TRIBUTES have been paid to a “generous” and “considerate” man who spent three decades serving at Burnham Fire Station.

Tom Shelley, of Park Road, Burnham, was 98 when he died on September 23. 

Tom was born on Wallasea Island on July 27, 1918. He had five brothers and two sisters.

He left school when he was 14 to begin work. After working on a barge for a year, Tom joined Strutt and Parker Farms in Chelmsford, where he spent the next 40 years of his life.

He was rewarded with a long service medal from the Queen in 1976.

In 1955 he married Joan and moved into a home they designed themselves on Park Road, Burnham.

They celebrated their diamond anniversary last December. Joan now lives in a care home.

The pair went on to have two children. Simon was born in 1959, and daughter Susan in 1964. 

Tom spent 30 years volunteering at Burnham Fire Station, before becoming an honorary member of Burnham Bowls Club, continuing to play well into his 90s.

Son Simon said: “He was a very generous and very considerate person.

“I remember last year, my mum was having issues with her care and the lady next door was really helpful. If it wasn’t for her I don’t think my mum would be around now.

“Whenever I came down after that, he would always give me money to go and get flowers for her, and on a couple of occasions he paid for her to go out for a meal.

He always said ‘People who give good should get good’.

“He was very helpful as well. He brought me up the right way. He never borrowed from anybody.

‘”If you couldn’t afford it you didn’t have it’, that’s what he said.

“I am very grateful for it because I’ve reached this point in life without owing anyone a penny.”

Simon, who lives in Yorkshire, was visiting his father on the day he died.

He said: “The last brother had died recently, making him the last one. I came down to do my uncle’s hedge.

“I was staying at my dad’s and spending some time with him.

“It was early in the morning he called me and asked me to get an ambulance.

“The ambulance service were fantastic.

“They spent about an hour with my dad but couldn’t save him.

“It was old age that got him in the end.”

Tom’s funeral will be held at Chelmsford Crematorium on Thursday, October 27 at 11am.

The service will be followed by a reception at Burnham Bowls Club on Station Road.

Anyone wishing attend the service or reception is welcome.

He is survived by his wife Joan, son Simon, daughter Susan, and grandchildren Hannah and Ben.