Tributes have been paid to a former councillor and mental health care worker who passed away suddenly at home.

David Forshaw served as Labour councillor in Great Harwood’s Overton ward from 1995 to 1999 and was a member of more than a dozen committees and panel groups.

The grandfather-of-two, of Eachill Gardens, Rishton, also cared for people with mental health problems at Waverley Care Home in Accrington and previously at Calderstones Hospital.

His wife of 49 years Norma said David had suffered a stroke more than two years ago and passed away suddenly at home on Wednesday, April 15, aged 75.

She said: “He was such a kind and sincere man, a gentleman and a very talented bloke. I will really miss him a lot.

“He loved being on the council and was disappointed when he got knocked off by a Tory. He tried to stand in Rishton but was beaten again. He had very strong views on politics.

“I will miss arguing with him which sounds a bit daft, but we used to have some real humdingers and at the end we would always end up laughing. We didn’t have a boring marriage at all.”

In his early years David worked as a gravedigger, a HGV driver and an upholsterer and in his 20s won awards for his poetry.

Norma said: “He had a variety of jobs in his working life, but his best years were at Calderstones and Waverley.

“He did like caring for people and had sympathy for those who got picked on and bullied because of their mental health problems.”

Norma said David suffered a stroke more than two years ago, leaving him paralysed on his left side and bed-bound.

She said: “He still kept all his faculties and he was very accepting of the way he was and thought you had to make the most of it. He bore it bravely and the end was sudden.”

Council leader Miles Parkinson said it was a ‘sad loss’.

He said: “He did his best for the community and our condolences go out to his family. He was a very talented artist and did some really amazing charcoal drawings.”

Another council colleague Dave Parkins said David was a ‘true gentleman’.

He said: “He was a very good councillor, very committed and hard working. I got on very well with him and he was a gentleman and they are very few and far between.”

David’s funeral will be held at 1pm on Friday, April 24 at Accrington Crematorium. Family flowers only with donations to the Stroke Association c/o funeral director Rishton Funeral Service, 16 High Street, Rishton.