A tribute to Mr Aylett Henry started his teaching career at Marshgate Primary School in 2010. As an extremely impressive young student, he was hand-selected to join the team and began his journey in education. He very quickly established himself as part of the Marshgate family, becoming popular with the staff, pupils and parents thanks to his professional yet jovial manner, injecting a sense of life, humour and fun into every area of school life. He treated every member of staff in the school with respect, care and kindness which meant Henry was greatly loved by all the staff at Marshgate.  One of the things the staff will remember most fondly about Henry was his love of dancing. Whether it was perfecting the dirty dance lift, choreographing a teacher dance-off or jiving with the parents he was always the first and last on the dance floor. This passion for dance, he shared with the children he taught, rebelling against the rules to allow them to dance on the tables on their birthday – much to the head teacher’s dismay!  Over the many years he spent at Marshgate, Henry displayed a sense of ambition and was committed to making a…

How lucky we are to have had such a great brother   Having you in our world filled it with colour    Intelligent, great looking, a fabulous dancer, if there was ever a question, you had the answer    Henry, your views would always get us thinking, those beautiful blue eyes always twinkling    Lose your cool, it happened so rarely. Was the talent distributed fairly?!   You really knew how to live life to the max, the travelling, sports and being a great husband and dad    Even though being here without you feels so wrong, through us all, we will make sure you live on.    How is it that some people shine so bright?  Henry, dear brother, we can still see your light. …

Henry was our little brother, and he was our friend. Spending time with him was always easy, relaxed and filled with laughter, being around him brought a feeling of happy contentment, of being exactly where you should be at that very moment. Even in the awful here and now, just the thought of his face, his knowing smile, his deep thoughtful eyes and his laughter conjure up that same feeling of comfort.  Henry was everything that he appeared to be and so much more. He was smart, he was knowledgeable, and he held opinions; but he was also kind, considered and tolerant. He was wise, he was calm, he was interested and yet he was also enthusiastic, cheeky, fun, and adventurous. And he manifested all of these qualities alongside being someone who had so much love for his family and all of his friends.  We had 36 years of Henry. We have happy, silly, memories of an easy-going baby brother, letting me push him around in a doll’s buggy, or long sufferingly answering in different voices to a list of names as I took the register whilst playing schools. We have treasured memories of seeing him grow up and…

Our Best Friend By Rob Saunders and Sammy Greenslade  Sam: I first met Henry when he was 17 years old. We met in the men’s changing rooms at Safeway in Farnham. He initiated conversation and despite me being a young, spotty and very self-conscious 16-year-old, he immediately made me feel at ease with his calm temperament, and expert level status on supermarket checkouts. Despite his age, Henry was a confident and well-respected member of staff, although I always knew him as my friend who would find much humour with me at the antics of Tony on trolleys and Pete who packed bags.   When everyone first meets Henry, you can’t help but be struck by those blue eyes. I would spend many a shift trying to determine which celebrity doppelgänger suited him most.  It was around this time we embarked on our weekly pilgrimage to the Odeon cinema in Guildford. But we wouldn’t go directly, no. Henry would make us swing by Sainsbury’s to buy a basket load of Maoam sweets and other confectionery. On arrival at the cinema, he would waltz through the cinema foyer with his shopping bag of sweets with absolutely no regard for the ‘purchase on…

Be More Henry Henry travelled to 6 continents, into the Arctic circle and dived the depths of the ocean. He scaled mountains and volcanoes, saw the northern lights and many of the wonders of the world. He lived a life that was so full of joy and happiness. He never wasted a moment on something that didn’t matter to him. He never took for granted the privilege of a truly good life. He had everything he wanted with me and the boys and knew it and appreciated it.   A part of me has gone with him but more of him has been left behind in the hearts of all who knew and loved him.   My challenge to everyone now is to be more Henry, be more silly, don’t worry about the small stuff and definitely don’t worry about the big stuff you can’t control, don’t regret not doing something, regret doing it – but you probably won’t.   Do the things you love, be with the people you love. Tell them you love them, find the words and write them down and do it when they least expect or most need it. Don’t waste your time on people who don’t deserve…

As a parent, you welcome your children into the world.  You feed them, you wash them, you keep them warm and safe. As they take their first steps, you encourage them, and you try to protect them from danger.  Then, they start school, and you can’t be there for them every minute of the day, so you have to let go a little bit. And so starts their own journey through life.  Throughout primary and secondary school, Henry had the same loyal best friend in Roddy Kenny and together they negotiated the rigours of the playground and the sports field and celebrated each other’s triumphs and disasters in the classroom. Football and athletics were his passion.  At sixth form college he met friends Sammy and Dave and then announced he was off to travel the world before going to university.  At this point of his life, we knew that this was the start of a very different journey, a journey from boyhood to manhood and we were right. Very early in those days he met Rob and of course Kate.  It was our hope as Henry’s parents that he would come back from his second gap year, consolidate his love…

