Tributes have been paid to a British Legion stalwart after he lost his battle with cancer.

Roy Lockwood, from Foxhill Bank Brow in Oswaldtwistle, died on Saturday, June 27 aged 79.

Roy was well-known for his work as a welfare officer for the Royal British Legion, and his charitable works earned him the accolade of Honorary Freedom of the Borough.

His grandson Matthew said his work with the legion was a ‘calling rather than a job’.

He said: “He was very well known and active within the community, he served in the army as an engineer and he became active with the Legion later in life.

“He was based at Stirling Castle in Scotland where he met his wife Jean and he was also based in Germany. I’ve heard all his tales of his time in the forces. His role at the legion was full time, 24 hours a day he would have people ringing up, he was an emergency contact for a lot of people.”

Matthew said his grandfather was also very involved at the Legion’s Byng House in Southport.

He said: “He used to dress up as Father Christmas and hand out little gifts to the people that were staying over Christmas.

“He sacrificed a lot of his own time to help everybody out.”

Matthew said he has fond memories of growing up with his grandad. He said: “He was a lovely grandad, we spent a lot of time with him growing up. He taught me and my brother Jamie to fish and he taught us to swim. He loved animals and used to take his his border terrier Tetley for walks.”

Former Mayor of Hyndburn and Barnfield councillor Paul Barton said he knew Roy and his late wife Jean for more than 20 years.

He said: “Roy worked relentlessly for the Royal British Legion, I never knew anybody who worked as hard for everybody else as Jean and Roy.

“Jean used to pass round mints at the council meetings and Roy and I used to do the Christmas parties for the children.

“Only a few weeks ago we were in his house reminiscing about doing the parties and some of the laughs we had.

“From the bottom of my heart Roy and Jean were top people, if anybody needed anything they were the first ones there.”

A minute’s silence was held at the Armed Forces fun day in Gatty Park on Saturday, June 27.

See our full story on the day on page four and Roy’s Obituary on page 12.