Tributes have been paid to a respected and beloved Woodbridge GP who was delivering a baby the night singer Jimi Hendrix was rushed into his hospital.
When Dr Peter Ashford and his wife were contemplating moving to Suffolk from London in the 1970s, they first had to check a map to see whereabouts in the country it was.
However, our county soon became the place they called home, and Suffolk is all the richer for it, for countless patients in Woodbridge have benefited from Peter’s gentle manner and meticulous care over the years.
This instilled a great love of the sea in Peter, said his wife of more than 50 years, Liz. Peter became a county swimmer, and even learned to sail. He also loved nothing more than cycling through the countryside with his elder brother, John.
Once he finished at the local grammar school, Peter began his medical training at the prestigious Guy’s Hospital in London in 1962.
It was thanks to Guy’s that Peter and Liz first met. She had begun working as a trainee nurse in 1968, while he had just qualified as a doctor. Peter was a keen player for the hospital’s rugby union team, and a disco was being held following a cup match.
Peter asked Liz to dance and, despite him having two left feet, she was smitten.
Three and a half years later, the couple were sitting in the kitchen in Peter’s shared flat in Clapham when Liz asked him to be her husband, and he said yes.
This included St Mary Abbots, where the American singer songwriter Jimi Hendrix was rushed in September 1970. The singer died at the hospital, aged 27.
Peter, a great Jimi Hendrix fan, would have loved to have been part of the team who tried to save Hendrix, said Liz. Alas, he was two floors above working in obstetrics and gynae delivering a baby.
Peter then became a partner at a GP practice based in Jermyn Street. This suited him for a while, but the workload was immense, with Peter and just one other doctor covering all the theatres in the West End by night.
So, he searched the British Medical Journal for a post somewhere quieter and outside of London – which is how he and Liz arrived in Woodbridge in 1973.
“We had such fun together,” said Liz. “Peter was a wonderful, wonderful father.”
His instincts would prove invaluable to the family, for he saved the life of his eldest daughter.
Four-year-old Laura had fallen from a swing and cracked her head on the concrete below, fracturing her skull. With his expert eye, Peter insisted that his daughter had a bleed on the brain, and she was blue-lighted to Addenbrookes where she received lifesaving care.
When he walked through Woodbridge, patients would often greet Peter, said Liz. He would always be happy to stop and talk, answering their questions in his usual gentle manner.
He and Liz enjoyed exploring the countryside together on their bicycles, cycling the 603 miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats in 2007.
In his later years, Peter was also an active member of the Rotary Club in Woodbridge.
Peter died with his family by his side on November 15, aged 80. He is survived by his wife, Liz, their three daughters and seven grandchildren.
To read more tributes to those we have loved and lost from Suffolk, click here
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