1930-2019

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Kit Hughes' Life Membership of the BDA has come to an end. For 36 years Kit was in general practice in Colchester, Essex. He took an active and engaged interest in the work of the BDA in Essex, and gave considerable energy and time to its work with the Department of Health in the 1970s and 1980s.

Kit trained at the London Hospital, a 17-year-old among veterans returning from active service in the War. National Service as an RAF dentist followed, with stays in Iraq providing opportunities for exploring the region, seeding a love of travel which survived into later life.

Back in the UK, Kit married Mary and moved to work in Colchester in 1957. Initially in partnership with Alan Seymour, he set up his own practice in 1963 which he continued till retirement in 1993. Others judged his work as careful, precise, possibly unflashy but always with excellent care and craftsmanship. He enjoyed his friendships with patients.

Kit was a member of the Local Dental Committee from 1959, and the Representative Board from 1973. At that date he also became a member of the General Dental Services Committee. Kit served for ten years on the University Grants Committee, and for shorter periods on the Standing Dental Advisory Committee and the Dental Practice Board (in its earlier incarnation as the Dental Estimates Board). He was proposed for Life Membership of the BDA in the early 1990s.

Outside the surgery, Kit's time was most happily spent sailing with friends and family, children and grandchildren on the Essex Coast and sometimes cruising further afield in his gaff-rigged yacht, Miranda. He enjoyed playing golf, bridge and croquet, and was an active Rotarian.

He died peacefully after a long and happy retirement, leaving good memories with his family and many friends, and with former patients too.

Sara Humphreys and Kate Clifton