The funeral is taking place today of a journalist hailed as one the North of England’s “great newspapermen.”

Ronnie Turnbull edited the Hexham Courant for 12 years from 1984 to 1996 having been the paper’s deputy editor from 1973.

During the course of a long career he also worked for the Durham Advertiser, The Journal, the Evening Chronicle and the Sunday Sun,  as well as a stint in PR for the National Coal Board.

Ronnie, who died last week aged 80, was described by Courant managing director Sandy Rutherford as “one of the great newspapermen of his era in the North of England.”

Said Sandy: “His skill as a wordsmith and news gatherer, combined with his humility and humour, shone through.

“I had the pleasure of working with Ronnie for a number of years and considered him to be a true friend. He will be a great miss.”

Ronnie’s wife Sylvia said: “As a young man Ronnie loved Durham, especially the cathedral, but he said joining the Courant gave him the best and happiest times of his life. He absolutely loved his time on the paper.”

Ronnie trained as a journalist with the Durham Advertiser series, when he developed an immaculate shorthand note which served him well when he moved to daily papers in the Sunderland office of the Newcastle Journal.

He also worked for the Journal’s sister papers, the Evening Chronicle and the Sunday Sun before becoming Thomson Newspapers’ man in Tynedale in 1958.

Ronnie was eventually moved to cover Cumberland and South West Scotland for the Journal but after 18 months living in Carlisle, he returned to Hexham.

He was on the move again in 1967, when he joined Coal News, the National Coal Board’s national newsletter but missed the cut and thrust of the newsroom and returned to the Journal as crime correspondent.

Ronnie went on to join the Courant as deputy editor in November 1973 and was the obvious choice to take over the reins as the Courant’s sixth editor when Mike Sharman left the paper in 1984

He was also a prominent member of the Northern regional branch of the Editors’ Guild, serving spells as chairman, secretary and treasurer.

The funeral service will take place at Hexham Abbey today at 1.30pm, followed by private interment at St John Lee Church, Acomb.