A FORMER Bridport Mayor whose community work encompassed all sections of the town died in Dorset County Hospital on Tuesday after a long illness.

Colin Crosby, who was 69, leaves a widow Gillian, four children, a stepson and five grandchildren.

He was Mayor of Bridport in 1993 and was elected to West Dorset District Council in a by-election in 2000, before ill health forced his retirement from local government a year later.

Amongst the community causes he championed in Bridport were the Bridport Young Persons Action Trust (BYPAT) which he helped set up and, at the other end of the age scale, the Chancery House Day Care Centre where he helped to collect £250,000 towards a new extension.

Mr Crosby was born in Kingston upon Hull but moved to West Dorset, aged nine, after the tragic death of his mother and baby sister during the war.

He was educated at schools in Chideock and Symondsbury and left to take up an apprenticeship as a carpenter and plasterer, working for a firm in Weymouth. In 1953 he joined the army and served as a dispatch rider during conflicts in Malaya and Korea.

He returned to Bridport to start his own building and decorating business and later he opened a shop in South Street - Fancy Goods and Fiddly Bits - which he ran until his retirement. Two years ago he and his wife moved to live in Dorchester.

During his early life in Bridport Mr Crosby lived with his guardian Mr Willis at Greenside, Quarr Lane, and it was to him that Mr Crosby attributed many of the values he held dear - his community work and religious faith. He first stood for the town council in the 1980s and succeeded Carole Murless as Mayor, serving for one term.

She said of him: "He was deputy when I was mayor. He was always very supportive and was a great help to me. He cared passionately about Bridport.

"What I admired about him was that he always spoke his mind, he didn't always follow party lines and often it was maybe unpopular but he was his own man. Despite him moving to Dorchester he will be greatly missed in Bridport."

Despite his many charity commitments and work for the town he still found time to indulge in his love of indoor and outdoor bowls and deep sea fishing.

Bridport Mayor Geoff Ackerman paid tribute to Mr Crosby at Wednesday's finance and general purposes committee meeting.

"He did sterling work for the town and also for the town council and all the many organisations he worked for."