TRIBUTES have been paid to a Darwen barber who has died aged 82.

David Ainsworth ran David’s Hairdressers, in Bolton Road, for more than 50 years and was a popular figure in the local community.

His widow Dorothy has been left devastated by his death.

She said: “If there was one last thing I could say to him, it would be that I love him.”

Mr Ainsworth died last Thursday after a twelve- month battle against ill-health.

It is understood he had suffered from diabetes since the age of nine.

In the 1970s, he became a local celebrity when he was the subject of a Granada documentary that looked into the world of traditional barbers.

For many years after the documentary, he proudly displayed the photographs of the filming in his shop, where he worked well into his 70s before eventually retiring at the age of 74.

Mr Ainsworth was also a motorcycle enthusiast in his youth and for many years was secretary of the Clayton-le-Moors-based East Lancashire Motor Cycle and Light Car Club.

Mark Graham, who owns a hairdressing business close to the town centre, said he was shocked and saddened at the death of such a popular man.

“David was one of the last of the ‘old school’ of bar-bers.

“He was very popular in the town. I had known him for most of my life. He used to cut my hair when I was little and he was such a nice man.”

Mr and Mrs Ainsworth were also involved in local events and taught ballroom dancing professionally for 30 years.

They ran classes at a night school in Bolton and hosted dances six nights a week.

Dorothy added: “He was so busy running the shop too, but he loved the dancing and he loved his work.”

David also leaves sons Allan and Kevin, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

The funeral was yesterday at Accrington Crematorium.