TRIBUTES have been paid to a man who ‘was just good at everything he turned his hand to’ including a 20-year career on stage and also as a local golf club president.

Clive McCoy died on September 14 and leaves behind his wife Tina and daughter Gabby.

The funeral for the 67-year-old took place at Bolton Parish Church on Wednesday and more than 400 people attended the service.

Clive was a well-known businessman at Brickmatch and Tint in Bolton.

His wife Tina described Clive as a “selfless man who put others and family before himself and was very intelligent”.

She said: “He was very musical, playing the guitar and his last performance was at Gabby and Mark Long’s wedding on August 20.

“He was a showman and the funeral was the biggest performance he was not able to see.”

Gabby remembered him becoming a member of Deane Golf Club in the early 1990s where ‘his love for the royal and ancient game flourished’.

She added: “He spent many a weekend and weeknight at Deane where he founded the famous EBM Golf Day and where he later went on to become captain and then president. Such was his frequency at Deane, it led mum and I to declare that 145 Junction Road was actually his second home.”

“Back in 2001, at the ripe old age of 46, an old friend convinced dad to audition for a Gilbert and Sullivan musical. I expect many things spring to mind when you think of Clive McCoy, but ‘musical theatre star’ is probably quite low on the list. He can’t dance and he’d never acted before in his life but, bafflingly, this didn’t seem to phase him.

“Dad was one of those annoying people who was just good at everything he turned his hand to, so he went to his audition and a few days later was offered one of the two male leads in HMS Pinafore with Rossendale Amateur Operatic Society.

“He turned up at his first rehearsal word perfect putting all of his fellow cast members to shame – a practice he didn’t stop in his 20 year stage career.

“The show opened and mum and I sat in the audience somewhat bewildered that dad could actually act (although a good choreographer still wasn’t quite enough to save his dancing – a miracle was needed to rescue that).

“After the show closed, he found out he’d been nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical by the National Operatic and Dramatic Association, further cementing what I said earlier about him just being annoyingly good at whatever he turned his hand to.

“After being lauded with applause and NODA nominations following his first attempt at treading the boards, it probably came as no surprise that dad had ‘got the bug’. “

Tina added that Clive had been diagnosed with stomach cancer in June and had been having chemotherapy and got out for a couple of days for Gabby’s wedding.

But sadly his bowel perforated and they could not operate and passed away.

She said: “It was shock for us all and did not expect it to happen.”

For charitable donations in memory of Clive, they should be made to Kitty Rescue Bury via Deighan’s Funeral Parlour.