A cricket club president who has died aged 74 has been described as Mr Accrington.

Peter Barratt, who had also worked as a magistrate, spent more than 30 involved with Accrington Cricket Club.

He was also an active member of St Anne’s Church in Accrington, a governor of Mount Carmel School and a member of Catholic organisation Accrington’s Knights of St Columba.

Mr Barratt is said to have died of a heart attack at his home in Baxenden on Wednesday morning.

Tributes have flooded in to the ‘irreplacable and dependable’ community man.

Sky Sports commentator and former Lancashire and England cricketer and national coach David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd said: “It is a real shock to me and no doubt to everyone else.

“He was Mr Accrington, and always in the thick of things.

“Nothing went on at the club without his involvement.

“It is terrible news for them and his loss will leave a massive hole.

“He was the club. He served as secretary, chairman, president. He kept the club going through everything. It is a real blow for them and very sad.”

Club captain Jimmy Hayhurst said Mr Barratt was ‘one of the best and is absolutely irreplaceable’.

He said: “He did the work and had the dedication of ten people. He did so much and you could always depend on him.

“He was a super bloke and most people didn’t realise how much work he actually did. He was just one of those guys. It is such a big shock for all concerned.”

Club chairman Rod Kenyon said: “He was like a stick of rock that had ‘Accrington Cricket Club’ stamped through it. Everyone is shaken.

“The morning he died I had been speaking to him just half an hour before on the phone.

"He was just going about his day, about to get something to eat and do some paperwork. It is a sad, sad thing to lose him.

“He was respected by everybody.”