A TEACHER with a passion for languages and the environment is retiring from the classroom — so he can fight in a European election campaign.

Ricky Knight, 59, from Bishops Tawton, spent his last day at Pilton Community College on Friday last week, where he planted a Rowan tree to commemorate his 24 years at the school.

After spending the past three decades devoted to teaching — and just as he was starting to teach some of the grandchildren of pupils he taught in the 1980s — he has decided to devote his energies to politics, as a Green Party candidate for the European Parliament.

Mr Knight, who is a Barnstaple town councillor, was surrounded by pupils from his Year 8 tutor group, some with tears in their eyes, who told the

he was "funny", "brilliant" and "always had a smile on his face".

He was born in Fremington and brought up in Barnstaple, Bishops Tawton and Croyde before he graduated with a degree in European Studies from the University of East Anglia. He took a postgraduate teaching qualification in Bristol in 1979 and took his first teaching job at Braunton in 1980 before joining Pilton in 1985.

He said it had been a "privilege and pleasure" to work as a teacher for 29 years and he looked back with fondness on numerous exchange trips to Germany as well as his involvement in extra-curricular activities such as rugby and music.

"I've seen many changes in education over the years," he said. "And the job doesn't get any easier, but it remains rewarding. For every kid that gives you a hard time, there are 30 who give you a wonderful time.

"Kids have changed over the years; they are much more self-confident and questioning and they are a lot more difficult to motivate. They expect a lot more from teachers."

He was delighted the school had won "specialist language status" and had started teaching Latin, Greek, Arabic, Japanese, Mandarin, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, and Russian.

But Mr Knight, who has long been an environmental campaigner, will not be putting his feet up. For the next few months he will based at a Green Party HQ in Bristol where he will be fighting an election campaign to become a member of the European Parliament (MEP). He is well-known to people who follow local affairs in North Devon for his vocal support for wind farms and his stance against the Iraq war, not to mention his views on many subjects related to the environment.

Pilton headteacher Mark Juby said Mr Knight was an "icon" of the school, before adding: "He has been an inspiration. He had amazing energy and knows his children really well and has really moved the school on in terms of language. He is irreplaceable."