A FORMER council worker from Witney has died aged 82.

Known as Douglas, Ivor Warner worked for Witney Rural District Council and its successor authorities for most of his career after 1962, but was also a volunteer throughout his life for charitable organisations.

He worked for brief periods at Ransome’s the chemist, Clinch Brewery, Currys and Clarke’s Ironmongers.

During his time at Clarke’s, he worked as a volunteer for St John Ambulance Service during the formative years of the NHS.

This led to an interest in healthcare and in 1951 he took a job training as a nurse at the Horton General Hospital, Banbury, occasionally working at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford.

He was forced to give up his voluntary pursuits in 1955 after a serious motorcycle accident.

He then returned to work at Clarke’s for about seven years before taking a job at Witney Rural District Council’s water distribution section in the Corn Exchange Yard.

This department would become the Thames Water Authority in 1973 and was then privatised in 1989 and renamed Thames Water.

It was then that Mr Warner accepted early retirement and moved to Swingburn Place, off Corn Street.

Ivor Douglas Warner was born on January 27, 1931, at Springfield Park in Witney.

He was the only child of Ivor William Warner and Ada Warner, who both worked in the Witney blanket mills.

He was baptised at St Mary’s Church, Witney, on March 14, 1931, and attended St Mary’s CofE Infant School, Church Green, and then the Batt CofE Primary School, Corn Street, which were attended by his father, his sons and his grandson Jerome.

In 1939 his family moved to Lowell Place, off Corn Street, the area in which he would spend most of his life.

In May 1954 he met future wife, Elizabeth (Betty) Sirman at a dance at the Corn Exchange and they married on September 28, 1957, in the Davenport Road Methodist Church, Witney.

In 1961 they had their first child Robert, followed by Nigel in 1966 and Paul in 1970.

After retiring, Mr Warner would often give up his time to support the Witney branch of the Boys’ Brigade, of which he had been a member as a youngster.

Mr Warner passed away on January 16, following a short period of illness, at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital.

He is survived by his wife and his three sons, as well as three grandchildren.

His funeral took place on January 31 at St Mary’s Church, Witney, followed by interment at the Tower Hill Cemetery.