Tributes have been paid to a former headteacher and Macclesfield councillor Ken Potts, who has died aged 73.

Ken was teacher at Ashgrove Primary School before becoming head at the former St Paul’s School.

He taught for more than 35 years in schools across the county before retiring.

Ken, of Lime Grove, Macclesfield, died on September 16 after a long illness.

His funeral on October 4 at St Paul’s Church was attended by more than 200 family and friends.

Paying tribute, his wife Marjorie, 73, said: “He loved his job working with children.

“He was from the old school style of teacher where he was firm but fair.

“He treated the school children as his own and years later would be stopped in the street by grateful pupils or their parents.”

Born and bred in Macclesfield, Ken attended St Paul’s School and the King’s School before doing his teacher training.

His first post was at Ashgrove Primary School before roles in a primary school in Knutsford.

He took his first leadership role as head at a private school before returning to St Paul’s at 29, making him the youngest headteacher in Cheshire at the time.

After the school closed Ken went on to run schools in Cheadle Hulme and Congleton before retiring at 58.

For two years he did a part-time youth work role for Cheshire County Council in Macclesfield before retiring properly.

Ken was an accomplished double bass player and played in a jazz group with friends Adrian Read, Peter Walker and Martin Weinberg from his teens until his forties.

He served a term as a Macclesfield borough councillor in the late seventies and was a member of the Masonic Lodge, the Lions Club and Probus.

Ken was particularly proud of his son, Colonel David Hamilton Potts, a commanding officer for the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

During David’s tour of Afghanistan, Ken wrote to him every day and sent parcels to him and his troops to keep up morale.

Marjorie added: “Ken was a very private man who never liked to blow his own trumpet. He was very laid back and approachable but if you crossed him you felt it, as many school children will recall. He could speak to anyone and mixed well with the highest and the lowest. He was a man of the people.

“Ken will be missed greatly by all who knew him.”

Mr Potts leaves his brother Harry, 85, wife Marjorie, son David, 44, and grandchildren Isobel and Thomas.