Tributes to well known builder (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Tributes to well known builder

Barry ThomasTHE family of builder Barry Thomas have thanked friends and neighbours for their support after the 59-year-old father was found hanged in his garage.

The self-employed builder, from Green Lane, Sherston, was found last Monday.

Before his death, Mr Thomas left a note for his wife Jane asking her not to enter the garage and to call the emergency services.

An air ambulance crew and police officers arrived quickly at the scene but found Mr Thomas dead.

In recent years Mr Thomas, who built many Cotswold stone walls in the area, had suffered breathing problems which left him with a terrible cough.

His 37-year-old son Richard Thomas travelled from his home in San Francisco, where he works as a software engineer.

He said his father's death was a bolt from the blue.

He said: "He had been unwell. In the last few years he has had problems breathing. It got him down. Doing building you need to be very fit and it's harder when you're not 100 per cent.

"I spoke to him the Saturday before. There was no clue he would do anything."

Mrs Thomas, 58, who works in the Stretchline elastic factory in Sherston, said her husband was a reserved and quiet man.

But with his family he was always warm and chatty. He got on very well with his sons Richard and John.

Mr and Mrs Thomas first met in the Rattlebone pub in Sherston when she was a 17-year-old teenager and Mr Thomas was an 18-year-old motorbike fan.

Mr Thomas learnt the craft of stonewalling from her father Jack Bishop and the two worked together until Mr Bishop died 25 years ago.

After that Mr Thomas was self-employed and worked around the Sherston area.

Mrs Thomas said: "When he decided to do something he always made a good job of it. He always used to say you've got to do a job properly. Barry loved gardening. He had even planted broad beans and cabbage for next year. He was very proud of his garden.

"He also built the garage and porch at the house."

Mr Thomas was born on August 15 1946 in Hinton Blewett in Somerset and spent most of his childhood in Acton Turville.

He attended primary school in Badminton and went to secondary school in Chipping Sodbury, which he left at the age of 15.

After leaving school he worked in the Ekco radio factory in Malmesbury as an apprentice toolmaker.

He later became a builder and plasterer.

Richard Thomas said: "You can't go anywhere in the village without seeing his stone walls."

As well as his work, Mr Thomas was fascinated by the past.

He studied genealogy, tracing his family history back to the 1800s, and collected military medals.

Mrs Thomas said: "Barry had great-uncles and I had great-uncles killed in the war and he started researching what units they were in. When Barry got paid he would treat himself by buying medals."

He was also a keen chess player and loved puzzles and crosswords.

Mr Thomas's funeral will be held at Holy Cross Church in Sherston on Monday at 11.30am.