Tributes to former parish chief

TRIBUTES have been paid to a former parish council chairman who has died after suffering a heart attack at the age of 55.

Tim Davies, ex-chairman of Little Stonham Parish Council, died earlier this month .

His family are planning a celebration service in his memory next year where the villagers can remember him.

The self-employed quantity surveyor, of Norwich Road, Little Stonham, near Stowmarket, was well known in the Stonham villages.

Mr Davies had also been a member of the parent teachers association at Stonham Aspal and was a church warden for years at Earl Stonham's parish church.

He was chairman of the parish council in Little Stonham in the mid to late 1990s and his wife Andrea, who celebrated her 25th wedding anniversary with her husband this year, said: “He worked very hard trying to get the area affordable housing and was also in the chair when Stonham finally dragged itself into the 20th Century and went on the main drains system.

“The whole village was dug up and Tim had to deal with all the flack. We all miss his gentleness. That's the first word everyone uses when remembering him. So many people have said what a true gentleman he was.

“He was private, he wasn't one for big crowds at parties. He preferred small dinner parties and loved big discussions, but he always brought humour to them.

“He was a fantastic father, very involved with the boys all their lives, and I couldn't have asked for a better husband.”

Tony Fowler, the mid Suffolk district councillor for the Stonhams, said: “He was just a super guy and a privilege to know. I never heard him say a bad word about anyone.

“He always seemed very cool and collected and never seemed to get flustered or upset. He was a lovely man and made an excellent chairman, guiding the parish council through some difficult times.”

Mr Davies was born and brought up in Twickenham and was father to Huw , 19, and Toby, 20, both students at Portsmouth University.