THE man who led a campaign to save the world's oldest rail bridge has been honoured.
Ted Defty, of Clough Dene, Tantobie, near Stanley, County Durham, travelled to Buckingham Palace to collect the MBE for services to his community.
As chairman of Stanley Urban District Council during the 1970s, the former miner helped to save Causey Arch, near Stanley, when the bridge was in danger of collapse.
The pensioner, whose three daughters attended the ceremony, said: "It was a wonderful experience. I was honoured and extremely proud."
Mr Defty was also Labour Party constituency chairman, founded the Hobson Golf Course, near Stanley, and was chairman of Stanley Civic Arts Society for 36 years until the venue became the Lamplight Arts Centre, last year.
He started Derwentside-Werdohl Friendship Club, which twinned the district with an industrial region in Germany, and was also chairman of Welfare for the Aged for 25 years.
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