Tributes are flowing to the inspirational favourite teacher of Steve Coogan and ex-Manchester United footballer Paul Scholes.
Retired PE and maths teacher at Middleton's Cardinal Langley RC High School, Martin Wilde, passed away aged 78 recently after a short illness.
His funeral in Morecambe was attended by about 100 people who remembered him as 'one of the kindest, caring and loving men...who tried to do everything with a smile on his face and with a great sense of humour and pride'.
Meanwhile, the Cardinal Langley Facebook page has been awash with glowing tributes.
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Born and brought up in the Alkrington area of Middleton, Martin had two sons, Paul, 49, and Keith, 47, and a stepdaughter, Rachael, as well as three grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
Martin was a teacher at Cardinal Langley from 1970 until he retired 25 years later. He and his wife Carol moved to Morecambe soon after he left the school, where he left an indelible mark on the lives of the thousands of children he taught.
Paul told the Manchester Evening News: "My dad genuinely cared about everyone. Steve Coogan came to the funeral with his older brother Dave - all five Coogan brothers went to Cardinal Langley - and my dad taught Paul Scholes for five years.
"They and the rest of his pupils thought he was a great bloke who made being taught interesting. Steve told me that my dad treated him like a person, not a child.
"Steve said that sometimes he would miss the bus to school and my dad, if he saw him, would stop in his Datsun and give him a lift.
"My dad would say to Steve 'penny for them' - he wanted to know what the then young lad was thinking. He was genuinely interested."
And Paul said his dad was one of the first people Steve would do impressions of.
"My dad used to let him get up in class and take the lesson as he was impersonating him," said Paul. "What fun it must have been to have been in his class.
"Dad was one of the kindest, caring and loving men I have ever known and tried to do everything with a smile on his face and with a great sense of humour and pride."
Speaking at the funeral, former Cardinal Langley head John Durcan, who still lives in Middleton, told the gathering: "Martin was also proud of the fact that Paul Scholes classed him as one of his favourite teachers.
"He was proud of all his ex-pupils in whatever they achieved and remained lifelong friends with many of them."
But it wasn't just in class where Martin made his mark.
In the first 10 years of his tenure at Cardinal Langley, he coached the rugby union and athletics teams to outstanding success.
The rugby team became a force to be reckoned with among the established public schools of the day, and the Cardinal Langley team secured the coveted Manchester Cup and on another occasion the Hereford Sevens.
In athletics Martin was no less successful, frequently fielding teams of athletes who went on to win the Greater Manchester Athletics Championships on many occasions.
Paul added: "My best friend Andy said to me last week: 'Paul, I never had a father but I'd like you to know that if I did, I would have wanted him to have been like yours'.”
Mr Durcan added: "Martin didn’t restrict his teaching day to the normal working hours and dedicated his time to many activities in the evenings and weekends.
"Basketball practice and matches in the evenings and rugby matches on Saturday mornings became a norm. Weekend athletics, the superb rugby sevens championships, brilliant school trips to France and Wales, mountain, hill and waterfall expeditions and charity sponsored bike rides to Blackpool will live long in the happy memories of many.
"Martin was very proud to feature in Old Boy Steve Coogan’s autobiography. At the back of this book shows an extract from Steve’s diary as a young teenager:
“It said: 'I love maths with Mr Wilde because you can have good conversations with him and beat him up and throw snow balls at him . He’s just GREAT!' (great being in capital letters)."
