Everyone connected with the Prostate Project will be deeply saddened by the passing of our great friend, mentor, Hon. President, and driving force Tim Sharp.
Together with his friend and founder of the charity Colin Stokes, and a handful of others, Tim devoted his time, imagination and energy into making the Prostate Project the well-respected, and influential charity that we are today.
In a recent newsletter article titled ‘The Founders of the Feast’, Colin commented on the role that Tim played, not only in getting the charity off the ground, but bringing our cause to local, and national attention.
‘Tim was pivotal to the success of the charity, while I was happy to attend meetings and be the face of the charity, it was Tim’s communication skills that kept the Prostate Project in the public eye, we were certainly punching above our weight, and much of this high profile was down to Tim’s creativity, and mastery of PR’.
Colin went on to sum up Tim’s contribution.
‘I am ever conscious that I am the one with the honours and the Urology Centre in my name. So many people have helped us create this amazing legacy, but one thing is certain – we couldn’t have done it without my old friend Tim Sharp.’
In the early years, it was sometimes Tim’s garden shed that acted as our office, and together with charity Secretary Katherine, the pair organised events like ‘Octobeardfest’, The Surrey Ad sponsored ‘Pint a Week’ idea, and the very first ‘Buy a Brick’ initiative, quite literally the campaign that The Stokes Centre for Urology was built upon.
Professor Stephen Langley with Tim Sharp from The Prostate Project as part of their buy a brick campaign, Royal Surrey County Hospital
Tim was a regular contributor to BBC Radio Surrey, even reviewing the Sunday ‘Papers with James Cannon’ and on one memorable occasion delighting listeners of BBC Surrey’s Nikki Campbell with a rap song that he composed live on air (see news clipping below)
A keen golfer, numerous golf days were arranged, with Tim calling in favours from the likes of General The Lord Dannatt, former Head of the British Army, Hogs Back Brewery, Bounce Foods, and Nikon UK for sponsorship and support.
All of the Prostate Project press releases, leaflets, and newsletters were brilliantly written by Tim, and such is the enduring popularity of these regular bulletins that we recently collected them all together in a single archive, that can be seen here: newsletter archive
At a recent lunch with Prostate Project Chairman, Martin Davies, Tim was full of enthusiasm and great ideas about the future of the charity, displaying as always his seemingly effortless brilliance and boundless energy.
Over the next few weeks and months, there will be many kind words spoken and written about Tim Sharp. His loss will be most keenly felt by his wife Valerie and their family, to whom we send our love and condolences, but we would like to add our thoughts about a man that was loved and admired by everyone that had the good fortune to spend time in his company.
Tim was a friend to us all, a great man that was also a fine man, a friend that we will remember for his humour, patience, modesty, quick wittedness, and decency.
Rest in Peace Tim, you will be missed.