Henners, I honestly don’t think I’ve ever met a kinder human being. Your willingness to help others, listen and be an all-around winner in life is what set you apart as not one of the good guys, but one of the best guys! I fondly remember chatting with you and Kate only last year at Fred’s first birthday about your running goals for 2022, your utter determination to continuously better yourself and the joys of parenthood. Your premature passing is one of the cruellest blows life could deal and if there was only one positive to come from it, it’s that we all hopefully take some of your zest for life and life our own lives a little more Henry. James & Lauren…

Both of my children were fortunate enough to have Mr. Aylett as their class teacher at Marshgate. He was their favourite teacher, they had the wonderful time with him.   Mr. Aylett had a great passion for teaching, and he was always loving, caring, kind, fair and a great fun to children. His personality was greatly admired by so many children, and by so many of us, the parents.  He was the most popular teacher I know of. We will treasure the memories of him forever…     Thank you Mr Aylett, for giving us such a beautiful memories. You will be greatly missed.      Rie, Tom, Alice and Max Bell…

Sincere condolences to Mr Aylett’s family. I only knew him as a teacher who deeply cared about his students and when I heard about his passing it deeply saddened me. I was his student 12 yrs ago in class 4a at marshgate, and I thought I’d share 2 happy memories of him. One being when I sicked up on his nice long pointy shoes I thought I was gonna be in loads of trouble but he smiled took me to the office and made sure I was okay. The second being marshgate style which you guys might wanna look up on youtube if you wanna se Mr Aylett and Mr Gentry popping some insane dance moves. It’s a great memory coming into school having finding this out and all of us finding that our teachers had a life outside of teaching at the age of 9 we weren’t the cleverest bunch. I hope these stories bring any little bit of joy it can with such a lovely man passing. It is a privelage to be able to say I had such an awesome guy as a teacher. Best hopes and wishes to all those who knew him….

Dear Casper & Archie, Our memories of your Daddy are that from the first time we met him both Pop and I thought what a lovely kind and considerate person he was. Through all the years Daddy was a great support to Mummy, a loving husband and the beast father anyone could ever wish to have. We both remember that faithful morning when Mummy phoned us with such joy in her heart at the news that Daddy had asked her to marry him. We will never forget your Daddy.  Lots of Love, Nanny & Pop.  xxxxxxxxxxxx…

Hi Casper & Archie, I remember years ago when Mummy & Daddy moved into the rented flat by the A316. At the time our lads were about 8yrs & 5yrs old. Sean was going through a girls are yuck stage. While Henry and Kate were showing us round the flat Sean stopped at the entrance to the bedding and asked “Where is Henry’s room?” Once we all stopped laughing we told him that Kate and Henry shared the same room. The look of pity on Sean’s face when we told him that Henry shared with Kate was priceless. Again he had all in stitches. On the way home home Sean said “I like Henry Mummy but he has to share a room with Kate, do they not have any money so they can buy a place so Henry can have his own room.” Mary, Chris, Sean & Louis…

Hi Casper and Archie, I had the great privilege of living with your dad, first in halls (where your dad, myself, Rob, Emma and Sally were part of the “E-Unit” – don’t ask, it has aged badly) and then for two years when we all lived a house together. We shared countless nights out during our time at university. York was a small town and there was a certain routine to nightlife – Toffs on Tuesdays, Ziggy’s on Wednesday’s, The Gallery on Thursdays. I cannot remember a bad night out when your dad was there – he was just so much fun to be around (and that was before there was any mention of a dancefloor). I’ve been reflecting on the time I spent with your dad recently. I recall the first time that I met him. I remember walking into the kitchen of our block. I was late and all of our fellow students were sitting around the large kitchen table. I remember taking seat next to your dad and, after a couple of minutes of speaking, thought to myself “thank god”. The reason why I thought that was that Henry just had a way of putting everyone…

We were at your grandad’s in Ireland in October 2021. You two were there with your mum and dad and you were all making home made pizzas in the kitchen. You were all having such a good time, laughing and joking. It was wonderful xx…

All 3 of our boys were lucky enough to have Mr Aylett as their teacher at Marshgate and we are so grateful for that.  We can honestly say there was never a day they didn’t want to go to school when they had him.  He gave them such a love of maths that will continue on through their lives.  He inspired them and encouraged them to have a curiosity about subjects, to use their creativity to find solutions and to just have fun solving problems.  He was always so positive about everything he taught and gave the boys confidence in themselves.  He made all the children laugh and smile and had endless patience for all the questions the children had.  At parents social events he was always so much fun and always put everyone at ease.   We can’t even begin to imagine how much his lovely wife Kate, sons Casper and Archie will miss him but please know that he will never be forgotten by the many people whose lives he touched while teaching at Marshgate. Rest in Peace. Roisin, Aidan, Matthew, Stephen and Daniel O’Connell Clare…