A COMMUNITY champion and former nurse, Gill Elkins was at her heart someone who cared for others.

Born in Clacton at the Maternity Home in Skelmersdale Road in 1953, Gill was the eldest of three sisters and attended Alton Park Junior and Pathfields High School before leaving at 16, to begin training as a nurse at Clacton Hospital.

Aged 19, she married her husband, Clive. The couple met while keen fisherman Clive, from Watford was visiting the area on one of his regular angling trips, with the story going that the fish (Gill, née Salmon) had caught a fisherman.

The couple soon moved to Luton and had three children, with Gill returning to healthcare afterwards – rising to the position of district nurse before the family moved back to Clacton in 1987.

Continuing the health theme Gill became a care assistant before going to work on the railways, rising through several positions before she retired in the late 1990s.

Passionate about where she lived, Gill did not settle down – keeping her foot firmly on the pedal as she continued to serve her local community.

Gill was a long-standing secretary of both the Jaywick Forum and Jaywick and Tudor Residents’ Association, as well as being on the board of Tendring Community Transport.

Gill was secretary and vice-chairman of the Clacton Crime Prevention Panel, and it was local crime reduction officer Calvin Heal who had nominated her when she was made an MBE by the Queen, for services to the community, in 2009.

Much of Gill’s work took place in the background in her various roles, quietly organising and co-ordinating activity to benefit others, and she was notorious for shying away from the limelight.

Outside of her community work Gill loved spending time with her family, and enjoying reading – particularly crime and mystery novels – as well as knitting, with all of the children enjoying home-made clothing as youngsters.

Gill’s family remember her as being determined and stubborn, traits which served her well in her community work, and much-loved, impossible to go out with her without being stopped by many people who knew her. She was fondly known to her family as “Nanny Elephant” because she never forgot things.

“The whole family is so proud of her, especially when she got her MBE – Gill did what she did because she has a passion for Jaywick Sands and helping people,” her family said.

“Gill had a heart of gold, the kettle was always on and if anyone had a problem they went to Gill and she would always help you.

“She didn’t judge you, or care who you were or where you were from, you were a person to her.”

Gill suffered with COPD for many years, and finally succumbed to the condition last month. She is survived by her husband, Clive, three children Jody, Hayley and Martin, eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Gill’s funeral service takes place at 11am on August 18 at Weeley Crematorium. People are invited to make donations to the RNLI or St Helena Hospice in her memory, rather than sending flowers.