MP TIM Farron has paid a warm tribute to “a loyal servant of Kendal” who has died unexpectedly in Western Australia.

Christopher Andrew Mayho, 67, and wife Lynne were visiting their two daughters in Perth when the former, long-serving town and district Lib Dem councillor became unwell.

Mr Mayho, of Burneside Road, died on May 14 after a very short illness, surrounded by his wife of 45 years, daughters Natalie and Melanie, and grandson Luke, an architecture student.

A funeral was to take place in Perth this week, with a celebration of Mr Mayho's life to be held in Kendal - “his beloved home town” - at a later date.

Melanie said her father, a retired principal of colleges for young people with learning difficulties and disabilities, was “truly a great man”.

He had run the Great North Run16 times and enjoyed travelling, walking, swimming in the ocean, which he did daily in Perth, visiting the theatre, ballet and the opera. His family was "his greatest love".

"He enjoyed his work and was passionate about education for all," Melanie told the Gazette. "He was a dedicated and loving husband, father and grandfather. His family meant the world to him and he will be sorely missed."

Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Mr Farron is also mourning Mr Mayho, “a good friend” for 20 years, “a loyal servant of Kendal" and "a real gentleman".

He said: "When I was first chosen as a parliamentary candidate, he was one of the other people on the ballot paper.

"He spent the years that followed being enormously supportive to me; really helpful and really thoughtful. His wife Lynne has been one of our volunteers all that time."

The MP said Mr Mayho was "a lovely, lovely guy with a long and very impressive career in teaching and leadership in special needs education".

He told the Gazette: "His commitment to providing the best possible educational experience for sometimes very vulnerable and challenged young people - seeing real potential in them and having compassion and a strong sense of their dignity and how they could be flourishing people - was something he brought into regular life as well as his professional life."

Mr Mayho was born in Paksey, now in Bangladesh, and educated in Albany, Western Australia. His career spanned lecturing at Kendal College to principal of Arden College, Southport, and Langdon College, in Manchester and London.