Tributes at funeral of ex-Lord Mayor Fred (From The Oxford Times)

Tributes at funeral of ex-Lord Mayor Fred

10:00am Friday 8th March 2013 in News

THE funeral of former Lord Mayor Fred Ingram, inset, who served on Oxford City Council for nearly three decades, took place yesterday.

Deputy Lord Mayor Mohammed Abbasi represented the council, which had flown its flag on the Town Hall at half mast.

The funeral was held at the King’s Centre in Osney Mead, which Mr Ingram supported.

Pastor Richard Colbrook said: “It can be all too easy, when speaking about a man who worked so hard and did so much for his city, to list his achievements and the great contributions he made and not pause to think about the man himself.

“I got to know Fred when being a city councillor was in his past. A man who was a wonderful organiser but, more importantly, a man for whom fairness, kindness and compassion were so very important.”

Mr Ingram died on February 20, aged 100, the first Lord Mayor to become a centenarian.

He had represented Temple Cowley first as a Labour councillor, then as an independent and finally as a Conservative and was leader of the council between 1976 and 1980.

Mr Ingram, an MBE, is survived by four of his five children – Jackie, Barbara, Fred and Jean – dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.