Family's tribute to Blackburn ex-governor killed in Mellor road crash (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Family's tribute to Blackburn ex-governor killed in Mellor road crash

9:35am Thursday 14th March 2013 in News By Dan Clough, Reporter

TRIBUTES have been paid to a former school governor and parish council chairman killed in a car crash.

John Moran, 79, died after his Ford Fiesta collided with a Renault Megane at the junction of Preston New Road and Further Lane in Mellor.

Mr Moran, of Blackburn, whose wife Patricia died four years ago, left behind a son, Stephen, daughter Katherine, son-in-law Paul and grandson Jamie.

His family paid tribute to a ‘true gentleman’.

A statement said: “He was a promising athlete in his younger days and competed in the AAAs British Championships in the 1950s.

“He took a keen interest in politics and as a student at the London School of Economics he was chairman of the National Student Liberal Association.

“Before moving to the North West, he had served as a local councillor and stood, unsuccessfully, for election in his adopted town of Blackburn.

“This did not deter him from public service. He was a member and later chairman of the parish council at Sacred Heart church on Preston New Road and he was a governor of several schools, including for many years at Holy Souls RC Primary School in Blackburn.

“He was also proud to have been a member of the RAF club for more than 50 years.

“Our father was one of many people who throughout his life did a lot of things for other people, without fuss and without asking for recognition.

“He was in the truest sense of the word a gentleman.”

Mr Moran worked as a market research manager and was chairman of the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the North West and established its annual student competition to encourage young people in the region to become involved in business.

After his death on Monday, Samlesbury Parish Council chairman Graham Ashworth called for urgent action on Preston New Road. “The whole of the A667 is dangerous because people go too fast, especially as they go past Mellor Brook,” he said. “It is just a nonsense for people to be driving at that speed and not being checked.”

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