The family of contractor Dennis Jeavons are celebrating what would have been his 100th birthday.

His family described him as ‘a man of vision and adventure’ and having ‘a very eventful and adventurous life’.

Dennis’s ‘passion for life’ and his ‘enthusiasm’ helped him to earn a reputation in the Manx holiday industry of the early 1970s helping to renovate sites such as the Tynwald Mills and Groudle Glen.

Dennis was born in Coseley, Staffordshire on September 16, 1922, and first visited the island on holiday in 1930, where he stayed at Cunningham’s park.

In 1940, at the age of 18, Dennis volunteered to serve in the RAF, completing his training in Canada.

He would join then Bomber Command as a Lancaster pilot, taking part in 21 missions.

After the war, Dennis went to the University of Birmingham to study management training and after, moved to Wolverhampton to find employment.

He eventually made it into the caravan industry and set up the Gailey Group which sold caravans and holiday spots.

He later moved to the island to retire where he lived with his wife Freda and three children.

His family told us about his various sporting interests, including football, golf and racehorse breeding.

He then looked for ways to improve the holiday industry.

Dennis visited Groudle Glen and saw the potential from the old Victorian pleasure garden and abandoned railway.

Dennis then renovated the site into a village with 38 holiday homes and worked with the Onchan Commissioners to create a restaurant.

He added squash courts to the site and provided additional facilities for families staying at Groudle Glen village.

In 1973, Dennis was approached by a group to help restore the woollen manufacturing in Tynwald Mills in St John’s.

His family added: ‘On visiting the site, he recognised the potential of this beautiful riverside location at the heart of the island as a place to showcase the best of Manx products.’

He later became the chairman of a new company that renovated the Tynwald Mills into a home for craft businesses.

Dennis soon after saw the need for Manx surgeons and GPs to have training and research facilities.

Dennis headed the committee to raise £100,000 (£1,455,714.51 in 2022) to build the Postgraduate medical centre in what is now Noble’s Hospital, the funding was raised within 12 months.

Dennis’s family said: ‘Dennis was a man of tremendous energy and ability, a generous philanthropist with unlimited imagination and great personal charm.

‘His early death at the age of 59 was a great loss to us and we continue to honour and remember him with great pride and deepest love.

‘On the centenary of his birth, the September 16, 2022, we celebrate his memory and give thanks for a wonderful father and his remarkable life.’