TRIBUTES have been paid to a “popular and talented” blind man whose loyal guide dog's ashes were cremated with him.

Eric Gamsby died at the age of 84 after falling ill at the start of the year and his family decided to place the ashes of his former guide dog Alice inside his coffin so they could be together.

The pair were featured in The Bolton News in 2008 when Mr Gamsby had been told that his guide dog must retire and that he walked too slowly to be eligible for another..

After a campaign which drew national attention, Mr Gamsby, who had been blind since birth, was allowed to keep his beloved Alice as a pet up until she had to be put to sleep in 2013.

Mr Gamsby was born in 1930 near Durham, and moved to Bolton after meeting future wife Elsie, who was from the town and had become blind herself. They met at a rehabilitation centre in Torquay and married in 1956 at All Souls Church, Astley Bridge. They moved in with Elsie’s two siblings, Enid and Harry, and her other sister Alice and her husband Harold and son John in Grasmere Street.

Eric and Harold formed a great friendship and went on trips together right up until Mr Gamsby became ill in January.

Niece, Elaine Corder, aged 58 from Rochdale, said the her uncle and aunt, who later settled in Deane, never let the fact they were both blind stop them enjoying themselves.

She said: “Eric was wonderful at taking Elsie out, they went to various clubs including the Royal British Legion in Park Road where Eric used to thrill everyone with his piano renditions — they had many friends there.”

She added: “Eric just loved life, he loved signing and going out and was always entertaining the family, he was popular with everyone who met him.”

Elsie died in 1988 and two years later Mr Gamsby began using guide dogs, including his third and final companion, Alice.

Mrs Corder said: “Eric and Alice were best friends and they went everywhere together and did everything together.”

The partnership was threatened in 2008 when the Guide Dogs for the Blind association decided that Alice should be retired and that Mr Gamsby walked too slowly to be eligible for another dog.

But after a press campaign, his friends at the British Legion stepped in to help care for Alice and it was decided she would remain with him as a pet after she retired.

After Alice died her ashes were never scattered and Mr Gamsby’s family decided it would be fitting to put them in his coffin with him for cremation, meaning they will remain by each other’s side.