Veteran Ludlow reporter dies aged 92
A veteran journalist who covered Ludlow for the Shropshire Star and the Shropshire Journal for many years has died at the age of 92.
Wellington-born John Rickett had volunteered for the Army after leaving The Royal School Wolverhampton towards the end of the war but did not see active service.
He returned to Wellington and joined the Wellington Journal and Shrewsbury News as a reporter covering Craven Arms and then Ludlow.
Among the big stories he covered were a major gas explosion which rocked Temeside in 1973 and the murder of a doctor in Leintwardine in 1968.
As the man on the spot he reported all the news from the Ludlow area and the local courts and councils.
In his younger years he joined the town's Round Table, the tennis club, the judo club, the rugby club and the Midland Gliding Club at the Long Mynd where he was an instructor for many years.
He met and married Lynda Bedford from Dinham and they had three sons, Jonathan, Ian and Peter.
Lynda said: "He was very happy in Ludlow and worked for the Star and Journal for 44 years.
"He enjoyed a long and happy retirement until his death, on November 5."
The funeral is on November 26 at 3.30pm at Wyre Forest crematorium at Stourport.
