Tributes have been paid to a retained firefighter and engineer after he died aged 76.
George Pope was well known in Fakenham, working as a firefighter and establishing Wensum Engineering in the market town. His funeral took place at Mintlyn Crematorium on March 26.
The cortege travelled to Mintlyn via Fakenham Fire Station and the former site of Wensum Engineering, with many people coming out to pay their respects along the route.
Mr Pope was born October 18, 1944, in Holbeach, Lincolnshire. At the age of eight, the family moved to Hunstanton.
He spent many days riding the footplate of a train up and down the line, and going to school in the seaside town. He spent a lot of time in the metalwork shop, which stood him in good stead for his career.
He started his apprenticeship at Powell’s of Brancaster before moving to Savages of King’s Lynn.
Mr Pope met his wife, Brenda, at a party and they later married in October 1965 in Hunstanton, going on to have three children, Steven, Shaun and Sharon, who Mr Pope was immensely proud of.
He went to work for FMC in Fakenham, before moving to Ross Foods. He also signed up to become a member of the retained fire service, where he served for 25 years.
It meant parties might be missed and days out cancelled when the bell rang, but his family said he was a devoted and loving husband, dad, father-in-law and grandad.
In 1975 when there were redundancies at Ross Foods, he made the decision to include himself in those and with his redundancy money he started G Pope Engineering in his shed.
After a couple of years, the business moved to Hempton Road and the name was changed to Wensum Engineering, where it grew and remained until the business was sold in 2010, allowing Mr Pope to enjoy his well-deserved retirement.
Much of his work can be seen in and around the town, with The Thursford Collection being one of his earliest customers.
Although he had officially retired, Mr Pope never lost his love of engineering and would spend many hours in his 'workshop' with the forge alight.
Donations in his memory are being collected for the Fakenham Fire Station Welfare Fund and can be made via gowardsfuneralservices.co.uk
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