Teacher to donate part of sales from his book of shaggy dog tales to NHS
By Jacob Paul
A semi-retired teacher has vowed to support the NHS through sales of his lockdown-inspired book of reworked shaggy dog stories.
David Selby, who has taught as a deputy head and English teacher in Croydon for more than 30 years at Whitgift and Royal Russell schools respectively, has chosen to donate £1.50 from each copy of Rufus needs a Haircut he sells to NHS Charities Together.
David said: “I had the thought of writing this three or four years ago but never got round to doing it.
“I needed some motivation and standing on the doorstep when clapping for the NHS the thought just struck me then and there.”
He added: “We have the head of the NHS trust in Croydon at our school who does a wonderful job, someone else had an idea of going outside to do a clap.
Loads of people were doing extraordinary things and I thought this could be my way of doing my bit to raise money to support the NHS.”
David has embellished and refined the shaggy dog stories, which he has told to classrooms and on school trips over his teaching years.
He said: “Over the 35 years I’ve been teaching those stories have been told quite a few times, so putting them down on paper wasn’t actually too difficult. I took something and put my own narrative on it.”
The stories are aimed at adult readers and are designed to amuse, lift spirits and engage others in humour, despite the difficult times.
Rufus Needs A Haircut costs £7.99 on Amazon here.
Pictured top: David Selby