COMMUNITY figures have paid tribute to a “highly-respected” doctor who is believed to have died in a crash in Gerrards Cross.

The Rotary Club of Gerrards Cross and Chalfont St Peter said Rotarian Dr Rosemary Jane Chambers, 83, “sadly died doing what she enjoyed – keeping Gerrards Cross free from litter for our community” at around 6.20pm on February 20 on the A40 Oxford Road, near the crossroads with Packhorse Road.

Des Legg, president of the Rotary club, said: “Jane announced herself at our meeting room at the Ethorpe Hotel in 2015.

“She informed us that she was retired and wanted to do something worthwhile to help others, so could she join our club. Of course, we welcomed her with open arms and she soon established herself as an enthusiastic member.

“She enthusiastically took over the organising and selling of the weekly raffle tickets – no-one was allowed to get away without buying one.

“She served on the environmental committee and took to picking up litter on the streets of Gerrards Cross.

“This soon became an obsession and she could be seen almost every day of the week with her plastic sack collecting all the offending rubbish.

“I once met her in the car park of my previous printing works in Station Road. I told her that it was private property to which she proudly announced that it still had to be cleared. More recently Jane showed signs of dementia but she still carried on collecting the litter.

“For her work in environmental cleansing I awarded her a Paul Harris Fellowship in 2018. I’m almost certain that she had no idea what she was being presented with, but it gave me a great deal of pleasure in giving it to her. She will be sadly missed.”

The Rotary club was told Dr Chambers, of Bulstrode Court, had assisted in the world’s first heart transplant performed in Cape Town in 1967 by renowned surgeon Dr Christiaan Barnard.

To pay tribute to her work in keeping the town clean, the Rotary club, along with Gerrards Cross businesses and the town council, are raising money to pay for a bench and litter bin to be installed adjacent to the crossroads where she died in her memory.

Her friend, Anne Turner, said: “She was a highly respected member of the medical profession having worked in three continents in Cardiac and Thoracic Radiology.

[She was] A faithful member of the St James Church community in Gerrards Cross with a wish to serve her community in a variety of different ways throughout her life. She will be missed.”

A service of remembrance will take place at St James’ Church on Monday (March 18) at 2pm. Thames Valley Police did not respond to repeated requests for more details about the crash at the time of going to print.