Born in Rawtenstall, he worked for many years in local government, serving in senior positions in the rates offices in both Bury and then Manchester up to his retirement.

He served in the Royal Army Pay Corps in London during the Blitz, before joining the Signals Regiment and landing in Normandy on D-Day.

Married to Ethel in 1942, he was a widower for the last 20 years of his life.

He loved to write and was a regular contributor to the Rossendale Free Press under the pseudonym of Owd Nick. A series of his short stories was read on Radio Blackburn and he had a contribution published in The Bedside Guardian.

He had a lifelong interest in Lancashire dialect and was an active member of the Edwin Waugh Society and the Lancashire Authors Association, writing many short stories himself and becoming a speaker at various societies in Rossendale.

He served as church warden at St Paul’s Constable Lee for many years, then was a regular attender at Kay Street Baptist Church and latterly at St Mary’s Church, Rawtenstall.

He leaves daughters Vivien and Shirley, sons-in-law Stephen and Neil, grandsons James, Jonathan and Alan and their partners, nieces and nephew and many good friends.

His funeral will be at St Mary’s Church, Rawtenstall on Thursday April 8 at 1pm, followed by interment at Rawtenstall Cemetery.

Family flowers only. Donations welcome for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association and the Stroke Association, via the funeral director Dawn Johnson for Fred Hamer Funeral Services, Rawtenstall.