A well-known Shropshire historian and author who died suddenly this year has helped raise £2,500 for a county charity in his memory.

David Trumper, who was known as a walking encyclopaedia on Shrewsbury, died in May aged 77 and a collection at his funeral raised £1,000 for the Shropshire Masonic Charitable Association (SMAC).

It was decided to donate this to the Lingen Davies Cancer Fund together with a further £1,500 from the SMCA in donations from members of Shropshire Freemasons that David was a part of. 

His legacy will help improve the lives of people affected by cancer across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, and Mid Wales – and reflects the way he helped people throughout his life.

David liked to help local charities by giving slide presentations to raise much needed funds and he was always keen to support Shropshire Masons with all the work they do to help others in need both locally and nationally.

The last talk he did was in April along with the help of the Salopian Lodge of Charity where they raised money in aid of the Respiratory Unit at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Crane Quality Counselling.

His widow Wendy, whom David married in 1970, herself had treatment at the Lingen Davies Cancer Centre between 2007 and 2009.

She said: “Different members of my family and friends have had treatment there and we felt it was an important part of the community. We are pleased to have raised this money for the Lingen Davies Cancer Fund as David was extremely grateful to them in the past and we feel that he would be happy to know that we have chosen to support them now.”

David was born in Shrewsbury and raised in Frankwell, attending St George’s Boys School in Frankwell and Meole Brace Secondary School before going to Shrewsbury Technical College. He completed an apprenticeship in printing and entered the industry, working there for a few years before retraining as a teacher in 1973.

He taught at Cleobury Mortimer Primary School and Greenacres Primary School in Shrewsbury, but he spent the majority of his teaching career at Ladygrove Primary School in Dawley, Telford, where he became deputy head.

Alongside this, David had a passion for local history and wrote more than 20 books about the history of local areas including Shrewsbury, Telford, Oswestry and South Shropshire.

He was in the process of compiling a book about the pubs of Shrewsbury when he died and by this time had an enormous collection of old pictures.

Wendy added: “David was inspired to take an interest in local history by Mr Pitchford who taught him history at St Georges. He used to collect old photographs of the town and someone once asked him to step in and show them to a local group after their speaker had let them down. It all snowballed from there.”

David and Wendy had a daughter, Vicki and two grandchildren, Sam, 20, and 17-year-old Alice.

Vicki said: “I don’t ever remember a time when my Dad wasn’t that person, I learned at an early age how to answer the telephone to people making enquiries about Shrewsbury and wanting to arrange for Dad to do slide talks for them.”

She added: “Lingen Davies does such a wide range of good work.”

Naomi Atkin, CEO of Lingen Davies, said the collections by friends and family were a wonderful way to remember David and the impact he had on people’s lives.

She said: “David was well-known and popular throughout Shropshire, and specifically Shrewsbury.

He had a huge impact on many people’s lives and a lot of people relied on him to answer their questions or provide them with the pictures of the past they were after.

“We are so honoured his friends and family decided to mark his memory with these collections and would like to thank them all for their generosity in helping ensure we can improve the lives of those affected by cancer across Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin, and Mid Wales.”