Campaigner Mac loses cancer battle
Tipton campaigner and community stalwart Mac Beckley has died after a year long battle with cancer.
Mac, aged 65, was a much loved resident and won Tiptonian of the Year in 2000 for all of his work.
He died on Friday from throat cancer and today his family and friends paid tribute to him and his tireless efforts to make the town a better place to live.
His son, urban park ranger Neil Beckley, 45, said: "Dad was an amazing man, he would always put other people before himself right up until the end and he was very popular.
"He wanted to make things better for people. That was what drove him, and he led a hectic life because of it."
Former car sales executive Mac, lived at Fisher Street, Great Bridge, with his wife Lucy Beckley, known as Glen, until she died of a brain haemorrhage four years ago.
Neil, who now lives in Hodge Hill, Birmingham was his only son and he also leaves daughter-in-law Sharon and grandchildren Claire, 20, and Leanne, 18.
Tony Roper, chair of the Great Bridge Traders Association, said the news would come as a shock to the community.
"For me it is like loosing my right arm," he said. "Mac was such a good man and he worked so hard, I am very very sad and it will be a massive loss."
Mac started out as a neighbourhood watch coordinator after a spate of arson attacks on his estate.
A couple of years later, more than 100 people had to be evacuated when a storm ripped the roofs from three blocks of maisonettes on the Slater Street and Fisher Street estate.
Out of the freak disaster rose a new community spirit with Mr Beckley leading the way as the chairman of the Great Bridge Tenants and Residents Association.
In 1997 he teamed up with the then chief constable of the West Midlands Sir Edward Crew to launch a crime cutting initiative.
The scheme called CATCH, Community Action Tackling Crime and Harassment, saw Sir Edward hand over £3,600 to fund 26 hand-held radios for residents to alert each other of suspicious goings on and report them to police.
Mr Beckley, who was a key figure in the campaign to save Tipton Baths from closure, was also a member of Tipton Civic Society.
His funeral is on January 14 at 10am at Newton Road Crematorium in West Bromwich.
