The former caretaker of Parochial School, Sidney Maidment, died at his Trowbridge home on Sunday, aged 85.

Mr Maidment was born in Donhead St Mary, near Shaftesbury, on April 16 1926, one of eight children.

He grew up in Melbury Abbas and attended Melbury Abbas Junior School before he moved on to senior school in Shaftesbury.

Mr Maidment met his wife of 60 years, Betty, in the queue for the cinema in Shaftesbury.

Mr and Mrs Maidment spent their early married life in the south of Wiltshire and then moved to Trowbridge, where they had lived for 40 years on the Hilperton side of the town.

For many years Mr Maidment worked in the agriculture industry before joining the Royal Gloucester Regiment.

He proudly served in Italy towards the end of the Second World War and in later life became caretaker at the Parochial School, now Bellefield, in Trowbridge.

Pupils and teachers were very fond of Mr Maidment and would often stop him on the street to say hello outside school hours.

Daughter Joy Jefferys said: “He was a quiet and unassuming man, a hard worker willing to help anyone in need. He always had a twinkle in his eye and a spirit of fun. He loved to dance and continued to do so until his recent illness.”

The couple had two children Paul, 57, and Joy, 53. Mr Maidment was also grandfather to Nicholas, Stuart and Edward and great-grandfather to Charlie, two, who called Mr Maidment grandaddad.

Mr Maidment’s funeral will be held at the West Wilts Crematorium, Semington, on Tuesday at 4pm. Family flowers only, with donations in his memory to his favourite charity, The British Heart Foundation.