Rick Wright became a well-known face to residents in a Suffolk seaside town - and believed he had visited every home at some point to fix a broken machine.

Indeed, such was the engineer's photographic memory that when he went for walks with his partner Suzanne Hawkes, he was able to point out homes that he had visited in Felixstowe, the name of the customer, the date he had repaired the machine and what had been wrong with it.

Mr Wright, who has died aged 73, set up Felixstowe Appliance Repairs, having trained as an engineer and having previously worked for the electricity board and then Seatons Domestic Appliance Firm, which served the former RAF Bentwaters air base.

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Born in Felixstowe to parents Arthur and Gwendolyn, his father was in the RAF, which meant Mr Wright spent his early years on the move as Arthur was posted to different locations, including Yemen.

Mr Wright was also very artistic and had got a scholarship to an art school at the age of 16, but his parents were posted to Singapore and the decision was taken to enrol him on an engineering apprenticeship in the Midlands instead.

Initially, he took heavy engineering jobs in Rugby and Brighton before settling back in Felixstowe.

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He was married to wife Sue for 40 years before divorcing and had three children - a son Matt and daughters Aimee and Laura - as well as five grandchildren.

Suzanne said: "Rick was a ‘people person’.

"He loved finding out about people’s life stories and telling people his own.

"He could talk the hind leg of a donkey – but he was also a good listener and was genuinely interested in what made someone tick.

"He was so well known in the town – and we couldn’t go anywhere without someone coming up to him and start talking to us”.

Rather than a formal funeral, a celebration of Mr Wright's life will be held at Two Sisters Arts Centre in Trimley St Mary on Wednesday, December 20, starting at 6pm.