Tributes paid to councillor and community champion

FORMER Hyndburn councillor Bill Goldsmith has died at the age of 80. He was a well-known figure and community campaigner in Oswaldtwistle, where he served as a councillor in St Oswalds and was also chair of the Hyndburn Constituency Labour Party.

- BY BILL JACOBS

Alongside his partner, the late Sheelagh Delaney - also a Labour councillor and college lecturer - he was at the heart of local campaigning for better public services and social justice. Mr Goldsmith was first elected as Labour councillor for St Oswalds in 1986, then again in 1994.

Rishton’s Cllr Bernard Dawson said: “Bill was one of those rare councillors who lived and breathed community service. He held weekly surgeries - from a caravan - and always made time for people.

“Everyone knew him as hard-working, caring, and comical in the best sense: he could make you laugh, even when you brought him a serious problem.