A grandson has paid tribute to a man who campaigned for a crossing to improve a busy road - and recreated a photo as part of appeal 50 years on.

John Unsworth, who lived on Kitchener Street, Bury, died on February 17 aged 84 after a short illness.

Back in 1974 he featured in a story in the Bury Times after leading a petition to have a crossing installed on Bolton Road following a number of accidents.

Bury Times: The original article from 1974 The original article from 1974 (Image: Damien Unsworth)

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His grandson Damien Unsworth said: “It was done because there was no crossing there at the time and there was a lot of near misses with kids, and I think an old man was killed on that road too.

“That’s why they petitioned for the crossing and eventually got it.

“A few weeks before he died, we found the news article and we said we wanted to recreate it but he sadly passed away.”

Damien has recreated the photo in John’s memory with him standing in the area where his grandad stood half a century ago.

Bury Times: Damien Unsworth standing on the road where his grandad John stood 50 years agoDamien Unsworth standing on the road where his grandad John stood 50 years ago (Image: Damien Unsworth)

He added that John was quite a big figure in the community at that time and the crossing was not the only matter he petitioned for as he successfully managed to get more heating put in homes.

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Damien said: “Where he could, he always fought for things.”

John lived on Kitchener Street for nearly 40 years and had a number of jobs including gravedigging and working for the council's street lighting team.

Damien described him as a “very cheeky man, very stuck in his ways and stubborn which is why he did all these petitions to get things done”.

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He loved walking and his favourite walks were around Elton Reservoir and Birtle.

John met his late wife Pauline at the Florence Nightingale Hospital, now the Cygnet Hospital at the bottom of Kitchener Street when he was a patient, and she was a nurse.

They had six children, eight grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.