TRIBUTES have been paid to a much loved family man who died.

Norman Jones was the only child of Doris and Albert Jones who had found themselves as parents later in life and he was raised on West End Street in Farnworth.

The 82-year-old attended Plodder Lane Primary School and later Harper Green and whilst Norman described his childhood as a happy one, he wasn’t a fan of school.

On leaving school, he started an apprenticeship at Silcoms Engineering in Farnworth where he worked as a turner.

He was at Silcoms for a number of years but later went on to work at ROF before his final job at Bolton Engineering where he was well respected.

Norman eventually retired at the age 75 due to ill health.

It was back during his time whilst working at Silcoms that, when not working, Norman would be out enjoying the nightclubs of Farnworth, from The Palais De Dance to Blighties and Monacos. And it was at Monacos in 1960, when he was 21 years old, that Norman met Emily Bridge.

They made a young, happy couple and went on to marry in 1962.

Children followed and Norman became dad to Deborah and then Lynne. And right from the start, Norman was a fantastic dad.

There are many fond memories from childhood of holidays in this country and fun times in Blackpool, London and Minehead. They travelled on coaches as in those early years Norman only had a motorcycle licence and whilst they enjoyed rides out in the family’s three wheeled Robin Reliant, it maybe didn’t lend itself to a family of four and their luggage going on holiday.

As youngsters, Deborah and Lynne loved their trips out in the Robin Reliant, with their parents smoking in the front and them in the back.

Norman taught them to greet other Robin Reliant drivers with the recognised hand signal. Thankfully, by the late 70s, Norman passed his driving test and went on to get his first ‘proper’ car – a Datsun Cherry.

His daughters described Norman as always having ‘rubbish cars’ but which were admittedly good runners and reliable.

He taught both Deborah and Lynne to drive, taking them to Southport Beach before making the drive home.

He had suffered with angina and had a heart bypass. Then seven years ago he received a diagnosis of lung cancer and required a lung to be removed. He really had faced some challenges and described himself as ‘going on tour of all the North West Hospitals’ in the process. For the final few days of his life, as he had wished, Norman was in Bolton Hospice and surrounded by his loving family. He sadly passed away on June 15.