Steve Dempster I was so sad to learn you were gone but it prompted me to dig out photos and leavers book which has brought back some laughs! I met you as new RE teacher at our high school (20 years ago gosh!).

I thought you seemed a bit scary and grumpy at first but soon realised you were a big softy at heart. Friendly but sensitive and quite a private person. You really weren't that much older than us at the time and certainly broke the teacher mould in your bright burgundy Doc Marten boots! Making lessons interesting by encouraging us to draw on essays and be creative.

I've never known another teacher bring in song lyrics of REM and the Smiths to emphasise different lesson Topics! Mixed with a bit of sarcasm and quick wittedness - that was just you. You were quirky. You taught us that it was OK to be yourself and be different.

You were such a character and always spoke to us as humans and never spoke down to us as kids. You were down to earth. You were proud of where you came from and often mentioned your home town. You were really just one of us and used to amuse us with your stories such as travelling everywhere by bus and moaning about fellow bus users with your dry humour.

We used to often bump into you wandering round morrisons on a Saturday afternoon or on your way back from the Crystal Gate buying incense, something else you got us interested in, along with meditation, and we would lend each other reading material.

You always had time for people even though you were busy, even when you were meant to be supervising break times outdoors, you would would lark about and pose for pictures leaning against the wall while pretending to look mean and moody like something out of a music video.

The Smiths "Meat is Murder" springs to mind from when you were teaching us the views of different religions of animals. I drew a circus tent with a mistreated lion in it to demonstrate cruelty, though I was and still am hopeless at drawing!

Once met, never forgotten. You made a lasting impression and I will never forget you. Hope to see you again someday. RIP xxx