This site is a tribute to Ken Dobbs, who was born on April 10, 1955. He is much loved and will always be remembered.

Ken was a very well-known and well liked member of the community as well as a devoted family man. He was known locally by many through the scouting movement,football refereeing, cricket umpiring and his association with Rushden &Diamonds including being the stadium announcer and running quizzes for many years. His general kindness to everyone he met was a great asset of his that people took to greatly.

Those who saw the best of him, were his family. He was a wonderful father to Michael,Andy and Richard, as devoted husband to Gill for 24 years and more recently a loving partner to Lynn with whom he spent many happy years.

In October 2012 Ken and those close to him were hit with a series of worst case scenarios that lead to him being diagnosed with a very aggressive form of oesophageal cancer.A great deal of worry and many frustrations accumulated throughout the tormenting journey. Cransley Hospice was a pressure release for a lot of these when he was admitted in December. The moment Ken walked through the door he was visibly relieved. In the three weeks before his passing, he and his family witnessed the highest level of professionalism and human kindness. The staff were incredibly compassionate and went over and above their bounds of duty,whist treating patients with as much normality as possible. As Ken was at Cransley over the Christmas and New Year period it really showed the value of family and highlighted the staffs efforts even more as they were away from theirs at a special time of year. Ken even saw in 2013 celebrating with a few nurses who sat with him for the evening. On the night of Kens passing in January one member of staff stayed way beyond the end of her shift to help him and his loved ones through a very traumatic evening.

Cransley Hospice will forever have a special place in all of our hearts. It is an amazing facility that helps so many families like ours through difficult times with an unrelenting level of care and support.

Because of this our family has, and will continue to fund raise for Cransley Hospice. Close to £4000 has now been raised in his name through various events. His sons are all especially active in doing so. Michael hosted a well-attended annual charity Quiz; Richard, who is a teacher, raises money through school events and Andy has completed a half marathon and now trains for The London Marathon.

People are very forthcoming with donations because the reputation of Cransley is well known as an impeccable one.