A well-known former manager of Keighley's Co-op Food Fair supermarket has died at the age of 64.

Life-long Haworth resident Gerald Bottomley spent most of his working life with the Co-op locally.

His wife Sylvia - who he met when she started work at his store - this week spoke of Mr Bottomley's determination to stay cheerful despite illness.

He continued walking, gardening and driving despite a heart condition and having his leg amputated as a result of diabetes.

"The last two years have been tough but he never got down about it," says Sylvia. "As far as he was concerned he wasn't ill."

Tributes flowed in to the couple's Heathcliff, Haworth, home from people Mr Bottomley had worked with over five decades.

He started work as a teenager in Snowden's fruit shop, at the top of Main Street, Haworth, then moved two doors down to the village Co-op.

After a spell of National Service in the early 1950s, Mr Bottomley became manager of the Oxenhope Co-op, later taking over the Food Fair in Keighley.

He was manager of the town centre store for 19 years, celebrating his 40th year with the Co-op in 1992 and retiring the next year.

Sylvia met her future husband when she started at the Food Fair in 1978 and the long-time bachelor asked her out soon afterwards.

Sylvia says: "He asked me to marry him every year for 15 years but I said I wouldn't unless he went to another job or transferred me.

"He got down on his knee numerous times.

"He finished in 1993 and we got married the following year -- it was the proudest day of his life."

Mr Bottomley was a member and official for many years with both Haworth West Lane Cricket Club and Haworth, Lees and Cross Roads Gardeners' and Allotment Holders' Association.

Not having a large garden of his own, he had spent the past few years nurturing a garden at a friend's house in Ilkley.

Sylvia says her husband, a one-time union official, was inclined towards the side of the workers at the Co-op.

He was a leading light in protests against the introduction of Sunday opening and joined in protest marches.

Haworth fruiterer Michael Snowden, whose father was Mr Bottomley's first boss, this week paid tribute to his life-long friend.

Mr Snowden says: "Gerald was a very popular person, always very cheerful."