Kev Hayward-Smith

We are writing this with the incredibly sad news of the passing of Kev, a very much loved husband to Shirley, a devoted Dad to Lauren and Gabrielle, a step-dad to John, Natalie and Helena, a wonderful grandad to Lleyton and all his step-granchildren and not forgetting Tilly his dog that he adored and cared for with her blindness and diabetes.

As many in the town are now aware Kev was involved in a tragic accident on Friday 15th September that sadly saw him pass away, at this moment in time and with the ongoing investigation the details are still to be established but this isn’t about the accident and instead is about the massive hole that he has left in our lives with his sad passing.

We don’t need to tell you what a wonderful man Kev was as you will all have your own memories of him, we are hoping to give him the send off he deserves and as soon as we have any dates for when this will be we will be the first to let you know.

The escalating cost of living does make it hard for people to help towards this cost and we all understand that so if you cannot donate then please don’t leave here without sharing your own memories of Kev, if you can afford to donate the price of a pint of Stella (his favourite tipple!) then that would be very much appreciated and help in some way to giving Kev the send off that this truly unbelievable and kindest of men deserves.

We take solace in the outpouring of grief and the most sincere messages we have all received as it just goes to show what we already knew, that Kev was (and in our hearts always will be) a magnificent person and the world is going to be a much sadder place without him in it.

Finally our family would like to say a special thank you to all the people that helped, all the emergency services and most of all to our Family Liaison Officer, Paul Baker, who is proving to be invaluable in helping us after this awful incident.

xxx