| Administrative History | John Atkinson was born in the Tyne and Wear district on 27 Aug 1939. He studied in Chelsea at the College of St Mark and St John, the predecessor to Plymouth Marjon University. From around 1965 to 1995 he was a teacher at the John Port School in Etwall, where he was Head of Music. In addition to playing the clarinet, piano, organ and guitar, he was an accomplished baritone singer of English songs, having been coached by the composer John Jeffreys (1927-2010). One of John Atkinson's lasting legacies is the John Port School band exchange with The Gymnasium Melle near Osnabruck, Germany, which began in 1977. Atkinson was conductor and leader of the exchange programme until his retirement in 1995. |
| Custodial History | These records were donated to Derbyshire Record Office in September 2017 |