'A fitting tribute to a remarkable man': Guests attend special dinner to celebrate Dewsbury doctor's 50 years with the NHS

Dr Hanume Thimmegowda, who has two family practices in the Dewsbury area, invited family, friends and colleagues to the event on Friday, May 19.

It featured a string quartet and top table guests included Baroness Ann Taylor, a former Dewsbury MP, and the outgoing Mayor of Kirklees Masood Ahmed. Margaret Watson, a former deputy editor of the Dewsbury Reporter, also spoke to more than 100 guests.

Baroness Taylor said: “It is quite amazing that Dr Thimmegowda has reached this milestone of 50 years of dedicated service to the NHS. It is an honour to be here this evening to celebrate this with him and of course to be back in Dewsbury.”

Margaret added: “It was a fitting tribute to a remarkable man, who has achieved lots during his career.”

Dr Thimmegowda said: “It was a wonderful evening and lovely to see so many of my family, friends and colleagues in one place. It was my way of saying thank you to them.”

The GP was born in a village in Karnataka, southern India, and raised as one of ten children, on a farm where his father hoped he would become a sheep farmer and look after the animals on the small farm the family had. But the young Dr Thimmegowda had other ideas.

He arrived in the UK in 1973, working at several hospitals before settling in Dewsbury in 1980, where he has worked ever since.

Today he is a senior partner in family practice at Albion Mount Medical Practice in Dewsbury and at Mountain Road Surgery in Thornhill.

Still working part-time. with five surgery sessions a week, he has no immediate plans to retire and says: “I never look at the clock when taking surgery. Patients are always my priority.”

He has five sons and nine grandchildren. Two of his sons are consultants - one is a psychiatrist and one works in general medicine - and he says proudly that he has a grandson who is studying medicine and biology at Cambridge University.

Dr Thimmegowda has set up his own scholarship fund to help deserving children living in or near his home village in India, to help pupils at the local high school into further education.

He also built a village hall for meetings and functions and a Hindu Temple in the village where he was born, with his family support.

As a former president of Dewsbury Rotary Club, he remains a member, having become the first ever Indian person to join in Dewsbury.

He is a past president of the British Medical Association Dewsbury division, in addition to a Family Doctor Association Yorkshire and Humber representative.

Dr Thimmegowda adds: “I never forget my roots and I always look out for underprivileged or disadvantaged people, as I have been there myself.

"That is why I set up the scholarship for other children to be able to achieve and do their best.”