A FORMER Blackburn headteacher has died suddenly in Queen's Park Hospital aged 81.

Arthur Sydney Nicholson, known to everyone as Syd, was head of Daisyfield Primary School between 1973 and 1984.

Previously he was deputy head of the old Moss Street School , which Daisyfield was built to replace in 1971, and at Roe Lee.

Mr Nicholson, of Wilpshire, served in the RAF during World War Two and afterwards became a teacher under the emergency recruitment scheme.

He was a keen Rovers fan, fell walker and traveller and was a member of the Retired Teachers' Association.

The deputy head at Daisyfield Mr Dave Barrett, who was appointed as a teacher by Mr Nicholson, said: "Syd was a lovely chap. He was always caring and considerate."

Mr Nicholson leaves his widow, Eleanor (Ella), who was also a teacher, children Andrew and Susan, and three grandchildren, Laura, Eleanor and Isobel.

The funeral service will be at St Peter's Church, Salesbury, on Tuesday followed by cremation at Pleasington.