Tributes to Arun Neighbourhood Watch figure

WARM tributes have been paid to Denis Carver, who dedicated himself to fighting crime across the Arun district and to improving the lives of many in the community.
By The Newsroom
Published 4th Nov 2013, 09:00 BST

Denis, of Neptune Way, Littlehampton, died earlier this month, aged 85, and representatives of Neighbourhood Watch (NW), in which he played a leading role, and other community groups were among mourners at his funeral at Worthing Crematorium, Findon, on Tuesday.

Shortly after he and his wife Brenda moved from Kent to Littlehampton in 1991 for their retirement, Denis became the NW co-ordinator for his road and soon afterwards the sector co-ordinator for a large part of Rustington and Littlehampton. Over the years, he helped to increase the number of schemes to 63, covering almost 1,600 homes.

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With police crime prevention co-ordinator Ivor Webb, he produced monthly NW newsletters which were delivered to more than 17,000 homes across a wide area of West Sussex, telling people which crimes were affecting where they lived, and offering crime prevention advice.

He went on to become chairman of the Arun Neighbourhood Watch Association Committee and received the top award from the organisation’s national body for outstanding service.

Denis also served as chairman of a ‘friends’ group for Mewsbrook Park and had a key role in setting up and maintaining Littlehampton’s hub for voluntary groups, Dove Lodge, in Beach Road, with the Arun Council for Voluntary Service.

At the funeral service, Ivor described Denis as a ‘man of the people’, adding: “His ethos has been to make life safer and easier for his fellow mankind. He certainly succeeded in that mission.”

Denis, who worked mainly in the employment agency field, is survived by Brenda.