A TOUR Guide, wildlife campaigner and prominent member of Salisbury Civic Society has died at the age of 82.

Hugh Thomas campaigned tirelessly for the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, for the Salisbury Water Meadows and many other conservation groups. He was also a keen supporter of the National Trust was another favourite, and acted as a guide at Mompesson House in the Cathedral Close and at Salisbury Museum.

Mr Thomas was born in Portsmouth and educated at Bedales and Trinity College, Cambridge, but settled in Salisbury in 1970 with his wife Liz, whom he married in 1954.

He worked as a hospital administrator at the old infirmary but travel was his first love and he went on to set up Wessex Tourist Services, which specialised in tours of Hardy Country.

He was to become one of the founder members of the Guild of Blue Badge Guides and was the number 8 Blue Badge specialising in tours of Wessex, concentrating on the life and works of Thomas Hardy and Stonehenge Officially he retired at 70, but although his wife died shortly after that, he continued to lead a full and active life leading reading groups and poetry clubs and several U3A groups.

He was also a fluent French speaker and a lover of traditional jazz, as well as being something of an authority on The Arts and Crafts Movement and the Bloomsbury Set.

He had suffered from cancer for the past six years and died on June 18.

He is survived by his son and daughter.