We are sad to report the death, on Friday 6 August 2021, of David Tinker, past Chairman and President of the Wokingham Society.
David was born in Bury, Lancashire, and raised in Altrincham, Cheshire. He was educated in Manchester and at Trinity College, Dublin. He had an early career in office equipment and computers, including a period working in Singapore where he and his wife had their first child, and then in Greenford, West London.
The family, including a second daughter, moved to Wokingham in 1979 and in 1983 David took a job with the Institute of Chartered Accountants, first in Milton Keynes and then in London, retiring in 2000. Meanwhile, in 1990 the sale of Evendons Farm for development prompted him to join the Wokingham Society in order to pursue his belief that ‘attributes wherever you live must be retained or enhanced properly – not bulldozed for profit’
David joined the Society’s Executive Committee in 1999, becoming Membership Secretary and Newsletter Editor in quick succession before being elected Chairman in 2003. In that role he campaigned tirelessly through the press and in engagement with the local authority to prevent the careless loss of Wokingham’s built heritage and landscape and to encourage thoughtful development where appropriate. With these concerns in mind he was proud to have assisted in the establishment of The Friends of the Emm Brook and The Wokingham and District Veteran Tree Association.
When he stood down from the chairmanship in 2007 David became President of the Society and in that year was the recipient of the Town Council’s Civic Award for services to Wokingham, including his work as Secretary to the Wokingham Job Support Centre. He was also strongly involved in the local U3A, serving as Convenor of the Industrial Heritage Group and giving many talks on subjects ranging from seaside piers to the development of the London sewers following the ‘Great Stink’ of 1858.
David handed over his presidency of the Society to Lady Elizabeth Godsal in 2012 but remained a very active member, most recently persuading the Committee to help fund a number of resting benches in parks in the Evendons area of the town. The accompanying picture shows him sitting on one of them.
Current Wokingham Society Chairman Peter Must says “David was the reason I joined the Society, the person who persuaded me to stand for election as Chairman and who showed me by advice and example what it means to be an advocate for the town’s heritage and well-planned development. In many ways he was Mr Wokingham and we will sorely miss his wisdom and passion.”
PETER MUST
