An editor who ran a weekly newspaper for seven years has died aged 71.

Tributes have been paid to Chris Alder, who edited the Wellington Weekly News, in Somerset.

Chris, pictured, also worked for titles including the Surrey Comet and Leicester Mercury during his career.

Weekly News journalist Barry Knott described him as “an effective editor and chief reporter”.

He said: “I began working with Chris in 2007. It was with great sadness that I and the team at the Wellington Weekly learned of his passing.

“Chris was passionate about keeping our community well-served by high-quality local journalism.

“Under his leadership the newspaper never failed to deliver on that mission.

“Colleagues and I offer our condolences and give our thoughts to the family of Chris at this time.”

Chris was born in Winchester and later moved with his family to New Malden, in South-West London.

He began his career as a junior reporter on the Middlesex Chronicle in 1970 and joined the Comet two years later.

Chris then moved to Leicester in 1976 to work on the Mercury before joining Leicestershire Constabulary three years later as a public relations manager.

He also held senior management roles at BT, in London, and IBM UK, in Portsmouth, where he was chief press officer.

Chris returned to journalism in 2002 with the Somserset County Gazette, where he was chief reporter for five years, before taking the editor’s chair in Wellington. He left the paper in 2014.

Chris died peacefully at Oake Meadows Care Home, in Taunton, on 7 June, and is survived by wife Julia, who he married in 2008.