Tributes to a true gent

TRIBUTES were paid to former Conservative councillor, local businessman, and “true gentleman” Ray Whitehead, who has died at the age of 84.

Born and bred in Oldham, and the founder of Whitehead Packaging, he also helped transform Oldham Coliseum into a thriving theatre, and was awarded the OBE for political and public service.

Accolades came from the three main political parties, who all mourned the loss of a man who served his country in the Second World War and lived his life out in Oldham.

Tory group leader Councillor Jack Hulme said he was a stalwart of the party and his involvement in the 1944 Normandy campaign had made him “very much a man of peace.”

He said he was a courageous man, and had realised his last wish of leaving hospital, where he was being treated for prostate cancer, to die at home with his family around him.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Richard Knowles described him as “a true son of the borough” and Labour’s Councillor Peter Dean said he was an Oldham success story.