Manly Community Forum is mourning the passing of Doug Carruthers, a deeply loved member of our community.

Doug passed away peacefully in his sleep at home on 27 March. Our thoughts are with Lee, his partner of 60 years, and her family. Doug and Lee have been the co treasurers for the Little Manly Precinct Forum and the Manly Community Forum since 2010. Doug was always an active member of the Precinct and then the Forum, assisting each month at the meetings behind the ‘bar’, buying, bringing, and then pouring the wine with a chat and a smile.

Without Doug there would have been no newsletters, he managed the printing and coordinated the distribution with the team of volunteers who delivered them each month.

Doug was a regular at Little Manly Beach, a regular paddler on the harbour, and he loved the Little Manly Park, advocating strongly for our public spaces. Over the years Doug and Lee walked the local streets on the Eastern Hill photographing and documenting all our street trees. Notifying council and discussing any issues concerning the trees with the staff. Doug was instrumental in the development of the Eastern Hill Street Tree Plan. This concept was copied by neighbouring precincts and the Plan has now been adopted by Council.

Doug was also involved in the development of the original Precinct Parking Scheme and then more recently worked closely with the Council convincing them to take a more moderate approach to tweak and tighten the scheme rather than make wholesale changes that would have effectively meant an end to the Resident Parking Schemes in Manly.

We will all miss Doug as a friend and neighbour, at our meetings, and on the corner of Stuart and Marshall Street where he would always have a chat while he tended the beautiful garden on the nature strip.