I was very fortunate to have trained with Walter and Dilys Carrington who worked alongside FM Alexander for many years and who took over his school.
Walter joined Alexander’s teacher training course in the 1930s after he’d seen such an improvement in his mother who’d had lessons with Alexander. In 1940 he married Dilys, who had also been on the course. Walter served in the RAF during World War II and when his plane was shot down, he suffered terrible injuries including a broken pelvis.
After the war, he returned to Alexander’s practice and worked alongside him until his death in 1955.
Walter was a wonderful man. He had a deep understanding of the Technique, obtained from his long work with FM, his many years of experience and his wide reading of and around the subject. People visited the school from all around the world and Walter’s laugh would resonate around the school. He believed that people learned in a positive atmosphere, not through fear and there were always jokes and funny stories being told.
His own teaching room was full of books, pictures and various horse models and themes. In the 1970s, against all advice, given his crushed pelvis, he took up horse riding and he would go riding three times a week. Alexander himself was also a very keen horse rider.
I saw Walter ride when he was in his late-80s. He was on his huge horse, Badger, in a shirt and tie, wearing a bowler hat. He had the smile of a five-year-old.