Company accountant Alan Ward has retired from Newsquest North-East after 25 years of service.

Alan, (60), joined the company, then owned by Westminster Press, on January 1, 1977 as a management accountant and became company accountant in 1983.

Alan said he will miss his friends at Newsquest North-East – home of The Northern Echo, Darlington and Stockton Times, and Advertiser Series – but at the same time he is he is looking forward to spending more time with his wife Christine, his two daughters and grand-daughter.

Alan was previously a highly promising footballer, being signed on professional terms by Wolverhampton Wanderers, and among the gifts presented to him by colleagues were framed Wolves and Middlesbrough FC shirts signed by first-team players, as well as a garden chair to help him relax.

Newsquest North-East managing director David Kelly said Alan was “a man of great integrity who would be missed enormously”.

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