FORMER mayor, historian, author and ‘glorified odd job man’, Leominster has lost a local treasure whose long life was devoted to the town he loved.

Three times mayor and an alderman of the town, Alec Haines, who also served as a member of Leominster District Council, has died at the age of 97. Thanks to his love of local history, a record of a lost age has been preserved in ‘Leominster’s 20th Century Characters and its Poacher’, a three-year project involving him in more than 40 interviews with elderly locals.

Published in 1986, the book helped raise money for his “beloved” Priory Church in Leominster where he served on the Parochial Church Council for 26 years and looked after the Priory’s boilers for 18 years. He was even prepared to scramble up on to the roof to shovel snow away.

Born in 1920, Alec’s early life was marred with tragedy. His mother died in childbirth when he was nine, and he was sent to an orphanage in Bristol. He lived with the hope of returning home, but his father’s health was poor, having suffered from mustard gas attacks in the Battle of Ypres during the First World War, and news eventually reached the children that he had died.

Alec’s experiences at the Mullers Homes for Orphans were included in a 30-minute film entitled ‘The Orphan’s Tale’, screened on television in 2007. His involvement brought him back in touch with others from the orphanage. “It did bring back some awful memories,” he said at the time.

His life in Leominster was full: he was a dedicated councillor, an avid historian, and worked hard at keeping the town clean and tidy. He loved reviving old customs such as celebrating ‘Oak Apple Day’ and reviving the old ‘beating the bounds’ custom to mark out parish boundaries. He remained president of Hereford Blind Association up until his death, and served as odd job man at the Priory Church for well over half a century.

Alec married his late wife, Mary at the Priory and they had two children. His daughter, Susan said the Facebook page, Leominster Watch had received hundreds of hits since news of her father’s death was announced. “He loved Leominster and Leominster loved him,” she said. “He was the one everyone went to, and his knowledge of Leominster and his beloved Priory Church was amazing.”