A LIFESAVING hero who could not swim, but who rescued a woman from a river, has died.

Edmund Nicholson, 82, waded into the fast-flowing Cod Beck, in Thirsk, to save the struggling woman.

The former soldier received a Royal Humane Society medal for his bravery 30 years ago.

He was born in 1924 and was brought up on a farm near Masham, where he worked for a time after he left.

He then joined the Forestry Commission as a tractor driver before he was drafted into the Army in 1943.

An interest in machinery led him to join the Royal Service Corps, and he spent time in India and Burma.

When Singapore was recaptured in September 1945, he spent time re-supplying the fortress.

In 1947, he left the Army and set up a taxi service based in Thirsk before he began running a funeral service.

He met his future wife, Joan, soon after he left the Forces, and they married in the early Fifties and settled in Thirsk.

A widower, he had two brothers, Dennis and Ron, and a sister, Edna, but no children.

Mr Nicholson died on Thursday, May 17, and his funeral was held at St Mary's Church, in Masham, on Tuesday.