SHE inspired generations of Southampton schoolgirls through her passion for books.

Diana Smith, the former Head of English at Sholing Girls School and a teacher there for 30 years, has passed away aged 88.

Born Diana Francis in Westbury in Wiltshire in 1932, she was educated at Trowbridge Girls High and worked at County Hall in Trowbridge before deciding to retrain as a teacher in Bristol and taking up her first teaching post in Whitchurch.

She met Peter at a dance at Andover Drill Hall and they were happily married from 1956 until his death five years ago.

The couple settled in Southampton, via a brief detour to Tunbridge Wells, and were blessed with two children, Lisa and Adam, and a granddaughter, Elinor.

Diana turned her passion for English literature, in particular the novel Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee and Shakespeare texts, into a career. She was an English teacher for over 40 years, retiring after many happy years at Sholing Girls School in 1992 as Head of English.

She would often bump into former pupils in the street and even in an airport in Majorca on one occasion and loved to hear updates on their lives after school.

Diana, who spent many years living in Sholing and the last two decades in Whiteley, was an avid theatre-goer, adored the cinema and loved to socialise with a wide circle of friends.

She was a voracious reader and was well travelled, once enjoying a first class trip on QEII to New York.

Diana’s private funeral on October 19 will be webcast via obitus.com