A touching tribute has been paid to one of Brentwood's unsung heroes.

Former chairman of Brentwood Mind, Ken Evans, died peacefully at his Ingatestone home after suffering from a long illness.

A glowing tribute has been paid to him by long time friend, Peter Billinge who is currently the acting chairman of Brentwood Mind.

Peter said: "I had the great privilege of knowing and working with Ken.

"It is a shame that many who have benefited from Brentwood Mind were unaware of one of Brentwood's unsung heroes whose work sowed the seeds of the service they now enjoy."

Mr Evans was chairman of Brentwood Mind for two years during the late 80s and early 90s, which helps people with mental health problems, and he helped spearhead a drive to steer the group away from a charity which relied on volunteers to providing better and more reliable services with paid staff.

Peter said it was a huge step which took Brentwood Mind to 'the next level' and that Mr Evans put in a 'tremendous' amount of work behind the scenes to push the project forward.

Mr Evans was also one of the main instigators of the Brentwood Council for Voluntary Services.

Peter added: "It was myself, Ken and his wife, June, who visited a seminar about the advantages of these councils and as councillors we pushed it through 14 years ago and it has been helping voluntary groups ever since."

Ken described Mr Evans as a 'proud Welshman' who was 79 and has three children and three grandchildren.

He spent most of his working life with Fords and played a large part in the company's youth working training scheme.

Published Wednesday August 4, 2004

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