Jeffrey Dennis Lowe (23 Nov 1951 - 31 Mar 2018)

In loving memory of Jeffrey Dennis Lowe {Jeff} who sadly passed away on 31st March 2018 aged 66.

Much loved Dad to Claire and Duncan with first wife Elizabeth,
and to Cleo, Aaron and Gina with second wife Drita.

A loving Grandad who will be sadly missed by Thomas, Anna, William, Ava, Bethany, Joseph and Sophie.

Obituary written by daughter Claire with instructions and information from Jeff before he passed away.

The youngest of four children, Jeff was born in Romiley, Stockport, Greater Manchester {formerly Cheshire} in 1951.
He attended Romiley Primary School and was a well liked and disciplined young boy, despite being from a poor background he enjoyed learning and thrived at school.

Unfortunately his father was unable to settle after the war and was affected by mental illness which saw him turn to alcohol, this resulted in the temporary break up of the family and a move to his mothers home city of Bath. He attended secondary school at the school currently known as Bath Community Academy, formerly Culverhay School.

Jeff was an adventurous, cheeky and happy lad, he joined the Boy Scouts and would often take part in 'Gang Shows' and attained his Queens Scout Award.

Although ambitious and bright with dreams of becoming an architect Jeff was not allowed to attend University instead needing to go out to work after leaving school due to his families financial situation. He spent a couple of years in and around Bath taking jobs as a lab and photography technician as well as part time jobs in hotels. At one point he thought he might like to become a chef however he soon changed his mind after working in a kitchen and seeing what long hours and hard work it was!

In 1970 at the age of 19 and with the support and encouragement of his Uncle Ken {who he described as a great role model who he wished he'd seen more of, along with his other Uncles} he joined the Police Service and trained in Weston Super Mare.
He did well as a young police officer and enjoyed his work, he won two awards for bravery, one for rescuing a woman from a house fire and the other for saving a drowning woman on Weston Super Mare sea front.
It was during these years in the early 70's that he met his first wife Elizabeth who had moved up from Cornwall to train as a Nurse in Weston General Hospital.
They Married in Jan 1974.
Jeff continued his career moving to Nailsea Police Station where he and Liz made their first home and then back to Weston Super Mare again whereupon they moved to the village of Hutton.
Jeff threw himself into village life and was well known and liked. He was a keen member of Hutton Drama group and could often be found playing comical roles in local plays and pantomimes as well as playing Rugby for the Police and local teams. He also enjoyed rock climbing and 'bottle digging' in old Victorian rubbish dumps.

In 1977 his much wanted daughter Claire was born followed in 1980 by son Duncan. Jeff was a dedicated father who adored his children and took them on many wonderful adventures in particular regular camping holidays and he indulged in many different hobbies and experiences, such as a 7 week family trip to Australia to tour and visit his sister, collecting antiques and restoring a 1933 Lanchester 10 moter-car which he undertook over a period of several years.

In 1986 Jeff was awarded promotion to the rank of Police Sergeant and was transferred to Bristol as a Shift Sergeant in the St Pauls area, this resulted in the family moving from Hutton to the village of Timsbury just outside Bath.

Jeff enjoyed his new role and the challenges that came with working in deprived areas of the inner city, much of his work initially centred around rebuilding Police and community relationships after major riots in the area and anti social behaviour, latterly his focus became more drug related crime and terrorism.

During his career he spent time working in Trinity Rd, St George and Bridewell Police Stations in Bristol and finished his career in Bath in 2001 as an acting Inspector and retiring on an Inspectors pay and pension. He worked on task force, undercover and as a shift and custody sergeant, he covered Glastonbury Festival and Football matches as well as many high profile incidents such as the Melanie Hall inquiry and the M5 Rapist. He also spent time working as a Police Trainer at Chantmarle in Dorset during the early 1990's, experience that would give him the skills needed for his later work training Police Officers abroad.
During this period around the time he turned 40 he revisited his dream of attending University and studied BSc hons in Psychology with Open University followed by a Masters Degree in Policing and Criminal Studies with Exeter University and then followed this by undertaking another Degree in Archaeology with Bristol University as it was a subject that interested him. Another of his achievements around this time was completing the London Marathon for charity.

In 1991 the family moved to Midsomer Norton to be closer to his childrens' secondary school and it is here that Jeff undertook the renovation of a 6 bedroom farmhouse doing most of the work himself. He was also keen on local history and traced the origins of the property back to the 1600's and discovered Roman remains in the garden and the nearby farm. One of his main hobbies during this period was collecting antiques and he curated a fine collection of beautiful glassware.
Jeff also had a deep love and respect for the natural world and would often be found enjoying the countryside and encouraging his children to do the same, exploring National Trust properties, camping, sea fishing and he very much enjoyed weekends away walking the South West Coast Path with his long time friend Steve, often with his faithful canine companion Harry by his side.

In 2000 he was invited to work in Kosovo as a Police Trainer, taking his skills to re-structure and train the Police Service there after the war. It was work that he described as being a real eye opener, he thought he'd seen the worst of human nature in his Police work however going into a country after conflict and seeing and hearing such harrowing things as well as witnessing the appalling conditions in which people were living affected him profoundly.
During his time there he had to assist in the re-structuring of the majority Serb Police force to include many more Albanians, it was alleged that the Serbs were oppressing the majority Albanian population and there was very little trust in them. The Police needed to more evenly reflect the population. Lead by the OSCE the project allowed him the flexibility to trial different training methods, he introduced role play and 'student centred training' however one of his initiatives made a huge impact, it was considered daring and novel, he insisted that in his classroom Serbs and Albanians would sit together and train together despite having been on opposing sides in the conflict. It was risky and could have failed but using his knowledge of Psychology he was able to get his class working together and eventually become friends. His methods were so successful they were used throughout the whole program and considered the 'Jewel in the Crown' of the Kosovo project, his initiative was then copied and used in other UN projects worldwide. It was in Kosovo where he met second wife Drita who worked as his translator and driver.

After retiring in the UK 18 months later he was invited to do similar work in Macedonia where he was appointed Recruitment Liaison Manager. (or similar title, he couldn't remember) here he was tasked with recruiting Albanians into the then majority Serb Police service as the state was aiming for democratic reform. He described the job as politically charged, he often had to meet with high ranking civil servants and politicians some of whom he described as being of 'dubious character' within a corrupt regime. Despite political obstructions he managed to recruit the target number of personnel and then set about helping to create the training program.

A couple of years after this he was sent to Jordan to join the International Police Training Commission headed by the US to help train Iraqi Police recruits and then to Darfur in Sudan where he set up centres and investigated the 'intent incompetency' of the African Union in particular their ability to investigate gender based violence against women and girls. Working with the UN and other agencies he helped to head up a reform project and set up training camps to train the Police to deal properly with these crimes and also units to properly support the victims. These initiatives were highly praised.
In between international missions he also worked as a UN election observer.
His work in these years after his retirement from the Police took him to some of the most unstable and dangerous places in the world including several of the Balkan States, the Iraqi/Jordanian border, Afganistan, Kazakstan and Sudan.

During this period he married Drita his second wife and their three children were born. However the decline of his health put a stop to his international missions and he decided to settle back in the UK in Salisbury and became the main carer for his 3 young children. Not a man to sit still he started his own part time window cleaning business to keep him ticking over until he was no longer able to work.

Sadly in Septemeber 2015 he was diagnosed with bowel cancer which eventually spread to his liver, he bravely fought it for over two and a half years before finally passing away surrounded by his daughter Claire, son Duncan and wife Drita in Salisbury Hospice on 31st March.