FAMILY and friends of a hugely popular Stourport historian will bid a fond farewell to him later this month.

The funeral of Geoff Neal will be held at Wyre Forest Crematorium from 3pm on Friday, March 17.

Family has instructed no flowers but instead people are offered to make donations to Macmillan Nurses and the Elizabeth Mills Day Centre.

Mr Neal died at home on February 18, at the age of 94, surrounded by his beloved wife Joan, son Alan, daughter-in-law Christine and grandson Jamie, following a battle with lung cancer.

He lived in Stourport all his life, apart from his spell in the RAF where he served in India and Burma during the war. Before and after the war, he worked at Steatite in the tool room.

He married Joan in 1948, after meeting her at Stourport Carnival, and their son Alan was born in 1951.

But he was well known around Stourport for his encyclopaedic knowledge of the town and its history, giving regular talks to groups.

This culminated in him writing and publishing “Stories of Stourport” in 2012 – the first run of which sold out. Mr Neal, who was also a keen on sport and music, donated proceeds to charity.

Mr Neal is survived by wife Joan, son Alan, daughter-in-law Christine and three grandchildren, three grandchildren-in-law and six great grandchildren.