TRIBUTES have been paid to a former Abergavenny teacher who has died at the age of 92.

Russell Edwards passed away at his Suffolk home on Thursday, June 3.

He had worked as headmaster of King Henry VIII School in Abergavenny from 1969 to 1985, and before that was head of the history department at Newbridge Grammar School from 1957 to 1966.

Former pupil Phillip Walkley remembered Mr Edwards as "an inspirational teacher, one of a group of young men and women which helped transform the academic life of Newbridge in the early sixties".

South Wales Argus: Mr Edwards (far left) with the prefects at Newbridge in 1964 PIctures: Phillip Walkley

Mr Edwards (far left) with the prefects at Newbridge in 1964 PIctures: Phillip Walkley

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Mr Walkley said: "I came to Newbridge Grammar in September 1958 and he was my favourite teacher, inspiring me to read history at university and later on to become a teacher myself.

"We remained friends for the rest of his life and he is my middle son's godfather."

Mr Walkley attributed his gaining a place at Oxford university to the tutelage of Mr Edwards.

"This was in the days when boys from the valleys rarely dared attempt such a thing," he said.

"He enhanced the lives of his pupils as much out of the classroom as in it, for example: ensuring pupils experienced the spectacle of the Newport to Brecon Railway before it disappeared under the Beeching axe, taking sixth formers to taste their first Chinese food at the old Ming Hong in Cardiff and leading a group to the top of Twmbarlwm to witness the dawn on Midsummer's Day."

Mr Edwards is survived by his wife of 60 years, Maureen, who also worked as a teacher.