FAMILY pay tribute to long time resident of Romsey.

Alex Briggs passed away on Saturday September 25 aged 82 years at Southampton General Hospital after a short illness.

He was a well-respected former chairman of Romsey Conservatives and captain of Wellow Golf Club during the year 2000 having spent most of his working life in the oil and gas industry in project management and quality assurance working throughout Europe.

He leaves his children and their partners, Paul and Karen, Kate and Paul, Ali and Lesley, and five grandchildren Sam, Penny, Adam, Thomas and Amy, along with his sister Madeleine.

Alex Briggs had lived in the Romsey area since the early 1960s and brought up his family in Romsey and Wellow. He considered Romsey his home in amongst all the travelling he did during his career.

In messages from former colleagues, family and friends he was described as a true gentleman, a pleasure to have known, a lovely man and well-liked. He enjoyed socialising throughout his life with a strong sense of humour and always engaging to talk with.

Born in Dulwich, Southeast London in December,1938 he moved around during the war as a child due to his father serving in the Royal Engineers for many years after joining as teenager. Alex, his mother and younger sister Madeleine initially settled in Alverstoke, Gosport then after the war in the 1950's they moved to Germany.

As a teenager, Alex attended the UK armed forces boarding school Prince Rupert, Wilhelmshaven in Germany. The school was on the coast on a bay of the North Sea. Winters were cold but Alex often recalled happy times at the school and was a keen member of the school reunion group which met up regularly around the UK until the Covid pandemic disruption.

After completing his national service in the RAF, Alex signed up for an engineering apprenticeship with GEC in Portsmouth in the late 50’s where he met Hazel. Alex and Hazel were married in 1961 and bought their first home, a bungalow in Fareham.

From here they moved to Whitenap, Romsey where they had 3 children Paul, Kate and Alastair who all attended Romsey Abbey School during the 1970’s.

In the mid-1970s, the family moved to East Wellow and lived there very happily for many years as the children grew up with weddings and christenings at St Margaret’s Church, East Wellow. Alex and Hazel moved to Abbotswood, Romsey in 2014 and sadly Hazel passed away in 2016. He dearly missed his wife leading Alex to move to Abbeyfield, Mill Lane Romsey in 2020 where he lived his remaining time and was well looked after by the friendly and professional staff at Abbeyfield.

Throughout his very fulfilled career in the oil and gas industry, Alex took many opportunities to work on different projects in locations across Europe including France, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway and Portugal coupled with roles in London and Southampton.

He was overall responsible for projects and construction yards that employed hundreds of engineers, welders and painters in France in the 1970’s. In his last role before retirement he was the managing director of the UK branch of a Canadian engineering company in London. Throughout his career, he continued to live in Wellow and Romsey.

Alex was a keen sports fan and in his younger years was an enthusiastic cyclist, footballer and cricketer playing for school and works teams. He was a devoted Portsmouth FC fan since attending his first match aged 9 in November 1948 at Fratton Park, for which he carefully kept his treasured match day ticket and program. Alex spent many hours over the years discussing football with his Southampton supporter friends amid local rivalry.

With his long interest in politics, Alex held two terms of office as chairman of the Romsey Conservative Association between 2007 and 2012 putting in place further support for election campaigns. He enjoyed party conferences, visits to Westminster and meeting senior politicians and MPs such as David Cameron, William Hague, Sir George Young

He was a long-time member of the Conservative Club in the Market Square, Romsey and regularly met up with friends socially prior to the pandemic and also enjoyed the friendly welcome in The Wheatsheaf, Braishfield and La Parisienne, Bell Street.

His funeral will take place at St Margaret's Church, East Wellow on October 22 at1.30pm.