A LEADING political veteran has died, aged 90.

Ivy Cole, who served as a Labour councillor for more than 40 years, died on Friday, October 20, at the Moorlands Nursing Home, in Guisborough.

The former east Cleveland mayor began her career in 1962 on the former Guisborough Urban Council.

A great-grandmother, she became Langbaurgh mayor in 1979 and chairman of the former Cleveland County Council in 1984.

She was chairwoman of the county's police committee and caused uproar when she stormed out of a meeting, after warning fellow Labour members who challenged her over the election of delegates to a drugs conference.

In the early 1980s, she became renowned for being the most industrious mayor the borough ever had.

She visited hundreds of factories and offices, loved informal walkabouts, and hosted many dinners for industrialists, which she nicknamed her good neighbours' gatherings.

At the time, one manager of a Cleveland wire rope firm said she "did a grand job".

Councillor George Dunning, leader of the Labour Group on Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, last night paid tribute to his colleague.

He said: "It is a great regret to hear of the death of my former colleague, Ivy Cole.

"I will remember Ivy with extreme fondness, especially when I represented the Normanby Ward with Ivy. She was an exceptional ward councillor and mayor of the borough and she taught me a lot.

"It was an honour and a privilege to attend Ivy's 90th birthday party, on December 18 last year, at the Sir William Turner's Almshouse in Kirkleatham.

"Ivy will be sadly missed by the people of the borough of Redcar and Cleveland. Our condolences go out to Ivy's family and her many friends."