TRIBUTES have been paid to a man who stamped his name with pride on the industrial landscape of a County Durham dale .

John Barron, who was always known as Ticker, was one of the last of a hard breed of men who worked on the land and in the fluorspar and lead mines of Weardale.

He was one of a small team of construction workers who took on what was described as "the foolhardy task" of building the 400ft-high chimney at the Blue Circle cement works, which dominated Weardale for nearly 40 years.

The chimney finally came down in November, 2005, after the closure of the Eastgate works with the loss of 147 jobs.

Mr Barron, who was born at Alston, in Cumbria, died in the James Cook Hospital.on Teesside, after a series of operations. He was 70 and had been a patient there since January.

He leaves a wife, Pam, two sons, Stuart and Wayne, and daughters June and Debbie.

His funeral service takes place at St John's Chapel parish church on Friday (June 22) at 11am.

After first working on a farm at Westgate, in Weardale, Mr Barron did National Service with the Royal Signals, serving at Catterick and at Essen, in Germany.

After being demobbed, he had a succession of jobs in the mines and as a labourer at local reservoirs.

In 1963, he started work with the Mitchell construction company building the giant chimney at the Eastgate cement works.

"There was seven of us from the dale," he recalled. "You could say we were all a bit foolhardy, but we were a grand bunch of lads.

"We built about four feet of chimney a day.

"I can remember at times, you had your heart in your mouth. There was one particular day when we were in a cradle attachedd to a handrail on the chimney when we were hit by a very strong blast of wind.

"The cradle was swept around the chimney with us hanging on for dear life."

He later admitted to shedding a tear as he watched the giant chimney crashing to the ground in a controlled explosion at Eastgate.

In retirement, Mr Barron liked nothing better than a few pints of beer and a game of dominoes in his local pub at St John's Chapel.

Although he admitted to having a tough life, he was described by friends as a fun-loving person, who was always prepared to help anyone in need.