IN the hands of well-loved couple Frank and Margaret Soulsby, the Golden Lion was the place to be in Corbridge.

Taking over the pub from Frank’s mother in 1964, the husband and wife team helped develop the pub into a hub for the village during their two decades at the helm.

Sports mad Frank, a junior county boxing champion who had the ability to fight professionally, led his pub team to success in darts, football and cricket, and he and Margaret introduced the popular wheelbarrow race to Corbridge.

This week, mourners celebrated Frank’s life in a funeral service at St Andrew’s Church in the village after he passed away aged 92.

Born in Riding Mill, Frank came to prominence as a young boxer and was Northumberland county champion for four years running between 1939 and 1943. He was also Durham champion in 1940.

Doing odd jobs at Riding Mill and Horsley garages after school turned into an apprenticeship scheme as a mechanic, before he signed up with the Army to serve with the Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers during World War Two, until 1947.

While stationed in Annan, he met his wife-to-be, Margaret, and they were married in the Scottish town in 1950.

Between 1958 and 1964, Frank worked for the BBC maintaining radio masts up-and-down the country.

When the couple took over the Golden Lion, Frank’s sister Ida had the nearby Dyvels pub and brother Ken was the licensee of the Fox and Hounds pub in Stagshaw.

Frank was a keen drummer and played in both the Frank Claffey Band and then in his brother Ken’s band. On retiring, he remained involved in boxing circles as a member of the Ex-boxers of Tyneside group, and he also enjoyed gardening.

Frank leaves a son Wayne and daughter Lynn, three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. His wife, Margaret, died in 2008.