TRIBUTES have today been paid to one of Felixstowe's best-loved senior citizens who died this week at the age of 88.Edwin Underwood was well-known in the town thanks to his involvement in a number of local groups and societies.

TRIBUTES have today been paid to one of Felixstowe's best-loved senior citizens who died this week at the age of 88.

Edwin Underwood was well-known in the town thanks to his involvement in a number of local groups and societies.

His cheery face was also a familiar site to visitors to his newsagents' shop in Beach Station Road, where he continued to work, alongside wife Pamela, right up until his death.

Mr Underwood's daughter Anne, 60, said: "Until he got ill he was still working in the shop every day, and getting up at 4am every morning to sort out the papers.

"He loved it. He called it his hobby – but it always looked like very hard work to me!"

Originally from Hertfordshire, Mr Underwood came to Felixstowe after the war in the 1940s.

In 1946 he set up Underwood's Ironmongers shop in Hamilton Road where he worked until the late 1970s.

A keen actor and singer, he was a founder member of the Felixstowe Amateur Dramatics and Operatic Society (FADOS) and took part in many of their productions. His wife, Pamela, 77, said: "He really enjoyed acting and he had a nice voice. He was front of house manager for FADOS for many years."

Mr Underwood also enjoyed a spell as chairman of the Felixstowe chamber of trade and was chairman of the Rotary Club for many years.

Mrs Underwood said she will remember him for his adventurous spirit and his enthusiasm for life: "He always liked to be the first to do something. He enjoyed travelling and had been on many of the inaugural journeys of various aeroplanes and trains.

"He was one of the first people to travel on the Eurostar and several years ago he completed a round the world trip.

"There weren't many countries in the world that he hadn't been to."

Mr Underwood had one daughter, Anne, two granddaughters and two great grandchildren, Maisie, five and Evie, 16 months.

Anne said: "Maisie used to love coming to see her great-granddad. She always used to ask when we were going to visit him in his sweetie shop."

He died on November 20 after contracting a chest infection.