TRIBUTES have been paid to a ‘great organiser’ and charity stalwart from Beaconsfield, who has died aged 93.

Deborah Smith, the widow of a former GP in the town, was a volunteer for the National Trust and the NSPCC over the course of four decades.

During the 1960s and 70s she helped her husband, Dr Hugh Smith, run a surgery at their home in London End, opposite The Swan pub.

When he moved his practice to the Simpson Centre surgery on Gregories Road, which had official secretarial staff, Mrs Smith dedicated herself to charity work.

The mum-of-two, who more recently lived in the Seeleys Estate, was chairman of the local NSPCC committee, organising raffles and bring-and-buy sales to raise funds for the national body.

In 1970 she became a founder member of the Beaconsfield arm of the National Trust, and later served as chairman.

In the 1980s and 90s she organised tours of stately homes and other properties, often taking a coach-load of 100 people on the day visits.

Walter Gutteridge, the current chairman, said: “There were quite a few accolades recorded in the AGM minutes. She was a superb and very courteous lady of the old school.”

Son Giles Smith, 67, who also lives in Beaconsfield, said: “She was a great organiser and a lot of people remember her from the coach trips. She carried on doing it until her 80th birthday.”

Mrs Smith died in her sleep on January 2. She also leaves daughter Cherry Turner, 65, as well as five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

The funeral is at 11.30 on Friday, January 20 at the Chiltern Woodland Burial Park.

Dr Hugh Smith died in 2008, aged 90.