A FORMER medical officer who took part in the Second World War Normandy Landings and was a long-serving member of a Denbigh church has died.

Dr Sidney Wilkins, born in Llanelli and moved to Denbigh after the war to become a GP and Elder of St Thomas's Church, died aged 100.

During his adolescence, Dr Wilkins's attended a number of different schools in Sheffield, Leeds, Nottingham and Lancaster as his father moved around for work.

During the war, Dr Wilkins was a medical officer during the war and helped to liberate France.

In 2016 he was appointed the rank of ‘Chevalier’ in the Ordre National de la Legion d'honneur by François Hollande, then President of France. Dr Wilkins was known to be very proud to have received the honour.

He graduated with a degree in medicine from the University of Birmingham and later moved to Denbigh, where he worked as a GP.

Dr Wilkins was a long-serving memeber of St Thomas's Church on Vale Street and was a keen modern sequence dancer who was actively involved in charities including St John’s Ambulance, Kidney Research, Christian Aid and Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

He cared for his wife, Joyce, who had MS and who was in a wheelchair for more than 20 years, until her death in 2001. He was a keen sportsman and enjoyed watching the national rugby team.

Mark Jones, Church Elder of St Thomas's, said: “Dr Wilkins faithfully served as an Elder at St Thomas’s Church for many, many years and was the driving force behind so many social activists such as Sequence Dancing. We are very saddened to hear of his passing but are thankful for all he did, not just in the Church, but also in the wider community."

A spokesperson for St Thomas's Church added: "Our prayers and thoughts are with Dr Wilkins family and entrust our brother to the Lord’s care."