A leading Darlington Conservative has died at the age of 84.

Ian Walter Forrestal Paterson died on Monday, April 17, at Darlington Memorial Hospital.

Mr Paterson was born in 1921 and attended Holy Family School and St Mary's Grammar School, in Darlington.

He joined the Army aged 18, enlisting in the Durham Light Infantry and serving during the Second World War. He was transferred to the Parachute Regiment and became a glider pilot, but was taken prisoner-of-war during the invasion of Sicily.

When he returned home after the war, he read engineering at Newcastle University, gaining his chartership at Reynolds, in Hebburn, before joining Vickers- Armstrong, in Newcastle, where his work also took him to the Mediterranean.

In 1957, he returned to Darlington to join Whessoe, where he worked for 30 years, finishing as the firm's chief engineer.

He joined the Conservative party in 1957 after he helped his wife, Isobel, to deliver election leaflets.

He was a Pierremont councillor for 13 years and was chairman, treasurer and president for the Darlington Conservative Association. In 1980, he was awarded the OBE.

Mrs Paterson said one of his main loves was education. She said: "He worked very hard to get St Augustine's School in Beechwood Avenue open. And, to his joy, he became a governor of Carmel College."

The couple, who lived in Woodside Drive, Darlington, had four children - Clare, Rachel, Mary and James - and six grandchildren, Benedict, John, Sarah, Terri, Luke and Kieran.

His funeral is on Friday at 10am at St Augustine's Church, Darlington, followed by burial at West Cemetery.