The following obituary was written by David Williams (CR 82-24)

Having decided to retire just before his 66th birthday in July it seems even more sad that Tim’s planned retirement event was first postponed, then ultimately cancelled for the saddest of outcomes.

None who visited his Reprographics Department in Vere Hodge Centre will have planned a quick trip! Tim's loquacious manner, even slightly teasing and provocative conversational style drew out varied and interesting views from visitors who might otherwise have expected a business trip but ended up with stirring up chats about Trump, Tories, and any other topic which caught his attention that day. 

Sitting in ‘that’ chair, he meticulously crafted all the very many tasks assigned to him, not least the very substantial School magazine, The Tonbridgian. While all those other important, even vital print jobs came his way we may never be able to quantify the vast amount of them. Everything from department booklets, schemes of work, senior management policies, Governors’ public and private documents and, of course, the School budgets - he told me that was one of the reasons his door had the key and coded lock. 

Tim began working at Tonbridge School in 1996. His first venue was a rather makeshift printing facility underneath the Smythe Library. Rather dank. Not purpose built but a functioning room nonetheless. The new and much smarter VHC venue gave him and the School the wherewithal to deliver a better service which, as these things do, grew in tandem with demand. 

Coming from a design and technical draftsman background Tim was an ideal candidate to manage projects which required that kind of expertise. So very soon after his arrival he was invited to do the ‘origination’ of the School magazine. Origination means basically to prepare all the necessary elements of document design in preparation for final printing – the whole process. This he relished and turned his hand to many other jobs which came his way advising on so many constituent parts of each piece of work. The good old-fashioned ‘hard copy’ could not be changed once it went to print so his work had to be as immaculate as possible. This I discovered when we worked on The Tonbridgian magazine when I was editor – his exacting standards were very evident! 

Perhaps the most visible part of his work were the famous covers of that publication. We received many other school magazines and none was a patch on his brilliant work. Fun. Clever. Creative. Masterful technical proficiency at its best, on show and for all to see.

He was also known outside his department for his very keen musical skills contributing to the House Music Competition in the popular Staff Band each year. He had even made his own guitar quite recently.

Jody Taylor says of Tim that “he was a larger-than-life character with a big heart who was very kind”. Those who worked with him found him a great manager who was compassionate and supportive.

The suddenness and consequent shock of Tim’s passing leave the rest of us feeling very sad at the loss of such a long-standing personal friend and colleague. 

(Staff 94-25)