On the 17th April 2026, Mrs Lorraine Bird died. She was an amazing woman, a very passionate teacher and a support system for the kids who were “different.” I was different.

5 years I was at Farringdon School with its many names, 5 years I had Lorraine teaching me Media, it was actually my first introduction to what media meant. I didn’t know what to expect previous to that. It’s a bit blurry now but the room was always lovely and warm, the walls were decorated with posters, Mac’s around the side of the room. I remember vividly a Doctor Who poster somewhere as she was a huge fan. We learnt every aspect of media as a whole.

In her classroom was the first time I learnt about story boarding, editing, camera angles, magazines, article writing and much more. Stuff I use every day. I’m sure I sent her some of my writing work, that’s blurry too. She supported my passion of “having a TV show.” She even got to watch my pilot and she loved it which makes me happy. A full circle.

She and her husband went to Germany in 2013 with the school, it was a wild time from the parts I remember. It’s very blurry except the silver shoes I bought.

I didn’t want to do media at GCSE but essentially fell into it. I wasn’t happy for a while, then, I found my passion through Lorraine’s inspiration. She pushed me to keep going and introduced me to new words like “connotation” and “verisimilitude” I use both today.

I got introduced also to sci-fi as a genre besides The 100 & Doctor Who although, I don’t think I enjoyed the films we sat through for the syllabus. I did love writing my own, something I was advanced in with scripting and pitching my other work.
I wanted to badly get a B to show her I could and I didn’t. I think I’ve made up for it though with helping on the school’s leavers video and all of what I’ve done since school.

I don’t think I ever got to tell her how much she impacted me, I was the kid who gave up when it got hard and she didn’t let me. I feel she would have known. I was talking to her a few months back about everything and catching up over Facebook, I had no idea that she was really sick and I wish I’d known. Hindsight. I just hope she’s watching somewhere, at peace and out of pain.

She loved Kacey Musgraves, the song Rainbow comes to mind when I think of her.

Everyone who she taught and had her in their lives were extremely lucky. Please, don’t leave anything left unsaid as you may never get the chance to say them.