NOT many people get tributes from superstar singer Tom Jones.
Sylvia Firth does.
The star has paid tribute on his website to Mrs Firth, 78, of Paddock, who died at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary on January 12.
For 30 years she was the linchpin of the Tom Jones Appreciation Society – a group she founded back in 1977.
Mrs Firth was Tom’s self-proclaimed biggest fan, being a member of the “To Jo’s” fan club and founded the Society for Britain and Europe after that group folded.
Since then she’s been avidly compiling newsletters and corresponding with fellow fans.
For a modest £7 subscription, the 500 current members got six newsletters a year full of news and press clippings about their hero.
Mrs Firth was born in Paddock and attended St Thomas’ Church School in Longroyd Bridge and Longley Hall Girls Grammar School.
She worked at David Brown’s Park Works and in local shops, including the Co-op store in town and Denis Beaumont’s greengrocers shop at Paddock Head.
She married Brian Firth on Valentine’s Day in 1953 and they were married for 43 years until he died in August 1996.
The couple had three children – Ian, Lindsay and Diane – and Mrs Firth was a grandmother to six, Adrian, Ben, Elliott, Lauren, Laura and Jack. She was also great-grandmother to Scott, Damian, Willow and Kacey.
Her love of Tom Jones saw her in the audience for the live TV shows in Birmingham, London and Cardiff.
She went on holidays to Wales, often staying in Pontypridd, the village where Tom grew up.
She met her hero several times and had a prized collection of photographs taken with him. One of her most treasured possessions was a Get Well card from Tom after she fell and broke an ankle in 1991.
Away from her Tom Jones work, Mrs Firth was closely involved with the community in Paddock.
She was group secretary at the local scout group, helped out with the Paddock Old Folks Treat and served on the school Parent Teacher Association.
A funeral service takes place today at 10.30am at Huddersfield Crematorium.
