IT is hard to believe just how many remarkable people we have lost in 2016.

This dreadful year started with the loss of icon David Bowie and concluded with pop legends George Michael and Rick Parfitt of Status Quo. We also lost actor Alan Rickman, presenter Sir Terry Wogan, boxer Muhammad Ali, singer Prince, magician Paul Daniels and American actor Gene Wilder.

Tony Warren, who created Coronation Street, and Jean Alexander who starred in it as Hilda Ogden both passed away as did performer and writer Caroline Aherne. My saddest feelings were reserved for two ‘local’ people — Bury’s Victoria Wood, who made generations laugh with her clever observational humour, and Farnworth-born actor Frank Finlay whose mesmeric performances as Casanova and in Bouquet of Barbed Wire fascinated millions of viewers. Yes, it’s been a cruel year for loss as a golden generation has disappeared.