Tributes have been paid to a popular man who became known as the “one legged postman.

Nearly 200 people attended a memorial service for former postman Allan Ripley at Skipton Baptist Church, where he was a member.

Mr Ripley, 80, was well-known in Skipton, where he spent all his life and was a postman for more than 30 years before retiring in 1998.

“Allan was known as the one-legged postman because he had a bad leg and rode around on a bicycle with just one pedal,” said his wife, Daphne.

“He used to tell people he had a wooden leg, but that wasn’t the case. He had a bad leg after contracting tuberculosis as a little boy.”

After working as a shoe repairer in a shop on Otley Street, Mr Ripley volunteered to work with Baptist Missionary Society in the Congo and he spent two years dispensing aid to Angolan refugees.

After returning to Skipton, Mr Ripley got a temporary job as a postman and stayed on for more than 30 years.

He was a keen sportsman and was president of Whinfield Bowling Club and played in the Keighley Table Tennis League for many years.

Mr Ripley will be fondly remembered by his family and friends as a storyteller and comedian.

His daughter, Joanna, said: “Dad was a wonderful storyteller, whether preaching in church, reading to us at home or reminiscing on the day’s events he never failed to make the simplest tale interesting.”

Mr Ripley is survived by his wife Daphne, children Joanna, Gavin and Melanie and grandchildren, Bethany, Sasha, Leonie and Elodie.