Mr Geoffrey Kitchen was an avid music lover and well-loved by his local people. PHOTOS: REUTERS, GEOFF.KITCHEN.75/FACEBOOK
SINGAPORE – The 73-year-old Briton that died on the turbulence-hit Singapore Airways flight on Could 21 was a beloved member of his local people who was headed for a “final massive vacation” along with his spouse.
A retired insurance coverage skilled and musical theater director, Mr Geoffrey Kitchen, and his spouse have been stopping over in Singapore en path to Australia for a six-week vacation that may additionally take them to Japan and Indonesia.
The couple have been on board Flight SQ321, which skilled extreme turbulence about 10 hours after it left London. Passengers and crew have been thrown concerning the cabin, leaving many injured, some severely.
READ: Passenger who died on Singapore Airways flight possible had coronary heart assault
Mr Kitchen is suspected to have died of a coronary heart assault.
He lived in Thornbury, close to Bristol in south-west England, and had a son and daughter, in line with British information outlet The Guardian.
His daughter, Ms Anna Proctor, described her father as an “extraordinarily variety, loving and mild man”.
Talking to The Telegraph information outlet, Ms Proctor mentioned: “He had years forward of him and clearly we’re utterly devastated… He was a legend.”
His cousin, Mr Stephen Kitchen, informed The Impartial that the couple had been wanting ahead to their massive vacation collectively.
READ: 1 killed, 30 harm after London-SG flight hit by extreme turbulence
“They’re vacationers; they do various these items, fairly adventurous,” he mentioned. “It was form of going to be their final massive vacation. It might have been good to see them earlier than they went. It was a tour round Asia.”
He added that he was shocked by the incident and nonetheless attempting to contact his cousin’s widow, who was additionally taken to hospital after the airplane diverted to Bangkok.
Mr Kitchen mentioned he had fond reminiscences of his cousin and would keep in mind their shared love for music.
“He was extremely popular within the Thornbury musical group, only a beautiful man,” he mentioned.
The late Mr Kitchen based the Thornbury Musical Theatre Group and spent over 35 years serving to to run the group, The Guardian reported.
The group took to Fb on Could 21 (Could 22, Singapore time) to pay tribute to Mr Kitchen, describing the lack of their “esteemed colleague and good friend” as devastating.
“Geoff was all the time a gentleman with the utmost honesty and integrity and all the time did what was proper for the group,” the submit mentioned, including that his dedication to the group was “unquestionable”.
Mr Kitchen had carried out in a Dick Whittington pantomime final Christmas and not too long ago campaigned for the re-opening of Armstrong Corridor in Thornbury, which had beforehand been used for theatre productions.
His neighbor and fellow theatre group member, Mr Steve Dimond, informed The Impartial that Mr Kitchen had most not too long ago been serving to the group with preparations for its upcoming present, Journey Again To The Future.
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Mr Dimond, who has identified Mr Kitchen for 11 years and would typically go on walks with him and their wives, mentioned: “We are going to proceed with the following present, which can possible be accomplished in his title.
“I’m actually shocked, he’ll be badly missed. He was a sort man who, in recent times, after retirement, had cherished the musical theatre.”
His spouse, Ms Jill Dimond, who was additionally a detailed good friend of Mr Kitchen, mentioned: “He was a well-loved man. He was intelligent, humorous, a unbelievable performer, deeply caring about theatre. It was his ardour.”
