A Freeman of Helston who was a familiar face to many in the town has died at the age of 96.

Ivan Perry, who lived in the Gwealdues area, was well known for his support of a great many groups and organisations in Helston.

The Benenden Healthcare Society and League of Friends of Helston Community Hospital both benefited from him time and expertise, and he was also a member of the National Pensioners’ Convention, attending their annual People’s Parliament for a number of years.

He was chairman of Helston Age Concern for a time and a trustee of Age UK Cornwall, as well as a committee member of the Cornwall Senior Citizens Forum.

With a keen interest in family and local history, Ivan served as standard bearer for Helston Old Cornwall Society for many years and was a Friend of Helston Museum (now the Museum of Cornish Life).

He was part of the Cornish Forefathers Society, a member of both the Helston and Redruth Old Cornwall Societies, as well as the Redruth Study Group, Cornish Mining Association and the Trevithick Society, in addition to being a member of the Royal Institution of Cornwall in Truro.

Ivan was a member of a great many groups and organisations in Helston (Image: Supplied)

Ivan was also well known for airing his views at Helston Town Council and Wendron Parish Council meetings.

He campaigned for ten years for the bus shelters now in Coinagehall Street, cutting the ribbon at their official opening ceremony when his ambition was finally realised in February 2015.

It was this support of the community that led to him becoming one of three new Freemen of Helston that same year, alongside Margaret Fitter and Robert Williams – the first people to be bestowed the honour in more than a decade at that time.

Ivan being made a Freeman of Helston in 2015 by then-mayor Mike Thomas (Image: Supplied)

Ivan’s funeral will be a Service of Thanksgiving that will take place at 2pm on Monday, September 2, at Central Methodist Church, Helston, to which everyone is welcome.

There will be a collection for Cancer Research UK, with Pendles also receiving donations from anyone unable to attend but who would like to contribute in Ivan’s memory.

The service will be preceded by a short cremation service at Penmount Crematorium in Truro.

Ivan had requested that his final journey should go via his home village of Stithians, where he grew up and spent many years farming before moving to Helston in 1961.

He was very proud to have been associated with the Stithians Show, for which he was president elect in 2000 and then president of the Stithians Agricultural Association in 2001.

Ivan cutting the ribbon to one of the new bus shelters in Coinagehall Street

Ivan was born to parents Edward Ernest Perry and Jane Ursula Perry (nee Richards) at Trebarveth Farm, Stithians on January 15, 1928.

However, he always had links to the Helston and Lizard area, with his parents born at Cury and Wendron, his maternal grandparents both born at The Lizard and his paternal grandparents born at Cury and Halwin respectively.

He was born into strong farming stock, with both his parents growing up on farms before they took on their own.

Ivan attended Stithians Primary School and later Falmouth Grammar School, between 1938 and 1943.

Ivan on his 80th birthday (Image: Supplied)

During the Second World War his father was a Major in the Stithians Home Guard, while Ivan joined the Army Cadet Force.

He left farming in the 1960s and moved to Helston, working for a time at Farm Industries Ltd. In 1968 he began working for the MoD in the Aircraft Torpedo Development Unit at RNAS Culdrose. A back injury led to his retirement in 1990.

While employed at Culdrose, Ivan was connected with the Transport & General Workers Union, and he continued in his retirement by joining the union’s Retired Members Association.

In 1977, a year before his 50th birthday, Ivan married Elsie Johnson, from Falmouth, and they spent the next two decades married before her passing in 1998.