My father, John Deere, who has died aged 89, was the arts director of Nottingham county council for 20 years. A passionate advocate for the arts, he was appointed to the post in the council’s newly established leisure services department in 1975, following the national reorganisation of local authorities.
There, for 20 years, he transformed the artistic life of Nottinghamshire through development and funding of arts activities across the county. In the town of Retford, he supported the internationally famous Cantamus girls choir and, in Mansfield, the Mansfield Palace theatre.
Events ranged from concerts by world-renowned musicians such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, André Previn and the pianist John Ogdon, a native of Nottinghamshire, to poetry readings by established poets such as Aeronwy Thomas, Dylan’s daughter.
Born in Llantwit Major, a working-class village in the Vale of Glamorgan, John was one of the three children of Florence (nee Mitchell), a cleaner at the nearby RAF St Athan airbase, and Ronald, a security officer at the airbase. John attended Barry boys grammar school, where he excelled at languages, and he went on to obtain a first-class honours degree from the University of Liverpool in Latin American studies. His youth was shaped by a period of ideological foment and counter-thinking that influenced his outlook.
For his national service, he joined the Royal Army Education Corps, where he served in Hong Kong and Cyprus. He went on to teach Spanish at Wath upon Dearne grammar school in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, where he met Joyce Lotts. They married in 1969, and moved to Cowbridge, in Glamorgan, in 1972, where he worked as a county adult education officer. I was born in 1970, my brother, Daniel, the following year, and my sister, Catherine, in 1973. Two years later, the family moved to West Bridgford, Nottingham, when Dad became the county council’s arts director.
Retiring in the mid-1990s, Dad remained politically active, campaigning for the Labour party. He was an avid Guardian reader and crossword enthusiast, winning prizes several times and maintaining his intellectual rigour until his final days. He was always entertaining those around him with amusing witticisms, particularly those with a Welsh flavour.
Gentle and exceptionally well read, Dad’s legacy lives on in some of his published poetry. He was a devoted family man and a lifelong champion of socialist causes and human rights whose intellectual curiosity and gentle nature touched many.
John and Joyce divorced in 2007. He is survived by Daniel, Catherine and me, 11 grandchildren and his sisters, Mary and Jean.
