A FORMER editor of the Radcliffe Times has died following a long illness.

Mr Harry Spencer (83) edited the newspaper between 1950 and 1973, when it was based at offices in Church Street.

He died last Fridayin a nursing home near to where he lived in Boat of Garten, Inverness-shire.

Mr Spencer, who was born in Haslingden in 1921, started his career on the Accrington Observer in the mid 1930s, but during the Second World War served with the Royal Marine Commandos.

He joined the Bury Times team as a reporter in 1948, and after 23 years as editor of the Radcliffe Times, moved to Scotland where he ran a small guest house with his wife, Sally, who died ten years ago. The couple had five children and at the time he retired the family lived in Eton Hill Road, Radcliffe.

Mr Spencer was a member of the Rotary Club of Radcliffe, a trustee of the Royal British Legion branch, a chairman of the Bury Rifle Club and chairman of the County of Lancaster Small Bore Rifle Association.

In the 1950s, while Mr Spencer was at the helm, his redesign of the Radcliffe Times was highly commended in national awards for newspaper design.

During his 25 years in the Bury branch of the National Union of Journalists, he was at various times, the secretary, chairman and education officer.

Mr Spencer's son, Peter, who now lives in Derbyshire, said: "My father was a bit of a hero really. He was well regarded in the area and a great craftsman and keen cabinet maker.

"When my mother and father moved to their new home in Scotland, he set to work doubling the size of the house with an extension. He was always busy but in his spare time he enjoyed writing poetry."

Mr Spencer's funeral will take place on Friday at 11am, at St Columba's Church in Boat of Garten, followed by interment at Grantown Cemetery.