Mr Tony Oakes

THE funeral has taken place of Tony Oakes, a former officer in charge of Downpatrick fire station. 

In a distinguished life, devoted to public service, he led the local Fire Service for more than a decade, culminating in his being honoured by the Queen.

Tony was born in Downpatrick on April 28, 1950, the son of Bill and Winifred Oakes

 He started his career as a volunteer part-time fire fighter on June 11, 1969, at the start of the troubles. It was not unusual for Tony and his colleagues at this time to get out of their beds to spend the night answering an emergency call, and then go to their day-time job the next day. In Tony’s case his day time job was as a skilled printer and compositor on the Down Recorder newspaper.

Around this time he met his future wife Dympna. They were married on March 18, 1974 — celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary last year.

The Fire Service was a big part of his life. He took great pride in the tremendous work ethic of a service that was devoted to saving lives, and there were many times when he was among the firefighters placing their own personal safety at risk if it meant saving a child from a burning building, responding to a horrific road accident or enduring hours on a blazing mountainside containing a gorse fire.

As a fireman, it was meant to be part-time work but at times the hours were long, and no one could ever doubt his devotion and commitment to the Fire Service.

He rose from leading fireman to become the sub officer in charge of the Downpatrick station and there was no one as proud as Tony when he was awarded his long service and good conduct medal on June 11, 1989.

His service came at a huge personal cost at times, for example in the immediate aftermath of the Holy Week bombing in Downpatrick.

But Tony’s work went well beyond the traditional firefighter. He was passionate about helping others and his efforts in leading fundraising efforts by the Downpatrick station team, and his own personal community work were renowned far beyond his home town. In an era when such selflessness was disappearing, the people of Downpatrick and district recognised it in one of their own, and responded accordingly.

Twenty years of devotion to serving and helping others led to him being honoured by the Queen in her Birthday Honours List in June 2002 when he was awarded the prestigious honour of the MBE.

It was fitting and appropriate that senior officers and firefighters from across County Down provided a guard of honour as his coffin was carried into St Patrick’s Church, Downpatrick on Thursday morning.

In addition to his unfailing dedication to the Fire Service Tony opened the printing business Plus2print in the town in 1990. This often was mistaken for, or doubled up as, a social hub for the community. As Fr Martin Graham remarked at his Funeral Mass, Tony was a great conversationalist and story teller who loved to socialise, and, he said, it was surprising that the work got done at times.

Poignantly Tony passed away on September 1, the 25th anniversary to the very day of the opening of Plus2print.

In his later years Tony enjoyed a successful spell as a greyhound owner, loved following the fortunes of the racehorse Hurricane Fly, and thrilled to call in to see the progress of Plus 2print in Irish Street, where two of his sons continue the family business.

Fr Graham pointed out, however, that first and foremost Tony was a dedicated family man: a loving husband to Dympna, father to four sons who he was so proud of — John, Alan, Gavin and Stephen — and most recently a “wonderful grandfather’’ to three grandchildren.