TRIBUTES have been paid to a "hugely respected" GP who has died aged 95.
Well-known doctor Lloyd Divers passed away in Horley on April 23 from natural causes.
One of his five children, David Divers, said: "He had a wicked sense of humour and he loved people.
"He loved being a GP and his big thing was sport. He opened the batting for Outwood Cricket Club when he was 70 and then played tennis well into his 80s.
"With the old fashioned GPs, I think people would go to them with all of their problems and he would try and sort them out."
Dr Divers was born in Exeter on July 16, 1918. He moved to Leeds University in 1937 to study medicine and it was there he met Betty, a fellow medical student, and they married in May 1944, just before he went to Normandy as a medic on D-Day.
After the war, Dr Divers started at Smallfield Hospital as a dermatologist and then moved on to start Horley's first group practice along with three other doctors, before the NHS started.
He also practised at surgeries in Massetts Road and, later, Kings Road.
Richard Olliver, Mayor of Horley and former partner at the practice with Dr Divers, said: "He was always very good in dermatology. If any of us had any problems with a skin complaint, we would go to him and seek advice.
"Some of the older members of the practice will remember what was colloquially known as Doctor Divers' Bottom Cream. It was far better than what any of the local chemists could put together, but it was well known by mothers with young children that that was the thing to use if their babies got nappy rash.
"He was very supportive of me as a young doctor when I started, as he was with the others."
Dr Jim Williamson, another former partner, said: "He was hugely respected and very good at anything he did. I think he was probably most famous for Doctor Divers' Bottom Cream."
Dr Divers and Betty had five children, 16 grandchildren, and two great grandchildren.
They moved to Charlwood after Dr Divers retired, where he continued playing tennis and cricket.
He was also a member of the Parochial Church Council at St Nicholas' Church, in Charlwood.
After Betty died in 2005, Mr Divers moved back into Horley and, in 2009, married Maria Stalford. The pair lived happily there together until Mr Divers' sight began to deteriorate and, as a result, they spent more time at the Blind Veterans UK centre in Brighton.
His wife Maria Divers, of Wavertree Court, in Horley, said: "He was just an amazing character. He was a wonderful gentleman and he loved his patients. Truly, they were like his family."
