TRIBUTES have been paid to a former headteacher who saved his school from closure and steered it through its formative years.

Jim Thurkettle, 72, from Darlington, who died on Saturday, left Sunnydale School in Shildon as his legacy.

He started at the school as headteacher when it opened in 1968, and retired in 1985 after being involved in a bad car accident in Canada with his wife, Jean.

The school's present headteacher, Peter Rodgerson, remembers how Mr Thurkettle helped him when he took up the post, despite being long-retired. He said the teacher turned the school from a small secondary modern to a large comprehensive.

"He was a very big personality," said Mr Rodgerson.

"The school is a tribute to him. He really set the tone and we have kept it going."

Ian Jerred, head of careers at the school, remembers how the headteacher reacted to a threatened closure of the school in 1978.

He said: "He led the fight against the closure, and that was one of the most important fights he led in the town.

"He raised the Union Jack outside the school as a gesture of defiance and put up this huge, great flagpole. Vandals cut it down so he resurrected it the next day and covered it in grease.

"He wasn't the type of man to take things lying down."

His wife, Jean, of Woodvale, Darlington, said: "Everyone remembers him as always laughing and telling jokes."

Mr Thurkettle also leaves a daughter, Helen.

A service of thanksgiving for Mr Thurkettle's life will be held on Friday, at 11.30am, at All Saints' Church in Blackwell, Darlington.