ALTONIANS have bid a fond farewell this month to Terence (Terry) Patrick McGilvray, who died at the age of 76 following a long battle against failing health.

Well known for his time at the former Lord Mayor Treloar Hospital, as secretary of the Alton branch of the Transport and General Workers Union, and in more recent years for starting the Alton and District branch of Arthritis Care, Terry was born in Aldershot Military Hospital on October 30, 1939, and came to live in Alton soon afterward.

He went to St Lawrence School, later becoming an apprentice grocer with the International Stores and, once qualified, was sent to International Stores in Midhurst to undertake a management course.

But he was unhappy living away from his family and on returning home took a number of jobs before joining the staff at Lord Mayor Treloar Hospital as a porter and assistant cook. He also joined the Transport and General Workers Union and became secretary of the Alton branch in May 1965, a role in which he became deeply involved.

According to friend Allan Chick, who led the tributes during Terry’s funeral, so concerned did Terry (pictured) become for the deprived in society that during the miners strike he collected for the wives and families.

In the 1990s, Terry met Gwen, who also worked at Lord Mayor Treloar Hospital as a senior enrolled nurse, and in February 1991 they married and made their home in Alton.

In 1996, as a sufferer of the disease, Terry became interested in starting a local branch of the charity and self-support group Arthritis Care and, following meetings with managers of Orchard House to establish a meeting place, the Alton and District branch of Arthritis Care was born.

Terry was elected as the group’s first chairman and, with membership growing, he organised regular meetings, places to visit and for members to have holidays in Eastbourne, East Sussex.

When Lord Mayor Treloar Hospital closed Terry took early retirement and in 1997 also resigned from the union. He was greatly interested in local history, and continued to put a good deal of time into Arthritis Care.

But his own failing health took over, and following a move from Borovere Close into a more manageable bungalow in Victoria Road, Terry was more recently admitted to a nursing home in Liphook and then in East Meon where he died peacefully on March 20. He is survived by wife, Gwen.