COLLEAGUES today paid tribute to a company secretary who has died at the age of 44 after being struck down by a sudden illness while on holiday in Turkey.

Peter Charles Leach, who was raised in the Pike Hill area of Burnley but also lived in Colne, Foulridge, and most recently in Brockhall Village in the Ribble Valley, was suddenly taken ill last Friday and died on Saturday.

Mr Leach went to Worsthorne Primary School and then Mansfield High School in Brierfield.

He went on to Nelson and Colne College to successfully complete an OND in business studies and from there went to Blackburn College, where he took an HND in accountancy and business studies.

Mr Leach spent almost all of his professional career with the Steven Backhouse Group of Companies, first in its offices in Trafalgar Street, Burnley, and then at its new home on Nelson's Lomeshaye Estate. He rose to become financial director and its company secretary at the time of his death.

Group chairman Shirley Backhouse said:"I knew Peter for 25 years and we had grown very close. He was a very kind and considerate man and a great professional.

"He will be terribly missed, not only for the help and consideration he gave to colleagues, but for his humour. He is irreplacable."

Mr Leach was active in the Burnley Junior Chamber of Commerce and was its president from 1988 to 1989.

At one time he was an active member of Colne Parish Church and was a member of the Parochial Church Council.

It was through the church that he met his wife Helen, then a science teacher at Habergham High School.They married in 1991.

As well as his keen interest in theatre, he loved wildlife and walking. In recent years Mr Leach also became a keen amateur cook and was a recent part-time student on Nelson and Colne College catering courses.

His interest in foreign culture also led to him serving on the Pendle-Kassel Community Exchange committee that oversaw links with Kassel in Germany.

As well as his widow, Helen, now retired from teaching, he leaves his father, James, brother, David, and a sister Carole Stark. Funeral details are awaiting arrangements to return Mr Leach's body from Turkey.