Tributes to former Melton Times editor who has died aged 78

Former Melton Times editor, Norman Carroll, who has died aged 78, pictured earlier this year with grandchildren Oliver and Tom EMN-190923-171012001

Tributes have been paid to a former editor of the Melton Times newspaper who has died at the age of 78 following a battle with cancer.

Norman Carroll was editor of the town weekly during the 1980s and went on to teach journalists in countries which had been released from dictatorial rule on how to report freely on stories.

He always had an affection for Melton through his work on the paper and due to meeting his second wife, Diana, at the town’s Harboro Hotel.

Mr Carroll, a grandfather, retired to live in Cumbria and was diagnosed with liver cancer 15 months ago.

The late Norman Carroll pictured (on the left holding a bat over his shoulder) with fellow members of the Peterborough Evening Telegraph cricket team, work colleagues and supporters around 1960 EMN-190924-103032001

His son, Steve, said: “Dad was a real newspaper man and right up to his dying day he had The Times delivered and read it from cover to cover.

“He kept quite a lot of copies from his newspaper career including many issues of the Melton Times and Peterborough Evening Telegraph, where he was also editor.

“He lived in Langham while he was working in Melton and had a lot of fond memories of the town and the colleagues he worked with.”

Mr Carroll was born in Peterborough and after leaving school he took a job as a junior reporter at the city’s evening telegraph.

Norman Carroll pictured while working abroad in a PR capacity for the British army EMN-190924-103105001

He then went overseas for a number of years working in a PR role with the British army in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore before returning to the UK to become deputy editor of the Northants Evening Telegraph at Kettering.

His first editorship followed at Peterborough before he took over as editor of the Melton Times in the mid-1980s, succeeding Rod Jones, and he worked there until the end of the decade.

Brian Johnson worked with Norman at the Kettering paper and again at Melton when Brian was deputy to Norman.

He said: “Norman was a lovely man to work with - a very friendly chap and a good boss.

Norman Carroll pictured with second wife Diana EMN-190924-103140001

“The Melton Times went through a lot of changes in the early 1980s as the paper evolved and expanded.

“I have so many great memories of those days.

“Norman was a real gentleman and the newsroom was always a happy place to work in.”

Jan Jackson was news editor during Mr Carroll’s last year at the Melton Times.

Noman Carroll, a former Melton Times editor who has passed away aged 78 EMN-190924-102954001

She said: “I didn’t work with Norman for all that long before he moved on but remember him as being a larger than life personality and a true professional.

“He was a great advocate of local newspapers and had strong ideas on how he wanted the Melton Times to develop.”

Mr Carroll then went abroad with the Home Office to China and countries in the Middle East to teach reporters in a society where there was a new-found free press.

A return to the PR industry followed that, with a job north of the border with the Royal Bank of Scotland.

He was first married to Helena and latterly to Diana, who he spent 20 years with before she passed away.

Mr Carroll leaves three sons - Steve and Jonny, who both emigrated to Australia, and Nick, who lives at Redmile.

He also had four grandchildren - Oliver, Aidan, Annie and Tom.

A funeral service for Mr Carroll, who passed away at a care home near Melton, is at St Cuthbert’s Church, at Holme St Cuthbert in Cumbria, at 1pm on October 3.