A family has paid tribute to a servant of the town.
The funeral of John Honnor was held on Tuesday, May 12.
He was an active member of the Spalding Town Forum, the Spalding and District Civic Society as well as the local cycling group PEDALS until his death last month at the age of 86.
Those groups said John played a huge role in plans to improve the town including ones they are still working towards.
Recently John had designed plans for a new cycleway to link the south of Spalding with the Lincs Gateway development.
David Jones, of the PEDALS group, hopes if that’s completed it will be named in John’s honour.
“John Honnor had a wealth of local knowledge, which he strove to use for the benefit of the whole community,”
David said. “He was the voice of common sense, which he expressed with a customary modesty.
“His understanding of drainage technology and engineering was, I hear, outstanding, and you may wish to go to the Pode Hole pumping station and photograph the diesel pumping engine that bears his name, a tribute to his expertise and a sign of the appreciation the staff had for him.”
John was chairman of the Spalding and District Civic Society in the late 90s.
The group’s John Bland said Mr Honnor was involved in numerous projects to improve the town and ‘was a firm supporter of pedestrianisation’.
“Hopefully in time, the ambition that John and other Civic Society stalwarts had for the town will be delivered,” said Mr Bland. “There is no doubt in my mind that their vision was, and is, the right one for the town.
“His contribution to the aims and work of Spalding & District Civic Society by giving up his own time freely will be greatly missed.”
John also worked as a chief drainage engineer for the Welland and Deepings Internal Drainage Board and was a recognised authority on Fen history.
He was married to Lesley for 60 years and was a dad to Sarah and Freddie and grandfather to Ruby, Idris, Inca and Talia.
Idris said: “He showed his love for us, not through words but through building things, taking us on trips, giving us advice and creating a place, with Granny, where we could try new things and get excited about the world.
“I truly believe that his and Granny’s optimism and energy will carry on in our family forever.
“We all love him so much and all feel incredibly lucky that he was our ‘Baba’.”
John was also a railway enthusiast and founder member of the Saracen’s Head Railway Group.
Stephen Ross from the group said: “Every group has their team players and John, as well as being the owner, was certainly one of those in every sense. The memory of John will always be with us.”
