DR Phillip Vickers died peacefully at home with his family on Sunday, September 11, aged 68. He was a kind, gentle man, loved by his family and friends, and well-respected in the community.

He was born on September 15, 1947 in Chatham, Kent, where he spent the majority of his young life. During his childhood, and following the death of his mother when he was four, he was lovingly brought up by his father, a horticulturalist and local businessman, and his step-mother, a nurse.

Phillip, with his sister and brother, spent many happy holidays with his mother’s family in North Yorkshire, and new grandparents in rural Alderton, Wiltshire, where he developed a love of the countryside and countryside pursuits, particularly walking, shooting and fishing. These interests endured throughout his life.

After attending Sir Joseph Williamson’s Mathematical School in Rochester, he went on to study medicine at Kings College London and Westminster Hospital, where he met and fell in love with his wife-to-be Jennifer, a student nurse.

He graduated from Westminster Medical School in 1971. He had considered a career in chemical pathology but with a young family and the difficulties of city life in the context of the last big blackout and the three-day-week in 1974, he re-evaluated and decided upon a career in general practice.

This change in direction took him initially to Tetbury, and a short stint in Goetre, Cwmbran, Wales, and then on to the Pewsey Vale. Phillip was a GP at Pewsey Surgery for 32 years. When he joined the practice in 1975 it was situated at the dental practice premises behind North Street.

In 1982, he and his partners Drs Fay and Phillips, built the current surgery.

He was always very professional, caring and dedicated to providing the best care to his patients.

Upon his retirement in October 2007, he said that he could think of no better way to lead one’s professional life than living, working and bringing up a family in a community like Pewsey.

In his final years, he continued to enjoy gardening, walking, travelling and fishing with his friends on the Avon, and the Tay and Tweed in Scotland.

He had just returned from a wonderful family holiday in France with his beloved Jennifer, his children and five grandchildren when he died from a rare neuroendocrine cancer.

All are welcome on Tuesday, September 20 at 10.30am for the Service of Thanksgiving at St John the Baptist Church, Pewsey, followed by burial at St Peter’s Church, Milton Lilbourne. Family flowers only. No black.

Donations for neuroendocrine cancer patient foundation (NET) to Dianne Mackinder Funeral Service in Marlborough.