A FORMER head teacher and leading figure in the world of arts and literature

in York has died at the age of 83.

Leslie Richardson passed away peacefully at his home in Upper Poppleton on Sunday.

The youngest son of a Fenland farmer, in his early career he was a policeman and then an RAF navigator.

However, in the late 1940s he re-trained as a teacher and really found his vocation.

In 1969, he and his family moved from Barrow-in-Furness to York, where he became headmaster of Northfield Special Education School, a job he held until he retired in 1985. But that did not mean giving up an active and fulfilling lifestyle.

For many years he was director of the Herbert Read Arts Centre in York, and one of the original organisers of York Poetry Society's National (and now Internat-ional) Poetry Competition.

He taught many creative writing classes, formally for the Workers' Educational Association, informally in people's homes, and even with inmates at Full Sutton Prison, producing a magazine called Captive Writing.

From the late 1980s, Mr Richardson was a key member and co-ordinator of the York Dickens Readers, a group of about 12 members who, dressed in Dickensian

garb, would bring to life the tales of Charles Dickens in the form of dramatic readings.

The group has entertained many varied audiences, raising many hundreds of pounds for charities which it felt Dickens would have approved of.

Five members of the group, including Mr Richardson, went to the United States to do a 2,000-mile tour, with 13 readings in a fortnight.

More recently, Mr Richardson became a respected volunteer working within the local Face 2 Face mediation service.

In the year 2000, at the age of 80 and after having recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer, Mr Richardson took part in the highly successful Millennium Mystery Plays in the Minster.

He auditioned for and was given the part of Third King - a role which he enjoyed thoroughly and which certainly appealed to the showman in him.

He was a man of great vigour and sharp wit, with an infectious enthusiasm for life, who will be greatly missed by his family and many friends.

The funeral service will be held at York Crematorium, on Monday, at 10am.

Updated: 09:48 Saturday, September 06, 2003