STAFF at a Bury engineering company are mourning the loss of their former managing director Mr Gordon Hargreaves.

Mr Hargreaves passed away at a nursing home in Portugal last Friday (Dec20), aged 82.

He joined the Lord Street based firm Senior Hargreaves, founded by his grandfather Henry in the 1890s, at the age of 17.

Throughout his 44 years of service, Mr Hargreaves guided the former tinsmith business through a period of post-war expansion and diversification.

In his role as managing director, Mr Hargreaves also played a pioneering role in implementing the environmental improvements ushered in by the Clean Air Acts.

Among his other accomplishments were the development of the firm's metal-ducting enterprise and establishing an international reputation for the company's involvement with prestigious new building projects.

He was also heavily involved in a 1970s campaign to redevelop the Mosses area of Bury.

A lifelong tennis fan, Mr Hargreaves won the Bury Men's Single Championship in the 1950s and was president of the St Anne's Tennis Club.

He was also a regular member of Bury Grammar School Old Boys' football teams.

Mr Hargreaves, who retired to Portugal in 1980, is survived by first wife Margaret, two sons and a step-daughter.