The co-founder of Westbury Rugby Club, Mr John Alun Knott, who was always known as Mark, died at his Warminster home on October 15, aged 75.

He was born in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, the son of a master grocer and was very proud of his Welsh heritage. Sport became a huge part of his life and he played rugby and cricket for his school and for Merthyr Tydfil.

After National Service in the RAF, he trained as a PE teacher and moved to Winchester, where he joined the rugby club and met his wife Pauline at a rugby club dance. They married in 1965 in Bishops Waltham in Hampshire, and moved to Westbury, where he taught at Matravers School and Pauline at the town’s Infant School. He joined Trowbridge rugby club and Westbury cricket club, and was also a founding member of Westbury Lions club in the early 70s. The couple had two children, Rebecca and Christian.

He enjoyed life at Matravers and was very pleased when the school began to use a hostel at Pencelli in the Brecon Beacons and he was able to introduce his pupils to outdoor pursuits in his favourite area of the country.

In 1980 he and fellow Matravers teacher John Whittock recruited people to form Westbury Rugby Club where he held multiple roles, including serving as fixture secretary and president. He kept a keen eye on results and was very proud to have the new playing field named after him. In 1992 arthritis meant he was forced to abandon PE, taking early retirement.

He re-connected with his teenage love of jazz, and started what became a massive collection of CDs. He did some supply teaching at Matravers and was a part-time rugby liaison office for Dorset and Wiltshire schools, and also spent wonderful days looking after his grandson Theo, whom he treasured.

After moving to Warminster, his interest in theatre drove him to join the Athenaeum Friends, and he became secretary and Lunch and Listen organiser when the theatre reopened. He also lead the Warminster U3A Jazz Appreciation group. He also enjoyed gardening, feeding the birds and collecting antiques.

Unfortunately his health deteriorated, but he bore all his illnesses with amazing acceptance and stoicism and never complained. The last year of his life was a happy one, seeing his son Christian married to Emma, and learning weeks before his death that they are expecting a baby.

Mark and Pauline also had a holiday in North Wales revisiting places he had been to as a child with his grandfather, and taking a trip on the narrow gauge steam train from Porthmadog to Caernarfon through Snowdonia, which he had wanted to do for some time.

His family have been comforted since his death by the huge amount of support they have had and the knowledge that Mark was loved and respected far outside the family circle. He will be remembered as a very special person and a true Welshman.

His funeral will be held today at 1.45pm at the West Wiltshire Crematorium, Semington, with family flowers only.