Tributes to great Tees man.
Tributes have been paid to one of Middlesbrough's great citizens, who has passed away aged 97.Brigadier Claude Fairweather had a sterling army career, receiving an OBE and a CBE, and for decades was a major figure in Teesside's social, voluntary and sporting circles.
Formerly Vice-Lord Lieutenant of Cleveland and Deputy Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, the Linthorpe-born man was also a magistrate and the first chairman of the now-defunct Cleveland Area Health Authority.
Councillor Hazel Pearson, who served on the St Luke's Hospital management committee with the Brigadier in the 60s, said he will be a great loss to the whole area.
She said: "He gave so much of himself. He was very much a part of the area and was a great ambassador. He was a friend for all. He had that wonderful gift of mixing well with all types of people."
The great grandfather died after failing to recover from a hip operation, following a fall in his home. He had lived with 95-year-old wife Alice in Sheffield since 1999. In 2000 they had celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary.
His son Bill said he had been in poor health but was expected to have recovered from the operation.
He said: "He was quite an eminent man, a prominent member of the community.
"Not many of us put that much into our lives."
The Brigadier was well-known for his Second World War exploits, being the first Middlesbrough man to reach that rank in the conflict.
He was commissioned into the Royal Corps of Signals in 1928 and was in action at Dunkirk. Later in the war he was chief signals officer on an expedition behind Japanese lines in Burma, as one of 'Wingate's Chindits', for which he was awarded an OBE.
Also a dedicated sportsman, he was a chairman of Middlesbrough Golf Club and the Northern Counties Boxing Association, captain of Middlesbrough Rugby Union and Football Club and was involved in the setting up of Billingham Synthonia Club.
While chairman of the North of England Territorial, Auxiliary and Volunteer Reserve Association he received the Freedom of Teesside.
A commemorative service is to be held at St Barnabas Church, in Linthorpe at a date to be set.
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| Publication: | Evening Gazette (Middlesbrough, England) |
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| Date: | May 26, 2003 |
| Words: | 368 |
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