Tributes have been paid to a former chief photographer at a regional daily who has died at the age of 91.

Charles Westberg worked at The Northern Echo for 37 years from 1949 until his retirement in 1986, having previously worked at the Sunderland Echo.

He played a major role in the paper’s coverage of some of its biggest stories of the 1980s, including the Falklands war and the miners’ strikes.

Charles, pictured below at his 90th birthday, died at his home in Darlington last month.

Charles Westberg, front, is pictured with former Northern Echo colleagues Mel Attrill, Brian Clough, Mike Gibb and Mike Amos.

Echo columnist Mike Amos, who worked alonside him when he was the paper’s news editor, said: “He was a good, old-school journalist and an extremely nice man.

“He was very efficient and a good organiser – when things went well, he was very proud of it, and when they didn’t it was usually my fault.

“We had our arguments, but we got on fine, especially after he retired.”

Former Echo photographer Brian Clough said Charles was an expert at compiling “spot the ball” competitions.

He said: “He had to find a picture where there was a ball in the photograph and he would spend hours in the dark room removing it.

“It was quite a skill and he was a great exponent of it – when he was off, we used to draw straws to see who would have to do it in his place, because he was so good at it.

“He was a great boss and a good lad.”

Charles, whose wife Phylis passed away in 2009, leaves three sons and four grandchildren.