DOZENS of people lined Hexham's main street to pay their respects to a popular teacher following his untimely death. 

Chris Scott, a hugely popular and well-respected PE teacher at the town's Queen Elizabeth High School, died of natural causes on March 2.

A funeral procession on Friday morning saw pupils and parents from past and present turn out in Hexham town centre. 

The hearse transporting Mr Scott's coffin drove into Hexham from the east, and went through the town centre to the school, on Whetstone Bridge Road, where the teacher had been a loyal servant since 2005. 

As the procession made its way back through the town centre, there was a noticeable applause on Hencotes, near the junction with Beaumont Street, where many people had gathered. 

A keen sportsman himself, Mr Scott excelled in a wide range of sports in his youth, gaining representative honours in football, rugby, cricket athletics and badminton. He brought his talents and experiences to bear at the school, quickly establishing himself as an outstanding teacher and willing provider of extra-curricular sporting opportunities for pupils.

Mr Scott was promoted to second in department in 2009 before becoming curriculum leader for PE in 2017, continuing the school’s status as a widely respected place of sporting opportunity and excellence; academic outcomes for PE students at GCSE and in the sixth form were consistently among the very best in the school under his leadership.