AN ARTIST who remembered his inspirational school art teacher as he put together the finishing touches to his latest exhibition has managed to track down his original mentor – at the grand old age of 103.

Ted Parker, 68, had been adding the finishing touches to paintings and photographs which he is due to exhibit in Richmond, North Yorkshire, later this month, when he couldn’t help but think his art teacher “would have been proud that I had got this far.”

So he decided to see if he could track down his inspirational teacher, Douglas Higgins, to thank him for his early encouragement.

Ted, from Yarm, had been brought up in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, where he attended Birley Secondary School, but had not seen Douglas since he left school in the early 1960s.

He went on to work as an industrial scientific photographer for British Steel in Teesside and then run a video production company in Yarm, Action TV, before taking up his earlier hobby of painting.

Anticipating tracking down his teacher would be like finding a “needle in a haystack” the artist managed to track down some of Douglas’ relatives and eventually found him living in a care home in Derbyshire.

“It was a bit of a wild thing to do as I realised that if he was alive, he would be very, very old,” said Ted.

“But incredibly I managed it, first finding his son and daughter, Andrew and Dorothy, who then very kindly arranged for me to visit Douglas, who is now 103-years-old and as alert and sharp as ever he was!”

He arrived at the care home with some of his paintings and the former teacher recognised his old pupil immediately. He questioned him about his past career in film, video and photography.

Ted said: “Frankly, I was flabbergasted that he was still here and so pleased that I could thank him for his inspiration and support when I was a pupil.”

His forthcoming exhibition at Richmond Station, entitled Boats and Planes….But Mainly Trains, will feature photographs and paintings which reflect his interest in the vehicles. He particularly has a passion for steam trains and has published three books about Railway Photography.

“A lot of the paintings on show in the exhibition are of railway scenes, so we talked about the steam train era,” said Ted.

“When I presented Douglas with a copy of one of my books he said excitedly: `This is marvellous that one of my boys has made such a success of his life. You have made my day.’”

In turn, Ted’s mentor gave him an auto-biography he has written.

Ted said: “It was interesting, but really I was in awe about the whole thing, just could not believe I had found him.

“It was a fantastic day and an opportunity to say thank you to Douglas for his inspiration. It just goes to show that when teachers take the initiative and provide encouragement, it can have a profound effect on a pupil’s future life.”

Boats and Planes…But Mainly Trains will run from May 12 to May 24 at The Station Gallery in Richmond.