Institute President pays tribute to Tom Cook

Tom Cook, one of the founders of the Local Government Licensing Forum. passed away in April. Jim Button, President of the Institute of Licensing paid tribute to him at a memorial service which was held in Derby on 27^th May.

Tom, who was then Licensing Manager North Dorset District Council along with Jim and Sharon Davidson, Licensing Manager at Cambridge City Council had the idea of creating an organisation which would cover all local authority licensing activities. As Jim said at the memorial, “this was an idea that seemed so simple at the time. Tom was a true driving force behind this idea and the Local Government Licensing Form came into existence in 1996. Tom was chair of the south-west region and used his contacts and above all his personality to recruit licensing officers, councillors and local authority lawyers to join, both in the south-west and nationally”.

The Local Government Licensing Forum became the Institute of Licensing in 2003. As Jim said, that original idea “led to the creation of the national body for licensing in the UK. On behalf of the Institute of Licensing I can say that we are all saddened to have lost one of our founding fathers. However, his legacy lives on and I have to say, what a legacy that is.”

Jim concluded his memories of Tom at the Memorial by saying “Tom will be missed by everybody who knew him. His personality, his delight in finding answers to difficult questions, his ability to work around problems in an innovative way, and above all his joy of life enriched the lives of everyone he encountered I’ll miss him as a professional colleague but above all as a friend. I’m sure that everybody here will feel the same.”

Without Tom and Sharon, the Institute as we know it would not exist and in the LGLF’s early days, Tom’s enthusiasm and optimism were essential to maintain the momentum required to bring a new organisation into existence.

We pass our deepest condolences to all his friends and family.