popular for the next 13 years that Mark was involved. Since he decided it was time to step back, the project has been successfully taken on by another fishery expert, and in fact it continues to this day. The only limiting factors were Mark’s physical ability to cover the large geographical area, and the funding available from the Irish Society. Many more schools used to enquire about joining the project than could be taken on. Around 300 pupils per year participated in the project under Mark’s guidance, so it has undoubtedly made a very significant impact on impressionable young minds.
Mark had an unusual and enviable ability to connect with young people. I saw this firsthand during the many school visits I took with the Irish Society trustees from the City of London, all of whom were full of praise and admiration for Mark’s efforts. The schoolteachers used to tell us that the time in the week when the children were most attentive, and most involved in learning, was when Mark was in the classroom. He could hold the class spellbound while he outlined, in his warm-hearted way, the lifecycle of salmon and the many threats they have to overcome.
We who worked with Mark in the Irish Society, and the many schools connected with the project, are immensely sorry that his rare talent has now been taken from us, but we remain truly grateful for his contribution to education in Northern Ireland. Perhaps the best tribute is that his project has now been copied and replicated by other organisations and schools in different areas, and one hopes that this will continue.
