Keith Weston (OS Former Head of Biology)
Stockport Grammar School was saddened to hear of the death of former teacher, Mr Keith Weston. Former pupil, Ian Hamilton (OS 1963) has provided the following tribute:
Keith was born on 21 May 1925 and died in Wirksworth, Derbyshire, on 14 January 2019, aged 93.
He was married to Freda Skidmore in summer 1950 and they had one child, Peter, who was born early in 1954.
Keith Weston taught at Wycliffe College in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire in the early 1950s, and it was while he was there that his son Peter was born. In September 1957 he took up the post at Stockport Grammar School to introduce Biology as a separate subject, which it had not been until that time. This coincided with the opening of the new Science Block by Professor F C Williams at the Speech Day in July 1957 and therefore the Science Block’s first use in the autumn term of 1957.
While teaching at Stockport Grammar School, Keith Weston lived in Davenport. He continued teaching at Stockport Grammar School until mid-1960s. He then worked at Mather Training College in Manchester.
While at Stockport Grammar School Keith Weston was an officer in 550 Squadron ATC, the school Air Training Corps squadron. He had been in the RAF at the end of WW2 and then joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve.
At the aged of 55 he retired and moved to Wirksworth, where he and Freda continued to live. At one time he was Chairman of Wirksworth Civic Society. His wife Freda passed away 2013. Only in the last two weeks of his life did he move from his home into the Care Home where he died.
His funeral took place at Markeaton Crematorium, Derby, on Monday 4th February 2019.
Keith was a lovely gentleman who did not let his teaching take over his whole life but had other interests which in my view made him an even more interesting person. He was particularly interested in cricket and I well remember he and his son Peter and me all attending the first day of the Old Trafford Test Match in June 1963 between England and West Indies! He and his son Peter also used to go to watch Stockport County FC.
