TRIBUTES have been paid to a well-respected former head teacher who fought to save a school.
Keith Adams was head teacher of Alderman Blaxill School in Colchester for 18 years and even delayed his retirement from there to help secure its future.
He died at home peacefully aged 86.
Mr Adams’ teaching career began in 1956, by educating ten-year-olds at Osmondthorpe Primary School in Leeds.
The son of a tailor and dressmaker, he had previously been a high flier at Leeds Modern School where he was head boy, house captain and excelled at cricket.
Between 1950 and 1952 Mr Adams did his National Service with the RAF where he was a leading aircraftsman.
Mr Adams then attended Emmanuel College at Cambridge University, also representing it for cricket and athletics.
After a short time at Osmondthorpe School, Mr Adams taught maths at Hampton Grammar School, then Mill Hill Private School, both in London, and Burnage Grammar School, Manchester.
Mr Adams’ first headship was at Harwich County High School from 1972 to 1974.
He was then head teacher at Alderman Blaxill School until his retirement in 1992.
The school finally closed in 2014 after campaigners fought off two attempts to close it, in the 1990s when Mr Adams was head, and in 2008.
School campaigner Kevin Starling described Mr Adams as “a quiet professional”.
“At assembly times he would wear his gown and mortar board.
“The pupils had a lot of respect for him because of the way he was.
“He was a quiet man but with that he came across as authoritative and professional.”
Mr Adams was also an honorary member of the Rotary Club of Colchester, having joined it 40 years ago.
He was its president between 1990 and 1991.
Fellow member Ian McMeekan had known Mr Adams for 30 years and described him as a “proud Yorkshire man” and a kind Rotarian.
“He was a quiet man but a good companion,” he added.
In the mid 1990s Mr Adams travelled widely which included almost reaching Everest Base Camp on a trek in the Himalayas.
He also completed the Inca trail in Peru in 2004, when he was in his early seventies.
Mr Adams leaves his wife, Pam, and daughters Karen and Jae.
A private family cremation takes place tomorrow and is followed by a Thanksgiving service at St Leonard’s Church , Lexden.
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