MORE than 200 cards of condolence were delivered following the death of a much-loved community figure from Stacksteads.

Tributes have been paid to James Heyworth, who has died at the age of 83.

Born in Stacksteads, on September 3, 1930, Mr Heyworth and younger sister Betty, aged 78, were brought up by their mother Edna after their father Ross died when Mr Heyworth was seven.

Mr Heyworth was a bachelor and lived with Miss Heyworth all his life.

Miss Heyworth said: “James was a very thoughtful and caring person. He was passionate about supporting charities.”

Mr Heyworth attended Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School. As a teenager he taught at the church’s Sunday school and was involved in the amateur dramatic society.

He joined the RAF in 1949, aged 18, to do his 18 months National Service which involved spending nine months in Egypt.

He then worked as a cost clerk at Birtwistle’s Box Works in Rawtenstall and at the age of 22 became the youngest church warden in the Manchester Diocese.

In 1956 Mr and Miss Heyworth bought a newsagents business in Besses o’ th’ Barn, moving to Whitefield with their mother.

In 1971, when Besses was reorganised because of the motorway, the newsagents was taken down and Mr Heyworth became subpostmaster at Kirkham's post office.

After working there 16 years he moved to Holyrood post office near Prestwich, where he worked as subpostmaster until retiring at 62.

He was a member of the Rotary Club of Prestwich and Whitefield, and was president four times.