Tributes have been paid to Southport hotelier, business owner and philanthropist Tim Timmerman.
Tim Timmerman was among local figures who stepped in to rescue the historic Southport Flower Show when Sefton Council was preparing to axe the event in the 1980s.
He grew the Mellors bakery business; bought the Royal Clifton Hotel in Southport; and was involved in the successful operation of the Lancashire Manor Hotel and Mellors Catering Services.
He carried out significant community community work, remaining involved in Southport Flower Show, and supporting a variety of initiatives through The Rotary Club of Southport.
In October last year he raised nearly £4,000 for the Clatterbridge Cancer Charity through a charity abseil down the side of the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Liverpool.
Southport councillor Sir Ron Watson CBE said: “Tim Timmerman has been a hugely important figure in Southport over many decades.
“He ran a very successful bakery and was the owner of the Royal Clifton Hotel.
“I worked with him on various tourism initiatives where his input was always very helpful and very positive.
“The main thing which we owe him is the critical role he played in forming the Southport Flower Show Company and without his input, because of what were huge and mounting financial losses, the Show could not have continued when run by Sefton Council.
“Tim recognised the value that the Southport Flower Show had to the town and we were able to agree the formation of the Flower Show Company.
“He was able to gain support from large numbers of volunteers in particular with dramatic reductions in costs which meant that the Show could continue and develop.
I therefore have a great feeling of sadness that he was not with us long enough to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Show in just a couple of months time.
“It is a lasting legacy to someone who contributed so much over such a long period of time to Southport.”
Tim Timmerman joined Mellors on a Bakery Student Exchange scheme from Amsterdam in Holland in 1963.
He opened his first shop ‘The Dutch Chef’, a coffee shop and bakery on Lord Street, Southport in 1974.
Three years later Philip Blundell Hall retired and Tim Timmerman bought the Mellors business, consisting then of the Lord Street shop and bakery. He integrated the two companies and became managing director.
Three additional Mellors coffee and bakery shops opened between 1979 and 1982
The following year he bought The Royal Clifton Hotel in Southport with its 121 bedrooms, three function suites, a restaurant, several bars and a health club and spa.
In 1995 Mellors Catering Services was launched by its founder, Mark Timmerman, Tim’s son.
It would grow to over 140 sites and become one of the most successful catering companies in the UK.
2010 saw the purchase of Lancashire Manor Hotel, which was opened in November 2010 before being fully refurbished with 51 bedrooms and extensive conference / function and wedding facilities.
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