TRIBUTES have been paid to a long-serving priest who ‘always had a smile on his face.’

Fr David Foster was born in Clayton-le-Moors and would go on to be ordained as a Catholic priest in his home parish of St Mary’s in April 1974.

He died after a long illness in the Royal Blackburn Hospital, aged 71.

Fr Foster served the Diocese of Salford as a Catholic priest all over Lancashire and Greater Manchester, starting as an assistant priest in St Anne’s, Blackburn

Fr Leo Heakin, from St Mary’s Parish in Langho, worked with Fr Foster in the 1970s and they remained friends.

He said: “He was a man of the people. He was very kind and compassionate, very caring.

“He was very friendly and always had a smile on his face.

“Not only that he was very practical in the advice he would give, he was always very supportive.

“He loved his football, he was a strong opponent, fair but hard, he didn’t take any prisoners.

“I was a Burnley fan and he was a Rovers fan, so there was always something to say."

Fr Foster, who had a brother Jim, also served as a parish priest in St Peter’s in Mill Hill, Blackburn and St Joseph’s in Darwen.

He also served at St Peter and St Paul’s RC Church in Ribchester for three years before he retired on Easter Sunday 2014, 40 years to the day he was ordained.

He then returned to Clayton-le-Moors where he was cared for by his housekeeper Dorothy until he died.

Fr Foster’s body will be received into St Mary’s Church in Clayton-le-Moors on Tuesday at 7pm for a Mass of Reception.

The Bishop of Salford, Rt Rev John Arnold, will celebrate Requiem Mass at St Mary’s on Wednesday at noon, followed by committal at Dill Hall Lane cemetery in Accrington.

Fr Foster attended school at Holy Family in Accrington, St Mary’s College in Blackburn and then the University of Salford.

He later studied for his priesthood in Rome at the Beda College.