POLITICAL leaders today paid tribute to a former mayoress described as an 'unsung heroine'.

Amy Spence was mayoress of Nelson and Pendle Council in the 1960s and 1970s.

She died last Friday aged 79 after developing chest and heart infections at Blackpool Victoria Hospital.

Pendle Labour group leader councillor Frank Clifford, who knew Amy and her husband Ken - a former councillor and mayor of Pendle - since 1957, said she would be sorely missed.

He said: "I know a lot of people say this but in this case it is true, Amy was an unsung heroine. There are not many people like her today."

Originating from Wheatley Hill, a small mining village near Durham, Amy and Ken, a Freeman of Pendle Borough, moved to East Lancashire in 1947, becoming mayoress for Nelson between 1966 and 1967 and Chairman's First Lady for Pendle between 1974 and 1975. She worked as a nurse at the former Marsden Hospital in Burnley and was a lifelong member of the Labour Party.

Mr Clifford, councillor for Brierfield, said: "In the run-up to elections you would often find Amy at headquarters night and day printing leaflets or making cups of tea. She was at the heart of the machinery doing the things that needed to be done.

"There wasn't a job that Amy pulled a face to. She would just role up her sleeves and get on with it.

"Through her work in the community she was known in the Labour Party within her own right. She was an integral part of the party and has left a big hole.

"She was a good person. She was a nice person. She will be sorely missed."

Amy's funeral service will take place today at Independent Methodist Church, Netherfield Road, Nelson, followed by a service at Burnley Crematorium.