TRIBUTES have been paid to a much-loved character, former church warden, and community stalwart who has died.

Jack Rycraft, 93, died from natural causes on March 27 in Little Bentley where he had lived throughout his life.

Old Jack, as he was affectionately known to locals, will be laid to rest in St Mary’s church yard which he had spent 16 years of his life meticulously caring for.

He adopted his role as warden shortly after joining the village’s church council which followed his 37-year stint as a maintenance engineer at Woods in Colchester.

Jack, who could always be heard from the jiggling coins in his pocket, grew up and studied in Little Bentley and was an enthusiastic voice in the church choir.

He also lived through the Second World War and is said to have vivid memories of the time the Luftwaffe disposed of bombs in the countryside.

In his later years, Jack was a regular drinker and a familiar face at the Bricklayers Arms in Rectory Road, where he was popular with the other customers.

But when he wasn’t mowing around gravestones, manning the fete’s Skittles contest, or relaxing in the pub, Jack also had a passion for aviation.

He took a course of flying lessons and not long after the launch of the Concorde, Jack clambered onboard the famous plane for a return trip to Spain.

Former Essex High Sheriff Christopher Palmer-Tomkinson, of Little Bentley Hall, paid tribute to Jack and said he will be missed by many villagers who held him in high esteem.

He said: “Several English villages have in their midst an individual whose long life, loyalty, service to the community and appearance in the village pub, makes them a feature that can still the passage of time.

“One such person was Jack Rycraft.

“He was a strict creature of habit, and not even a Royal visit could have deterred him from attending to his laundry every Thursday morning.

“A low whistle could often be heard leaving his lips during a church service, to the accompaniment of a fistful of jiggling coins in his pocket, which his partial deafness failed to pick up.

“Old Jack was a much-loved character and will be sadly missed by the villagers.”