THE ashes of one of the area’s oldest residents will be scattered in the rural village where he grew up.

Robin Waugh, formerly of Whitfield, near Haltwhistle, died last month aged 105.

His family will return to the village at Easter to scatter his ashes, after his family fell in love with the area while running a farm.

Robin was born in Bewcastle, in Cumbria, in 1914, and moved to Whitfield at an early age so his father could farm.

Working as a store boy at the Co-operative, now the Whitfield Village Pantry, Mr Waugh fostered a love for the local people.

His family insisted that while ‘he wasn’t an important man, he was certainly known’.

Mr Waugh joined the Army in 1940 and met his wife-to-be, the late Constance White, at Newcastle Bus Station during annual leave.

The pair were married two years later and had two daughters.

During the Second World War, Mr Waugh was stationed in Germany in 1944 where his role was to act as a peacekeeper towards the end of the conflict.

Having left the Army after the war, Mr Waugh and his family moved to Carlisle in 1953, and he resumed work as a salesman for Milligan’s and then Gilbert Brown’s, where he worked until his retirement aged 84.

There, he was in his element on the shop floor, with customers refusing to be served by anyone else.

While his family said people were his main ‘hobby’, Mr Waugh was a member of the Highland Dancing Association, winning numerous medals for his footwork.

However, one of his biggest regrets was not winning a tango competition.

Not one for staying at home, Mr Waugh liked getting out and about in his car and drove until he was 99, and he was a passionate supporter of Carlisle United Football Club.

Despite having visitors most days at Barnclose Residential Home, in Carlisle, it was never enough and Mr Waugh set about looking after other residents, whom he affectionately labelled ‘the old people’.

The ashes of ‘much-loved gg’, as he was known to his grandchildren, will be scattered in Whitfield to honour Mr Waugh’s dying wish.