The Nottingham branch of the National Union of Journalists has unveiled a tribute to journalist and author Frank Palmer.

The memorial bench, at Keyworth Cricket Club, near Nottingham, bears the words “Ey up sunshine”, a familiar greeting to those who knew Frank – as well as a translation into Pitman shorthand.

Former NUJ branch chairman Frank Palmer, who died last year aged 66, began his career at the Lincoln Chronicle and Lincolnshire Echo in the 1950s.

He went on to run Eastern News Service before joining the Manchester office of the Daily Express.

Many of his friends and colleagues knew him as the Mirror’s man in the East Midlands, where he was also a vice-president of Keyworth Cricket Club.After taking early retirement in 1991 he went on to produce 16 compelling crime novels.

Allister Craddock, treasurer of Nottingham branch, said: “Frank was one of those who if you sent a reporter out to knock on 100 doors to get the story he would knock on 150. He would always go the extra mile to get a story.”

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