HE was a prolific goalscorer as Haydon Bridge’s junior football team won a prestigious league and cup double in the late 1950s.

But John Brown was perhaps best known in Tynedale for his work as a bus driver.

Tributes have been paid to the 75-year-old who died at the end of September, following a short illness.

Born and bred in Haydon Bridge, John was one of seven siblings who grew up at Martins Close, and attended the village’s Shaftoe Trust School.

A promising young footballer, he was a regular goalscorer at junior level.

He was part of the Haydon Bridge U18s team which were the inaugural winners of the Hexham and District Sunday Junior League, and the Lance Spooner Cup, in 1959.

The young John starred alongside other prospects, including Brian Burrows, Joe Worthington, Andrew Brown, Harry Phillipson, Angus Walker, Jeff Marshall, John Davies, Dennis Telford, Barry Johnstone, and Raymond Duffy.

There was talk of a trial for Sunderland, but John’s future took him away from the football field.

A family man with a bubbly personality, he was a big fan of Elvis Presley, and styled his hair to match.

John, who was twice married, spent much of his working life as a bus driver, serving in Hexham, Prudhoe, and elsewhere in Tynedale, before moving to Scarborough in 1987, where he again worked on the buses.

It was in Scarborough where John settled with his second wife Anne-Marie, and where they brought up their six children Thomas, Joseph, Amanda, Jack, Lucy, and Oliver.

He became a popular figure in Scarborough, and was a familiar face at the town’s working men’s club. John enjoyed returning to Haydon Bridge to visit family.

He was buried following a service at Woodlands Cemetery and Crematorium, at Scarborough, which was attended by family and friends, on October 18.