Tributes to Tom Smith-Hughes
19 Apr 2012
Public tributes to date
Sir Bob Russell, Lib Dem MP for Colchester, and others paid tribute on BBC Essex on Thursday 19th. See also Essex Chronicle tribute here; Leader of Essex CC Peter Martin on East Anglian Daily Times website; and Essex Fire Authority colleagues here.
See what people are saying on Twitter here.
From Essex Chronicle website
From Facebook. To add your own comment, you need to be on Facebook and go to this posting.
- Paul BenthamSuch sad news, rest in peace
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Peter HigginsI heard the news via Theresa this afternoon: Tom was a real gentleman and kept working as Leader of the Opposition at County Hall for as long as he possibly could, despite being very ill for a long time -
Sadie SmithSo sorry. -
Linda MascotVery sad news, Tom was a great role model to newer Councillors and was generous in his time and advice. He will be sorely missed. -
Elizabeth GrantSincerest condolences. -
Katharine GrundySo sorry to hear this, I remember meeting Tom during the general election campaign. He has done so much for the area, and I hope he will be remembered for this. -
Julian HuppertI'm very sorry indeed to hear this - Tom was a great man and a good liberal -
Elizabeth WalkerThat's very sad news. Condolences to his family and friends. -
Richard John LeeI only knew him a short while and only had a few chats with him, but he seemed a seriously decent person who wanted to create a better world for us all. A shame he has gone, though his legacy will live on through the work he did. -
Tim HatcherSad. -
Rob BanksWorked with him at the LGA - very sad news and he will be missed. -
Roger EstopVery sorry to hear this, an excellent councillor. -
Julia FrasconaCondolances: he was a good Liberal & did so much for the party & the community. -
Geoff TaylorSo sorry to hear the very sad news. My condolences to family & friends. -
Mark SpringettAs Linda said, a great role model and always willing to give his many years experience as guidance to me and other new Councillors. He had great respect and friends across all parties and will be greatly missed. -
Eileen Griffin MoxonI couldn't agree more with all the above. He really was so helpful and supportive with me. A huge loss to his family, friends and colleagues. -
Alan DeanTom was always willing to take up any issue from whatever remote corner of Essex. He helped me a lot. I will miss him. -
Graham PooleyI'll have such strong, fond memories. So caring, knowledgeable and respected. And he had time to be a true friend while all else was going on. Unique. -
David WhiteingThis is sad news, he was a great person and I was privileged to know him. Apart from LibDems we were also members of the NatWest Christian Fellowship together for many years. He will be missed. -
Colin Charles RolfeMy condolences to his family and friends, i only met him on a few occasions and felt that he was an honest person who believed in what he did. -
Kathy PollardReally sorry to hear this. Tom had put up such a brave nattle against cancer for many years. He will be much missed. -
Richard MonkI was very lucky to share alot of time with Tom. I learnt everything about integrity and decency from Tom and Jill. - Richard MonkWhere do you start to measure Tom's impact. Somehow, he provided a huge amount of the glue that held our local community in North Chelmsford together. How can you measure his impact? He was part of everything that made our area a really decent place to live.
- Did we have some arguments? There's me trying to change the world immediately, and even better if we gave those we saw as opponents a good kicking. And there was Tom, being so bloody reasonable. He saw the bigger picture. He saw that we live by our standards and once we dropped ours how could we fight injustice.
- And he never stopped working to get things right. And what about his perseverence. How many people do you know who have battled and battled for years on behalf of their local community and still faced every day the chorus of ' them politicians are only in it for themselves'.
- I am pleased that Tom had found a little more time to spend with Jill and the girls and the grandchildren. His joy was wonderful. He acted with such dignity through the last years when cancer never ceased to try to break his spirit. And he never stopped giving of himself to the civic cause. Damn those politicians who treat their position with such impunity and disrespect. We were lucky enough to know that it doesn't have to be that way.
- All around around Chelmsford, when we see our grandchildren attend nursery classes, when we go to the post office on Broomfield Parade, when we see Kings Road school a vibrant community school, when we see green fields around Newlands Spring, see the impact of Tom.
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Stephen Robinson Spot on Richard. That brought a lump to the throat. 
Peter Coleing I am very sad to hear this new, A man who alway helped the people who he repersented. My thoughts are with his famerly and freinds.
by unamit Thursday, April 19 2012, 12:51PM
"I am very sorry to hear this news. I never met Tom Smith-Hughes but as a current Essex County Council officer and a Chelmsford Borough Council officer previously, I had heard many good things said about him. I believe the area has lost a beacon of benevolence. My condolences to those closest to him."
From Cllr. Chris Black blog
Fr. Paul Trathen: April 20th, 2012 at 09:04
I enjoyed Tom's company and admired his integrity and political good sense. He will be a great loss to Essex public life. His Christian witness was also inspiring and an encouragement to many others, including myself. He and his family are in my prayers.
Mark Willis May 10th, 2012 at 05:05
Tom was a man of great ability and generosity. He was also a formidable political opponent.
Tom was a man without guile, which you can be forgiven for thinking is so rare in politics these days. I remember him being a quiet man, and you knew he only acted when he had carefully thought everything through.
His party and constituency successes are because of the leadership by example that he showed.
It is still possible to be an ethical politician and people of all political persuasions can always aspire to good old-fashioned public spiritedness. These are and should be the reasons why we go into politics. We succeed when we keep hold of our faith in ourselves and others.
It is for this and much more that we will remember Tom Smith-Hughes.