A PARISH council chairman has dies aged 73, two months after celebrating his golden wedding.

John Hill, of Church Street, Birlingam, was elected last April to head the council in Birlingham, near Pershore.

A post-mortem is set to take place, but Mr Hill was found dead in his bed, thought to be from a heart attack.

A chartered accountant, he was treasurer to the Parochial Church Council and audited the accounts for most village organisations.

A former pupil of King Charles 1 School, Kidderminster, he learnt his trade in the town firm, Moulder and Tyers.

He was chairman of Kidderminster Round Table in the 1960's and he also became Round Table chairman when he and his wife moved to Banbury, near Oxford.

When the family moved to Birlingham he was chairman three times of Bredon Hill Rotary Club and a member of Evesham Rotary Club.

His career progressed through several commercial appointments in Dudley, Banbury, Pershore, Cradley Heath and Hartlebury. He was also a governor of Perryfields Special School in Worcester.

Mr. Hill married Daphne Bishop in 1967. She held secretarial posts in Kidderminster and was chairman of the town's Ladies Circle in 1976. In latter years she was secretary at Pershore High School. Their son Richard is married to Lenka and they have two daughters.

A family service will be held at Worcester Crematorium on Wednesday, March 7 to be followed by a service in the village church, Birlingham at 2pm on the same day.