A MAN who was active in the Lake District tourist scene and was a former curate at Rydal Mount has died.

Don Brookes was born to a middle class family, in a village on the outskirts of Birmingham, on June 5 1927.

Throughout the 1930s he led a comfortable life enjoying long summer holidays in Weston-super-Mare, with his mother. His father travelled down from his business in Birmingham at weekends to join them.

In 1940 he moved, with his mother to Aberystwyth, to avoid German bombing in Birmingham. His father stayed behind, to continue his work but, in 1944, with the risk of bombing diminished, Don and his mother returned home and Don entered university in that same year.

In the spring of 1945 he was commissioned, with the rank of pilot officer, in the RAF, and, after initial training, was posted to Germany to assume administrative duties, at Luneburg, prior to the establishment of the Belsen War Trials which began in September 1945. Later, he moved on to serve in the British sector of Berlin.

He returned to England, with the rank of flying officer, after two years, and in 1950 was trained by the RAF for a career in the civilian police force but elected to return to university, sponsored by the RAF, to complete his degree.

In 1954 he took up an executive position with the HP Foods Group in Birmingham. By this time he was married to his first wife, Pat, an internationally renowned fashion model, who regularly sailed across the Atlantic to America for photo engagements in New York, and also to European cities such as Paris, Milan and Rome.

Seeking a career change, he entered into a partnership with his wife’s brother in an insurance firm in Blackpool.

Sadly, Don and Pat divorced and Don sold his half share of the insurance business and went on to work for Ferrymasters.

In June, 1978, he married Christine Clark in a ceremony at Blackpool Register Office, and they moved to manage a convalescent home at Morecambe for a charity. When the home closed, Don and Chris found a job they both enjoyed, as curators at Rydal Mount, William Wordsworth’s former home. Chris died in October 1985, aged 47, having suffered from cancer.

Don served as chairman of the South Lakes Organisation for Tourism (SLOT) between 1988 and 1990 and continued to work at Rydal Mount before moving to South Carolina, in the USA, where he toured universities and cultural institutions lecturing on William Wordsworth.

Ill health forced him to return to England where he moved into sheltered housing, at West Ings, Ambleside, in 1994. His health improved and he became a Lakes parish councillor.

He was appointed as the first chairman of South Lakeland District Council’s tenant committee and served for eight years until he suffered a heart attack in 2008. He recovered and resumed his position the following year.

Don took a keen interest in the Co-op movement and also served as an independent co-opted member on SLDC’s scrutiny panel.

He died at St Gregory’s Nursing Home, Crooklands, on August 16.