TRIBUTES have been paid to a well-known milkman and farmer who delivered milk to homes in Blackburn for more than 50 years.

Bill Briggs, 66, of Stoneygate Lane, Ribchester, died in Chorley hospital on Tuesday (July 2) with his family at this bedside. He had been suffering from the effects of severe lung disease for the past six months.

Along with wife Margaret, 65, Mr Briggs ran a milk round that stretched across the areas of Shadsworth, Knuzden, Audley, Intack and Whitebirk, as well as in to Salesbury and Wilpshire.

He was also a sheep farmer, with up to 100 sheep and lambs spread across parcels of land in Ribchester, as well as buildings at Cut Farm, Rishton.

He only stopped delivering milk in February after being admitted to hospital with farmer’s lung – a form of lung disease brought on by prolonged exposure to dust and mould found in hay and straw.

He had two sons, Ben, 37, and Peter, 34, also from Ribchester, and Ben paid tribute to his dad.

He said: “Dad was the most hard-working person you could ever wish to meet. Along with Mum, they delivered milk every day come rain or shine and took great pride in what they did.

“His real passion, however, was farming and he loved attending local auction marts and tending to his animals. You would often see him, trilby firmly attached to his head, driving around the area in either his milk truck or tractor.

“He was an extremely kind and often quiet man, and will be very sadly missed by all who knew him.”

The grandad of two had grown up on a family farm in Ribchester and it was his dad, Joseph Briggs, who took on the milk round in Shadsworth in the early 1960s so they could sell milk directly from their dairy herd.

After leaving school at 15 in 1968, Mr Briggs started running the business alongside his dad and was a well-known figure to many generations of people in Blackburn, as well as the wider farming community in East Lancashire.

Bill's funeral will take place at St Wilfrid’s, Ribchester, on Friday, July 12, at 2pm.