Sad news indeed. I too was unaware of his recent illness - but then again I'd not made it up to Darlington for some time.

On my relatively infrequent encounters with Tom, mostly through Darlington Spring Thing, I found him to be a truly genuine chap, one of those constantly enthusiastic, loyal and ever-obliging "backbone of the local folk scene" characters without whom....
My thoughts and condolences to Jenny and his family.