Tribute paid to late Bognor CAB chief

The funeral of Tony Mackown has been held following his sudden death at home on July 9.

Mr Mackown had led the bureau during two of the busiest years of its 33-year history. The recession had caused a surge in inquiries in recent months.

The ten staff and 80 volunteers there were struggling this week to come to terms with his death.

Trustee Jacqui Thomas said: "It has hit us hard personally as well as a bureau. He had re-invigorated the bureau and won everyone over to his way of thinking. His loss will be greatly missed by us all. Tony was big in size as well as personality."

Mr Mackown, 62, had worked in the CAB at Worthing, where he lived, and at Boston in Lincolnshire after his retirement from 30 years in education. The last ten of them were as a headteacher.

He used his experience in running schools in Lincolnshire to manage Bognor CAB in the town hall since September 2007 as its number of inquiries climbed higher and higher towards 12,000.

In his last interview with the Observer in March, he said: "Our workload is at record levels. We are possibly dealing with half as many inquiries again as we were 12 months ago."

Outreach advisor Madelaine Thomas said: "Since Tony had been here, the whole bureau had been overhauled.

"He was very energetic, very friendly and very well organised with a great sense of humour as well. He also had a very strong social conscience."

The esteem for him was shown by the 40-plus bureau volunteers and staff who attended his funeral at Worthing Crematorium. The bureau was closed on Monday afternoon as a sign of respect.

More than 100 mourners were at the service. Mr Mackown is survived by his wife, Ann, son Gareth and daughter Rebecca and four grandchildren.

Bognor CAB is being managed as an interim measure by advice session manager Debbie Dawe.

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