Staff at the Oxford Mail have bid a fond farewell to retiring assistant editor Peter Unsworth at a party attended by more than 100 colleagues and the Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire.

The popular Yorkshireman served Westminster Press and Newsquest for the majority of his newspaper career, which included two stints in Oxford and one at Bradford.

He was also well-known to many journalists from his time at the then Westminster Press Training Centre in Hastings where he mentored a generation of newshounds, including Oxford Mail editor Simon O’Neill and deputy editor Andy Chatfield.

During the party many colleagues paid tribute Peter’s professionalism, including Oxford Times editor Derek Holmes and managing director Shamus Donald.

Peter with many of his Mail colleagues

Editor Simon also read out a tribute from reporter Ian Townsend, with whom Peter first worked on the Mail when hejoined as a Thame reporter in 1967.

He said: “I always regarded Peter as the consummate reporter, the best local reporter I’ve ever come across.

“I know he’s done scores of things since then and done them well, but as a reporter he excelled. His copy production was prodigious and he was meticulous.”

As well as his reporting reputation, Peter developed a formidable record as a no-nonsense handler of complaints and legals, never once having a PCC ruling made against the papers in his charge.

Parting gifts included a football shirt of Peter’s beloved Huddersfield Town, with ‘Unsworth’ on the back above the number 65.

Although an unrepentant Yorkshireman, Peter described Oxford as his spiritual home, and the strength of his links to the community were illustrated by the special guests who joined the celebrations.

They included Hugo Brunner, Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, Oxford City Council leader Alex Hollingsworth and Sister Frances Dominica, founder of Helen House Hospice which Peter has helped to support.

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