Tributes have been paid to a Lancashire County Council worker killed in a plane crash in Nepal.
Timothy Oakes, 57, was one of seven British nationals killed when a light aircraft crashed shortly after take-off from Kathmandu on Thursday.
Mr Oakes, who lived in Winwick, near Warrington, worked for the county council’s education department as a secondary schools advisor.
Paul Dyson-Knight, Lancashire County Council’s senior secondary school and post-16 senior adviser and team leader, said: “Tim was a highly respected colleague who had a successful career in education.
“He joined the advisory service in Lancashire in 2008 and has made a tremendous contribution to supporting secondary schools across Lancashire, always dedicated to helping schools to make a positive difference for their students.
“His skills in assisting school leaders to build on their strengths is widely recognised by a great many headteachers and senior staff, and he will be very sadly missed by us all.
“Our thoughts are with his family at this very sad time.”
The seven Britons were amongst 19 people who died in the crash.
The group were on their way to start a trekking trip in the Himalayan mountains.
Mr Oakes wife Angie Gaunt said her husband was on the “trip of a lifetime.”
She said: ““Tim was a mountaineer.
“He lived life to the full and died doing something he always wanted to do.
“It should never deter people from living out their dreams.
“He was a mountaineer and he always wanted to go to Everest base camp, not climb it, to go to the base camp, and that’s what he was doing.
“He was going because he always wanted to see Everest.
“It was the trip of a lifetime, he had always wanted to do it. If you love the mountains, it is the ultimate.”
Mr Oakes died alongside fellow Britons Raymond Eagle, 58, who lived in Macclesfield, Cheshire and worked with disabled people, Christopher Davey, 51, Vincent Kelly, 50, Darren Kelly, 45, Stephen Holding, 60, and Benjamin Ogden, 27, an up-and-coming lawyer from London.
Mr Oakes and Mr Holding were both members of the Bremex Mountaineering and Climbing Club.
In a statement on their website the club said: “Bremex is deeply saddened to hear of the loss of Stephen Holding and Tim Oakes in the Kathmandu plane crash.
“They will be missed by all the club.
“Our thoughts go out to their families and all their friends.”
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