My friend Geoffrey Clarke, who has died aged 76 after a heart attack, will be chiefly remembered for his radiant generosity. I met him in 2001, when I joined the Poetry for Pleasure group in Hove, East Sussex, of which he was already a stalwart. His speciality was singing folksongs, cheerfully flat. A keen local historian, he would pick out features on renovated buildings – notably the Tesco in Western Road, Hove – and investigate their history. His facility for giving unscheduled tours around renovated show properties in the area became the terror of estate agents, and the delight of his audiences.
Geoffrey was born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, where his father, William, was employed at the railway works. At the outbreak of the second world war in 1939, Geoffrey and his mother, Anne, were evacuated to Brighton. Geoffrey lived for most of his life there, looking after his mother in her latter years, and ending his days in the family house.
He attended Varndean boys' grammar school, then Brighton teacher-training college, graduating in 1955. Geoffrey – distinguished by red mutton-chop side-whiskers – taught chiefly at his old school, Varndean, then became headteacher of Danehill school in 1984. Clarke would meet a challenging pupil written off by others, and perceptively bring out their innate qualities. He retired in 1999.
Geoffrey's recreation was model railways; he accompanied a fellow enthusiast, Michael Gilkes, to conferences abroad as recently as 2009. Like Michael, he was a driver on Hove Park's miniature railways, and latterly ticket collector. "Uncle Geoffrey" had hundreds of friends and many godchildren. His latter years were clouded by a respiratory condition enflamed by asthma that brought on his heart attack.