A GP who worked in Witney for almost three decades has died in an aircraft crash.

Dr Connor Edward Morris, known as Ed Morris, was at the Nuffield Health Centre in Welch Way from 1984 to 2012.

The 62-year-old treated thousands of patients during those years, including several generations of local families.

As well as his clinical work, he was also a community volunteer for organisations including Witney Talking News, a service for the visually impaired, as well as the Woodland Trust and the Quakers.

He was born in Guildford on September 24, 1952, to a family of medics. His grandfather on his mother’s side was a doctor, his father Charles a doctor, and his mother Mary-Rose a midwife.

Both his parents also trained at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, where he was to go himself.

A young Dr Morris was a pupil at St Peter’s School, in Seaford, East Sussex, and later went to Epsom College, Surrey.

He trained at St Bartholomew’s Hospital from 1971 and was then a house surgeon there, before becoming a house physician at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, from August 1978 to January 1979.

Afterwards, he became a trainee at the Royal Free Hospital, in London, taking several placements from 1979 to 1981.

In 1981 he went to train at a GP practice in Caversham and the next year he was admitted to the Royal College of General Practitioners. Dr Morris visited South Africa for a year with his wife Lesley, leaving England in July 1982 to work in hospitals there. He joined the Nuffield Health Centre, Witney, in April 1984. At first he lived in Corn Street, but later moved to Church Green with his family in 1994.

Shortly before retiring in September 2012, he became a medical adviser for HM Courts and Tribunal Service, serving predominately at the courts in Oxford, but also at Coventry, Swindon and Warwickshire.

He said he had taken the role so that he could be a voice for people who were facing stricter medical examinations under new Government rules.

Dr Morris’s hobbies included cycling, squash and cooking. He earned his pilot’s licence in 2006, regularly flying from Enstone Airfield.

A favourite pastime of his was the cycle holidays he went on with his friend Derek Summerfield, which saw them visit Spain, Greece, Portugal, Turkey, Italy, Cyprus, France, Crete, Croatia, Sardinia and Corsica.

Dr Morris married his wife Lesley on September 6, 1980, at St Mary the Virgin Church, in Downe, Kent.

They had their first child Katy in 1981, followed by Matilda, known as Tilly, in 1984.

Ed Morris was involved in a crash at Enstone Airfield on July 3 and died as a result of his injuries. He is survived by his wife, his daughters and grandchildren Lily, Tom and Hamish. His twin brother Geoff died in 1973.

Dr Morris’s funeral is due to take place at 2pm on Tuesday at St Mary’s Church, in Church Green, Witney. All who knew him may attend, family flowers only.

A private wake will take place afterwards.