A former chair of Chudleigh council and chair and trustee of Chudleigh United Charities has died at the age of 83 after a short illness.

Stewart Sapp, who passed away on July 24, was a former dental surgeon and had also served as a governor of Coombeshead school.

He was instrumental in the development of many youth facilities in Chudleigh and played a key role in developing the play park, multi-use games area (MUGA) and pagoda in the park at Fore Street.

He also smoothed the path to enable the new Scout and Children’s centre to be built on part of the site.

He was awarded the Chudleigh Town Council ‘Citizen of the Year Award’ in 2015.

Stewart was highly regarded for his honesty and diligence in his role with Chudleigh United Charities and he was known as a ‘hands on’ chair who was willing to spend time on the inevitable paperwork associated with the role as well as managing the care of the historic play park, which was left to the community of Chudleigh hundreds of years ago.

‘Stewart was a friend to all, and the local dogs being walked past his door soon discovered that there was invariably a treat to be had out of his pocket,’ remembered Chudleigh United Charities Secretary Nick Walter. ‘We will miss him,’ he added.

A memorial service for Stewart will take place at Chudleigh Parish Church at 1pm on Monday September 1.

As a lifelong animal lover, donations in his memory are being made to the Little Valley Animal Shelter via the MuchLoved website where friends, family and acquaintances can also share their memories.