Dave Froggatt, author and charity worker

Dave Froggatt, who has died at 91, was an author and poet, well-known for his eccentric charity work in Killamarsh on the South Yorkshire border, where he was made a Freeman of the village.
Dave FroggattDave Froggatt
Dave Froggatt

Mr Froggatt ran the Killamarsh Voice magazine for many years and styled his verse with the pseudonym, ‘Owd Tup’.

As a charity worker, he raised many thousands, even going on sponsored rock climbs in his 80s. When the local church, St Giles, was desperate for funds, he set up and ran a charity shop called Open All Hours, and raised £3,500.

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His son, Steven, said: “He liked to do things that didn’t benefit him but benefited others. That’s where he got his pleasure from, doing something for somebody else.

“He did it because he wanted to do it, because it gave him pleasure seeing other people getting either getting a laugh from him or what he had raised.”

When he was granted freedom of Killamarsh, he exercised his medieval right to drive his sheep up the village by dressing as a shepherd and carrying a toy sheep up the hill in a pram, to raise money for Help for Heroes.

His son added: “It was just that he wanted to put a smile on people’s faces. He was never afraid of being laughed at. People could either laugh at him or laugh with him.”

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