A former High Wycombe mayor and RAF veteran who played an active role in the community as a councillor and school governor has passed away aged 88.

Arthur James Tanner – known as Jim – was mayor of High Wycombe from 1989 to 1990, a Bucks county councillor from 1981 to 1989 and a Wycombe district councillor from 1983 to 1990 and then again from 1995 to 1999.

Jim, who lived at Ryeview Manor Care Home in Keep Hill Road along with his wife Sylvia, passed away peacefully on March 13.

He leaves behind Sylvia, his son Mark, and brothers Bill, Gerald and Jeff.

An active member of the community, Jim was the founding member of Pensioners Voice, a charity that provided support to the elderly and he contributed to the weekly community news column in the Bucks Free Press for a number of years.

He also played an integral role in the Castlefield New Community Centre, Wycombe Charity Carnival and was president of the High Wycombe Horticultural Society.

Jim, who lived in Terryfield Road, High Wycombe, before he went into Ryeview Manor, was also governor at Royal Grammar School, John Hampden Grammar School, The Vinio School, Bookerhill School, The Bucks College of Education and was chairman at The Castlefield School and The Hatters Lane School.

Jim was born in Horton, near Banbury, in 1930 and went on to work at a poultry farm and Edgehill stone quarry before joining the Royal Air Force in 1952 at Stationed Bomber Command, Naphill, until 1955.

After the RAF, he joined the Thames Valley Bus Company and then Harrison and Sons, a major worldwide engraver and printer of postage stamps and banknotes.

He also worked in the probation service, supervising young offenders, before going into local politics as a Labour councillor.

While working for residents as a county councillor, he served on a number of committees including the social services, highways and public protection committees and the police complaints panel.

As a Wycombe district councillor, he served on the planning, housing and leisure committees and was a Charter Trustee, before being elected as chairman of the council’s CCTV panel in 2002.

Jim also managed to find time to write a book on his life story called ‘The Village and Beyond’, travelled the world to places like Malaysia, South Africa, Canada and the Bahamas and was secretary of the Wycombe constituency Labour party from 1995 to 2001.

Speaking of his father after his death, Jim’s son Mark said: “When he was mayor, he was so well-known and he did so much throughout his life.

“At home, I would see a different side to him. In public, he was great at giving speeches and talking to crowds – he did a lot of public speaking – but at home, mum would be the one organising things. If we went for a family meal, he wouldn’t be the dominant one arranging things.

“But if there was a public event or a speech to be given, he would come alive.”

Jim’s funeral service will be held at Chilterns Crematorium in Whielden Lane, Amersham, on April 3 at 12.15pm.

After the funeral, there will be a gathering at The Black Lion in Woodland Drive, Naphill.

Donations to the Alzheimer’s Society are preferred rather than flowers. Donations can be sent to Arnold Funeral Services, 891 London Road, Loudwater, High Wycombe, HP10 9TB, or call 01494 472572.