A regional daily picture editor has retired after a career which spanned the Hungerford Massacre and the day Swindon Town beat Arsenal at Wembley.

Dave Evans bowed out last week after 43 years behind the lens for the Swindon Advertiser

During that time he served nine editors, photographed 22 different managers at Swindon Town and witnessed the election of seven MPs to represent the town.

Dave said farewell to Advertiser readers with a first-person piece published in the paper last week which can be read here in full.

The paper’s deputy editor Pauline Leighton told HTFP: “I’ve known Dave since I was 17 when I joined the Swindon Advertiser as a raw recruit. He’s a star. I will always remember him for for being spikey, funny and totally professional.

“Dave has been best known in recent years for his fantastic pictorial coverage of Swindon Town’s ups and downs. He even had his own chair at the County Ground!

“But it’s his news pictures, and his determination to get them that stick in my mind. He nearly died in a microlight crash as he photographed a pile-up which killed 15 people on the M4 near Swindon. He was first to the terrible scene of five children killed in an horrific accident in Swindon. He came away in tears, but he got the pictures.

“He was at Hungerford when Michael Ryan shot 16 people in a horrifying day-long rampage. Tough stuff. I have massive respect for the man and he will be missed immensely.”