TRIBUTES were paid this week to a popular clergyman who spent 16 years as the parish priest at the Catholic Church of Our Lady Star of the Sea in Lowestoft and became a respected figure in the town.

Father Anthony Sketch – known to friends and parishioners as Tony – died peacefully at The Dell care home in Lowestoft on September 26, having moved there in 2010 after his retirement. He was 75.

Father Sketch came to Lowestoft in 1982 after serving as parish priest in Swaffham and Ipswich.

He quickly made many friends in the area, becoming known to his congregation as a caring and spiritual man, but also someone who 'made things happen'.

He was instrumental in setting up the Christians Together group in Lowestoft as well as doing ground-breaking work at Blundeston Prison and the legacy of his efforts is still to be seen in many aspects of the life of the church and its community.

Father Sketch also had a mischievous sense of humour, which endeared him to all whom he met in church and socially, and in his time as a parish priest he became a popular and well loved figure in the Lowestoft area.

Although he retired in 2008, as a result of ill health, he had grown to love this area so much that he decided to stay and he recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood.

His Requiem Mass will be celebrated at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church in Gordon Road on Wednesday at noon and there is expected to be a good attendance.

Family flowers only are requested, but donations can be made to the Glanfield Childrens' Group, East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH), or the Help an East Coast Child charities. These can be sent to the funeral director; Anglia Co-operative Funerals, Police Station Road, Lowestoft, NR32 1NY.