TRIBUTE has been paid to Edward Stokes, of Three Cocks Lane, Offenham, who lived most of his life in the village.

His son, Chris, said "My father was a great man. A warm-hearted, friendly man.

"I have turned to him for advice, support and approval all my life. There is a hole now in the hearts of all who knew and loved him that can never be filled. He will be so very sadly missed."

Mr Stokes was born in Cambridgeshire at the end of the First World War where it was thought his mother had moved from London to avoid the daily Zeppelin raids. He grew up with his sister and two brothers in Old Street, London, where his parents owned a restaurant business. On leaving school he became a runner in the optical trade in Bloomsbury and worked his way up to become a works manager.

Battle of Britain

With the onset of war in 1939 he went down to the embankment on the Thames with the intention of joining the Royal Navy but the queue was so long he changed his mind and joined the RAF instead. He was a corporal instrument mechanic with 287 Squadron, 11 Group, Fighter Command, helping to keep The Few airborne during the Battle of Britain.

One of his passions in life was cycle racing and after the war he returned to his old club in Essex.

When he returned to his old job after demobilisation, Mr Stokes was offered the opportunity to move to Offenham and help set up and run a small optical company at what was known as the college premises, previously a horticultural college, now converted into apartments, at the junction of Main Street and Three Cocks Lane.

It was at the Saturday night dances at Offenham Village Hall that Mr Stokes met Audrey Price and they married at Offenham church in 1952.

In the 1980s Mr Stokes returned to aircraft instruments when he joined Smiths Industries at Bishops Cleeve, where he worked until he retired aged 64.

Need for 24-hour care forced Mr Stokes into a nursing home a few years ago but he maintained contact with his family.