A MEMORIAL service for a senior Blackburn with Darwen councillor who died suddenly two years ago will be held on Sunday.

The event will remember Livesey with Pleasington ward Conservative John Pearson who passed away aged 75 in May 2020 after a heart attack at home.

The service will take place on Sunday May 15 at Holy Trinity Church, Hoghton at 11am.

He was described as friendly, amusing and a ‘true gentleman’.

Cllr Pearson, who died in the Royal Blackburn Hospital, left a wife of three years, two children, three step-children, five grandchildren and a step granddaughter.

Cllr Pearson was born in Cherry Tree and attended Wensley Fold Primary and the Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Blackburn before studying electrical engineering at Bristol University.

He ran his own business before working for Network Rail, retiring when he joined the council in 2010. He was re-elected twice.

Cllr Pearson was a former chairman of Blackburn Conservatives, Livesey Parish Council, and the Feniscowles and Pleasington War Memorial Recreation Ground as well as a governor of Witton Park High School.

Cllr Mohammed Khan, then Labour leader of the borough, said in 2020: “I always found John to a passionate and dedicated councillor.”

Conservative group leader Cllr John Slater said: “He was much-loved and well-respected. Whenever he spoke he was listened to. He was always cheerful and humourous.”