FRIENDS and family of former Greenock councillor Sandy Nimmo gathered to remember him and his beloved wife at a memorial in the town's Tontine Hotel yesterday.

Sandy, who served as a police officer and then an elected member, passed away a year ago aged 87 after failing to recover from the devastating effects of Covid.

His wife of 67 years, Ella, recently died only days after her 90th birthday, on March 29.

Their daughter Yvonne and son Graeme decided to make their mum's funeral a joint celebration of both their lives.

Yvonne, 59, a former district nurse in Greenock, today paid tribute to her parents.

She said: "Dad was almost 30 years in the police force and he was a councillor for about 15 years.

"If he could help you he would. He had such a dry sense of humour. He was very just and fair and never spoke ill of anyone. He was old school.

"My mum was a Provident woman for years and was well known in Grieve Road and Gibshill, and people will know mum through my dad.

"I think it is fitting that they will be remembered together."

Greenock Telegraph:

The memorial service was held at the Tontine following Ella's funeral at Greenock Crematorium.

Yvonne, who is a social researcher and author, lives in Sevenoaks in Kent said the last few years had been very difficult for the family.

She said: "My dad contracted Covid in March 2020, he was one of the first people to get it.

"We got a call at 3am in the morning from Inverclyde Royal that he wasn't going to make it."

Miraculously Sandy rallied and pulled through, but he never recovered fully from the virus.

Yvonne said: "My dad was very fit for a man in his 80s, he volunteered with Compassionate Inverclyde and was involved with their Back Home Boxes project and their choir.

"He went from that to needing 24/7 care and my mum looked after him.

"He never recovered from Covid. We were surprised he lived for so long after it.

"He did have lung problems, pulmonary fibrosis, perhaps caused by his trade as a carpenter in the 1950s."

Yvonne, a mum-of-four, said Covid public health restrictions made the situation even more difficult, as she was in England while her brother was in Tighnabruaich.

Sandy's three grandchildren were living in the Glasgow area but it made no difference as they couldn't visit anyway because of the restrictions.

As soon as the rules allowed, Yvonne came up to visit her parents at their home in Gourock's Broomberry Drive.

She said: "Mum had lost two stones, it took its toll on her. The isolation was the worst thing but thankfully they had amazing friends and neighbours."

READ MORE: New Port Glasgow post office opens after three year wait
 

Former provost Ciano Rebecchi, who served with Sandy in the ruling Lib Dem administration from 2003-07, paid tribute to his former colleague.

He said: "I knew Sandy for years, I used to play football and squash with him before he came into the council.

"He was a first-class councillor and a good colleague and if he could help you in any way he would, especially with his police knowledge.

"When I was campaigning to save the hospital Sandy went to meetings for me if I had one somewhere else.

"I couldn't thank him enough. Then when he started volunteering for Compassionate Inverclyde my respect for him went up a level. It showed you the true Sandy, a very caring person."