TRIBUTES have been paid to a rural doctor who has died aged 82.
Dr Kenneth Pickworth was based in Barnard Castle, but his practice covered a widespread rural area in Teesdale.
He often set off in snowstorms to reach sick people, or bring babies into the world, on isolated farms.
He moved to Barnard Castle from Horden Colliery in 1952 and ran a practice single-handed at a time when most babies were born at home rather than in hospital.
His daughter, Julia, a GP at Butterknowle, said yesterday: "Home confinements were the rule rather than the exception in those days. He brought a lot of people into the world in this area, and we have received many messages from patients recalling how he was involved in the birth of their children."
Dr Pickworth later set up a group practice, which is now run by a number of GPs in the town.
Dr Pickworth, whose wife, Gwen, died last year, leaves two sons and a daughter, David, Richard and Julia, who are doctors, and another son, Jeremy, who is a solicitor.
His funeral service is taking place today in Barnard Castle parish church.
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