Tributes paid to former teacher 'Chalky'
Tributes have been paid to a former school teacher who has died at the age of 96.
Aidan White, affectionately known as "Chalky" to his pupils, taught at various schools in Leicester during his career.
He died at a nursing home, in the city, on February 20.
His funeral takes place today.
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At the age of 11, Mr White attended Wyggeston Grammar School, Leicester, before going on to study classics at Oxford University, where he also obtained a Masters degree in the subject. Before his career got under way, he was enlisted into the Army as a captain in the Intelligence Corp and saw service in India.
He returned to the city where his first teaching post was at King Richard III Secondary School, which was in Ellesmere Road, Braunstone.
From there, he returned to Wyggeston Grammar as a teacher, where he spent many years, before moving on to Guthlaxton College, in Wigston, in the early 1960s.
Friend Bob Plant, who lived near him in Westcotes, said: "Teaching was his main passion and because of his name he was often referred to as Chalky.
"He taught hundreds of children across the city and I know that at Christmas he would often receive letters and cards from many of them who remembered him fondly.
"Aidan was very humorous with a dry wit, and a man with a very distinguishable voice.
"He enjoyed spending time in Canada and was very keen on engineering.
"He worked on building railway engines in his workshop at home, often having several projects on the go at the same time.
"While at Guthlaxton, he was seconded to take a course in Russian in Birmingham and in later life became editor of the Old Wyggestonian Magazine."
The funeral of Mr White, who did not marry, takes place at 3pm today at the Chapel of Wyggeston's Hospital, Hinckley Road, Leicester.
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