Daughters pay tribute to Scarborough supporter of the arts Mike Tilling
The family of Mike Tilling have paid tribute to a much-loved father, grandfather and supporter of the arts across Scarborough and beyond.
Mr Tilling died, aged 76, earlier this month six weeks after being diagnosed with prostate cancer and contracting Covid.
Born in 1948 in Kingston-Upon-Hull, Mr Tilling was the youngest of three children. He had an older brother, an older sister and an adopted brother.
He was married to Jill and had two daughters, now both in their 40s. Fran Kitson is a yoga teacher and lives in Scarbrough and Jane Holland is a childminder and lives in Oxfordshire.
He also had four grandchildren – Elena, 15, and Anika, 12, Kitson and Eden, 14, and Noah, nine, Holland – whom he adored.
He was an English teacher and taught in Algeria and Germany. He later moved back to the UK and lived in Leicester.
He completed two master’s degrees – master of arts and master ofeducational studies.The family moved to Scarborough in 1984 where Mr Tilling was deputy head of now George Pindar School in Eastfield.
He also wrote training material and educational books. “He was passionate about learning and teaching,” said Fran.
He was a governor at schools both in Scarborough and Leeds where he worked later in his career.“He loved the arts, paintings, opera, theatre and used to travel to Italy, especially Rome, where he made it a mission to see as many Caravaggio paintings as he could,” said Fran.
“He was a regular visitor and supporter of the Scarborough art galleries. His taste in music was eclectic, from classical and opera to rock and pop, his most recent discovery was the music of metal band Nightwish.”
He loved films and plays, often going to the Stephen Joseph Theatre.
He wrote theatre and opera reviews for the Scarborough News Musical Theatre Review and online publication the North East Post.
Mr Tilling painted and sketched with the support of lessons at the North Yorks Art School in Scarborough.
He also loved literature, read widely and was a member of a bookclub. Mr Tilling also wrote about Scarborough literature festival Books by the Beach.“He was sociable and loved eating out, going to the local pub quiz, being part of a group and keeping fit – at one point being 17th in the UK for 2,000m indoor rowing,” said Jane.
“He enjoyed lively debate and intellectual conversation,” she said.
His funeral will be held at Scarborough Crematorium on Tuesday, August 20 at 1pm.