An editor who ran a weekly newspaper for almost a quarter of a century has died aged 89.

Tributes have been paid to Alan Bensted, who ran the Kentish Gazette from 1971 until 1995.

Alan’s career in Kent papers spanned more than 40 years and he also had stints at fellow KM Group titles the Faversham News and Sheerness Times Guardian.

He died at the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital in Margate in the early hours of Sunday 22 January following a suspected heart attack.

Former KM Group colleague Mary Whelan described Alan as “a giant of good old-fashioned community newspapers”.

She said: “Alan was a local rags legend, who will live on in our fond memories of a golden era of journalism.”

Former Gazette chief sub-editor Roger Mapstone added: “[Alan] had newspapers – and cricket – running through his veins. Such a lovely man.”

It was Alan’s love of cricket which got him his break in journalism when he began filing results and reports for the Faversham News, which led to him being offered a trainee reporter’s job on the paper in 1948.

He later moved to the office of the Times Guardian after two years of National Service in the RAF before becoming a a sports writer at the Canterbury-based Gazette, where he subsequently worked his way up to the editor’s chair.

Away from journalism, he was involved with Street End Cricket Club as a player until 2001 and an umpire until 2019.

Current club chairman Kevin Hopper told Kent Online: “His love for everything to do with the game allowed him to be a master tactician and a real leader of men.

“The outline of Alan stood at first slip is a memory that every Street End player will remember with fondness and joy.

“Alan’s personality shaped junior and recreational cricket across the whole of east Kent for several decades but Street End was his spiritual home.

“Alan was the face and voice of Street End and will live on in our memories at our club. We have lost a friend, teammate, leader and huge part of us as a club. We will miss him terribly and send our condolences to all his family.”

Alan is survived by wife Hilary, son Philip and daughter Debra. His funeral will take place at 10am on Friday 17 February at Barham Crematorium, followed by a wake at the Chiesman Pavilion at Kent County Cricket Club’s St Lawrence Ground, in Canterbury.

Donations are welcome to the Canterbury and District Recorder talking newspaper, with which he was involved for many years, or Street End Cricket Club.