Harry Styles Thanks His Teacher for 'Everything in Those Formative Years' at Hometown Show

Harry Styles paused his performance in Manchester, England on Thursday to thank an early mentor.

The "Watermelon Sugar" singer, 28, asked the nearly 26,000 fans in attendance to help locate his "first-ever school teacher" Ann Vernon in a video shared by TikTok user GoodiesbyJennie and uploaded by CBS News.

"I'm going to ask a favor from you because I'd like to try and find someone in the audience," he said.

RELATED: See Harry Styles as a Man Forced to Hide His Sexuality in 1950s Britain in My Policeman Teaser

The Grammy winner added, "So, we're going to get really quiet and I'm going to see if I can locate this person if you don't mind helping me. Ok? Because, my first ever school teacher is here tonight. Her name's Mrs. Vernon, and I believe she is in the crowd."

As fans continued to scream, Styles teased, "You're not Mrs. Vernon."

When the "Sign of the Times" performer thought he found his former teacher, Styles dropped to his knees in gratitude.

RELATED: Man Falls 35 Feet Off Balcony at Harry Styles' Concert: 'It's a Complete Miracle He's Still Here'

"How are you? I heard you're retiring. I'd just like to thank you for everything in those formative years and, yeah, thank you so much," he shared. "It means a lot to me that you're here tonight."

"Can you imagine dealing with me when I was 4?" Styles added before dedicating his song "Canyon Moon" to the educator, according to Manchester Evening News.

Unfortunately, Vernon was not in attendance at the show. Instead it was fellow Hermitage Primary School teacher Mrs. Bailey who was shown on big screens during the performance, according to the BBC.

RELATED: Harry Styles Delivers Unedited, One-Take Performance of 'Boyfriends' for The First Take on YouTube

Vernon told the outlet that she was "very emotional" over Styles' shoutout at his concert.

"It was very touching, very lovely thing for him to do and it was very special," she shared. "I do say thank you to him for doing that and for saying those things, it meant a lot."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free weekly newsletter to get the biggest news of the week delivered to your inbox every Friday.

David Fisher/Global/Shutterstock

Vernon also recalled Styles as a young boy.

"Harry was a lovely little boy. He was very sweet. He had a little bit of a cheeky side to him, he could be a little bit of a monkey sometimes," she explained. "Very sociable had lots of friends. He loved music, he loved dressing up and all those creative things in the classroom. He was just lovely."

For more, pick up PEOPLE's new all-Harry Styles special edition, available now wherever magazines are sold.