A teacher who assisted with the amalgamation of two schools in the city has been fondly remembered by his former colleagues and pupils.
Granville Wilcock died at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton on January 6, the day before his 84th birthday.
Granville worked as a PE teacher at Patcham Fawcett, a boy’s school at the top of Lady's Mile Road in Patcham which later amalgamated with Margaret Hardy School for Girls to become Patcham High School.
Following news of his death, hundreds of his former pupils took to social media to share memories of a “great teacher, admired by all”, an “absolute legend” and “a lovely man” who “certainly shaped a lot of our lives”.
Growing up in Pontefract, Granville began his teaching career in Yorkshire in the early 1970s before moving to Brighton where he became the head of PE at Fawcett.
He was a “big rugby man” who played the game semi-professionally in Yorkshire as well as throwing discus for his county.
“He was a big lad,” said friend and former colleague Tony Tregear.
Tony began working with Granville in 1978 and both moved onto the newly formed Patcham High, where Granville became head of the upper school and a senior teacher in charge of pupil behaviour.
“Fawcett was a really rough, tough school with 150 to 180 boys in each year and corporal punishment still around,” Tony said.
“It was a tough time amalgamating the schools and he [Granville] was integral in making that work, in smoothing over the rough edges of the reintegration.
“He was a good teacher; he knew his stuff and loved his sport. He was a tough disciplinarian because he had to be, but he was fair.”
As well as being colleagues, Granville and Tony became great friends and remained so beyond teaching.
In his early fifties, Granville suffered a major heart attack at school – and had Tony to thank for saving his life.
He did not return to teaching after his heart attack but remained involved with the school, including sitting on the chair of governors.
The former teacher was a talented canoeist and had even canoed the English Channel as well as building canoes.
He was also a skilled climber and would take groups of younger people to Wales on climbing trips.
“He was very loyal,” Tony said. “In all our years working together we never ever disagreed or had a cross word, which is fairly unusual for someone working in PE.
“He was good fun, had a good sense of humour and loved children – that was his passion.
“Paperwork wasn’t his forte; he would rather be out and about.
"The more senior you become, the more your teaching is reduced so he had a limited PE programme but loved teaching that.
"He would go into the furthest corner of field so he couldn’t be disturbed by someone coming to say ‘Granville these kids are being naughty and need sorting’.
In his spare time, Granville was a keen gardener and kept an allotment in Patcham.
He had a daughter and a son from his first marriage and was later married to another teacher.
His funeral will take place at Woodvale North Chapel at 11am on January 27 with a wake at the Ladies Mile pub in Patcham.
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