Tributes to ‘happy and well-respected’ Carl (From Thisisdorset)

Tributes to ‘happy and well-respected’ Carl

7:00pm Thursday 20th December 2007

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FLOWERS sent by celebrity cook Jean-Christophe Novelli are among hundreds of tributes which have been paid to young Christchurch chef Carl Symes since his death in a car crash three weeks ago.

Carl, 20, was a trainee chef at the plush Captain's Club Hotel on Christchurch Quay and colleagues lined up outside as the cortege passed by en route to his funeral service at the Priory.

Meanwhile, some 150 cards have poured into the family home at Mudeford, more than 50 floral tributes placed at the scene of the accident beside the A35 at Holmsley and numerous messages posted on Carl's website.

Grieving parents Peter and Pauline Symes said they had been comforted by the swell of sympathy and support and added their own tributes to a "loving son who loved his family, loved his friends and loved his work".

"It was more than just a job for him," said Mrs Symes, who recalled Carl's excitement and enthusiasm for his burgeoning career.

"He loved every minute and would come home and tell us about what he had been cooking that day. I can see him now, describing something he had been doing," she added.

Educated at Applemore College, near Hythe, before the family moved to Mudeford, Carl spent three years working as a trainee at the Somerford Hotel in Christchurch while attending day-release courses at Bournemouth and Poole College before joining the Captain's Club.

Staff at the Somerford are planning a memorial and general manager Kelly Redmond said: "The team here are devastated as he was such a happy, fun, hard-working lad with a bright future ahead of him.

"Carl was a well-respected team player and made some great friends during his time with us."

Born with a liver disorder from which a sister had died in infancy four years earlier, Carl also survived a bout of meningitis before he was a year old and at 15 was diagnosed with Niemann Pick disease, an incurable genetic condition affecting the liver and other organs.

Carl did not let his condition interfere with a busy work and social life and volunteered to be a guinea pig for drug trials at Manchester children's hospital.

Donations in his memory will be sent to the Niemann Pick Diseases Group to fund further research.

"We are so proud of him," said Mrs Symes.

• The family is appealing for the return of a silver Zippo lighter engraved "to Dad from Carl" which was found in a Proton car Mr Symes had left at a scrapyard in Poole last year.

"When they called to say they had found it, it didn't seem that important at the time, but obviously it does now," said Mr Symes, who can be contacted via the Echo office in Christchurch on 480 400.

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