A keen gardener who won gold in Halstead in Bloom’s local gardening competition has died shortly after receiving the award.

Robin Dickerson, 72, moved to Halstead in 1972.

He met his partner, Barbara Coe, 23 years ago and the couple lived in Morton Way, Halstead.

Barbara said: “He did propose to me in Paris but we never got round to getting married.

“He was always interested in gardening but it was in the latter years that he really got into it, after he retired from being a claim handler at a motor insurance company in Colchester when he was 68.

“Before that he worked in the city and he would tell me the same story every day, that he always bought himself a packet of cigarettes at the train station on his way in every morning.

“He never smoked them all and would put the rest of the packet in his drawer, so he had lots of packets of cigarettes in there.”

After retiring, the couple spent a lot of time working on their garden and entered the local gardening competition for three consecutive years, achieving the gold award last year and coming runners up in the patio and container garden category.

The couple also enjoyed travelling, visiting Italy, South Africa and France.

Barbara said: “He was a lovely man.

“We spent many happy times in the garden.

“We were both divorced and he had two sons and three grandchildren and I had three sons and five grandchildren, but he always considered mine to be his family too.

“I have a lot of lovely memories of him.”

Mr Dickerson was also the secretary of the Wine and Social Club in Halstead for many years and instigated putting the flower troughs outside the library, in Bridge Street.

He died suddenly on November 20 from heart failure.