Tributes paid to Daventry veteran who did so much for others

The funeral for Ted Sharp, of Daventry, takes place next month and there are hopes that it will be a full Royal British Legion affair, in honour of the work he carried out for the Legion.

Mr Sharp, a veteran of the D-Day landings, was heavily involved in the Daventry branch of the Royal British Legion, helping to organise the Remembrance Day Parade and personally maintaining the town’s war memorial.

Mr Sharp volunteered for the Navy in 1942 at the age of 17, but was accepted into the Marines. He was later part of the Normandy Veterans Association and with the group, he used to visit Normandy every five years. 
As well as his work with the Royal British Legion, Mr Sharp used to care for his elderly neighbours, helped with disabled groups in the town and was a member of other committees.

The Royal British Legion’s county chairman, Russ Barrie, said they were hoping to organise a Legion funeral as a fitting tribute to Mr Sharp, complete with all the branch standards, a reading of the Exhortation and as many members in attendance as possible.

He said: “Ted was an all-round good guy. He was very vocal and was an ambassador for the Royal British Legion - he was absolutely brilliant and a lovely man.

“Ted was involved with the Royal British Legion at county level for 20 years and attended lots of our meetings. He will be sorely missed.

“I only saw him a couple of weeks ago and even though he was quite weak with his illness, he was still coming up with ideas. Even when he was poorly he still made it to the meetings.”

In 2005, Mr Sharp was awarded for being a good neighbour at the Pride in Northamptonshire Awards. Mr Sharp was nominated for the award by Carole Stimpson, who said at the time: “Ted Sharp is the most caring and understanding man anyone could wish to meet.”

Mr Sharp’s funeral will take place on Tuesday, December 19 at 11.30am at the Holy Cross Church in Daventry.