I'm going to try to write this without crying. I was just thinking about the influence teachers have over their students and then remembered back to when I was searching for you all over Facebook just to thank you. After MANY years of searching I finally found you a couple of years ago in February of 2019 and was ecstatic that I could finally deliver my message. I sent you a personal message to verify I had the right "Mr Akehurst" and you responded. Even though you couldn't quite pin who I was, I decided to surprise you and Facebook call you in March 2019. We had such a great conversation, and you have NO idea how thrilled I was to talk to one of my ALL time favorite teachers from Corpus Christi and Cardinal Wideman. I remember telling you that I wanted to see you in person one day to catch up in Brazil. Little did I know that would be the last time I would speak to you. I tried video chatting you in May, 2020 but to no avail. Since I was thinking about you today, I was about to message you but decided first to see if you'd posted anything of late. My heart broke as I started reading messages of your passing. My eyes welled up a few times (as it is right now) and I was thinking of what I wanted to say. Then I realized that everything I had to say I had already expressed to you when we spoke on the phone two years ago, and that made me feel better knowing that I let you know how much you influenced me as a kid in secondary school which I remember made you happy. Sometimes we think we have all the time in the world to reach out to people we haven't spoken to in years, and we keep putting it off thinking tomorrow will be another opportunity to do so. Even in passing you keep teaching me lessons such as not to take each day for granted as we never know when it'll be our last. I'm just about holding it together and I haven't cried yet, but I can feel my eyes about to unload so I'll conclude by letting you and your family know how much of a brilliant man you were, and how much of an influence you had on one little kid who lived in Walthamstow to do his best and dream big. I now live in the USA and am a professional dancer and well known choreographer in Chicago. I teach at many studios and conventions around the USA and the world inspiring kids, just as you inspired me. YOU indirectly had a hand in that and I can't thank you enough from the bottom of my heart for what you meant to me at school. And now I'm crying!!! (Trust me when I tell you I'm don't cry, which tells you all you need to know about the impact you had on me). You will always be my favorite teacher growing up and am honored to have had the privilege to find you and talk to you one more time before you passed. Salut Mr Akehurst. I love you and you will be missed! 😢