A TEACHER who influenced and shaped the lives of countless young people has died, aged 79.

Mourners packed into St Mary’s Church at Kirkby Lonsdale to celebrate the life of former Cressbrook School and Sedbergh School housemaster Peter Yorke. He was then laid to rest at Middleton.

“Peter will be remembered for being a kind, modest and gentle man who cared for others and who made an indelible impression on those he met along the way,” said a colleague at Sedbergh School

Mr Yorke was well known throughout the Lune Valley and beyond; easily recognisable in his quintessential tweed breeches, tattersall check shirt and cravat.

He was often found scaling the fells in a tatty rugby shirt, shorts and knee-length socks, with a border collie in tow.

Born in Eccles, Manchester on 12 September 1938, Mr Yorke came to the Lune Valley when his parents bought Casterton Grange in 1940. He spent the majority of his life in his beloved Westmorland with the exception of his time studying history at Hertford College, Oxford University and several years teaching at Ardvreck School in Perthshire. Having been a pupil at Cressbrook School in Kirkby Lonsdale, he returned as a teacher in 1963 and later became deputy headmaster.

After its closure in 1976 a small group of Cressbrook boys relocated to Sedbergh School, where Mr Yorke, an Old Sedberghian himself (Powell House, 1952-57), established Cressbrook House.

He remained as housemaster for seven years and a teacher for another eleven years after that.

On retiring from teaching in 1994, he spent the next twelve years working tirelessly on fundraising for the school and was instrumental in establishing the Foundation, the Friends of Sedbergh School and the 1525 Society. He then put his knowledge to further good use as an advisor to the Friends of Cumbria’s Museum of Military Life, for whom he was also treasurer since its inception in 2002.

In 1983, aged 45, he married Pat which resulted in his three beloved daughters; Sally, Susannah and Jessica. “Our dad gave us endless encouragement and support; his only wish was for us to be happy and true to ourselves” said Sally.

“Peter upheld a great number of friendships; captivating everyone he met and transforming acquaintances into lifelong friends. He seemed to know just about everybody and how they were all connected. His knowledge of Sedbergh and Sedberghians was encyclopaedic.”

A highly-respected member of the neighbourhood and longstanding church warden at the Church of the Holy Ghost in Middleton, he was always keen to maintain a sense of community. His involvement with the church finances, the coffee mornings and exhibitions and the recent relocation of the Roman Milestone all helped to bring the people of Middleton together. He was president of the Barbon and District Agricultural Society in 2017.