Tribute has been paid to a dedicated disability advocate from Peterborough who died in March. Jason Merrill died on Friday, March 14, at the age of 54. Mr Merrill spent his life fighting for the rights of others, especially those with disabilities. He served as the chairperson for the charity Family Voice Peterborough (FVP) and also had a place on Bretton Parish Council for 18 years. Mandi Rennie is the chair of trustees at FVP and had known Jason for around 25 years. She said that he was "always smiling" and she was "really shocked" by his death. She said: "I met Jason when I lived in Bretton and he was always smiling. It's very difficult when you don't know someone to get to know them, but he'd smile and say hello and then it would progress to about the weather and then it would be about football, then about rugby and so on. "When he was quite ill, he got a bit of a chest infection and had gone to hospital to get that sorted and then on the Tuesday, he was rushed into critical care and then on Friday morning, his fiancée Donna rang up to say he died and it was like 'No, he can't, he's not allowed.' I was just really shocked by it." Jason had spina bifida and used a wheelchair for most of his life. Mandi said he was very active on disability rights, making sure that shops around Peterborough had easy access for disabled people. He was also on a board to put in a crossing from the railway station to Queensgate to make it easier to travel between the two destinations. "There's some funny things I can remember about Jason too," Mandi said. "He once went to the pub and fell asleep in the disabled toilets and he woke up at two o'clock and set all the alarms off when he left the toilet because it was locked up, no one was there, and he didn't know what was going on. "That was Jason to a tee. He did silly things like that all the time. He had a really dry sense of humour. He was lovely, he was funny. Everybody in Bretton knows him. Everybody knew they could stop him for a chat, everybody knew that he was on the local council." Mandi set up a GoFundMe campaign to support and relieve the pressure from Jason's family as well as contribute towards his funeral costs. It had raised more than £1,000 as of Monday, March 24. She said: "I kind of knew we'd do well because a lot of people kept saying 'We miss Jason,' 'Jason was a lovely man', and so on. And I thought we needed to set up a GoFundMe, pay for the funeral directors so we know that's dealt with. "We're trying to rally around Donna, while still making sure Jason's arrangements are made. His stepmum Sheila, she's absolutely a rock in this, she's informing Donna of what needs to be done now, what can be left, but she hasn't got a lot of money and I always think every penny counts. "The total we're actually looking for is about £6,000, we can get a proper funeral for Jason for £6,000 so obviously it starts smaller and builds up, but I'm quite pleased that it's got to what it it is now. I just think everybody knew him and I can see how they would feel about him because everybody wants to makes sure he gets a really good send off and make sure he's not forgotten." The GoFundMe for Jason Merrill is here. To get more breaking news and top stories delivered directly to your phone, join our new WhatsApp community. Click this link to receive your daily dose of CambridgeshireLive content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.