A FORMER steel worker whose angling exploits captured the imagination of enthusiasts throughout the North-East has died.

For 80 years, Billy Lambert fished the waters of the Wear and Tees, and the Eden in Cumbria, along with the Tunstall and Derwent reservoirs.

Ill health forced him to hang up his rod and reel for the last time in October.

Billy lived in Wolsingham, in County Durham, all his life and worked for 51 years at the local steelworks.

He told The Northern Echo in an interview at the time of his retirement: "Away from the noise and bustle of the steelworks, I found that I was at peace with the world."

Billy, who was 91, died after a long battle against cancer. He leaves a widow, Eva.

A funeral service will be held in Wolsingham Methodist Chapel tomorrow, at 10.30am, followed by cremation in Durham.

At Wolsingham Workingmen's Club, where Billy was treasurer for many years, former workmates said he was "one of the old soldiers" at the steelworks.

He worked as a moulder in the tin shop, making parts for ships and railways, and was reknowned as a perfectionist.

"He was so precise and liked to see the job done properly. That's why it always turned out right at the end," said one former workmate.

Billy first became hooked on angling as a schoolboy after catching wild brown trout in Waskerley beck, near his home.

When he announced his retirement there was a joke doing the rounds in Weardale: "Billy Lambert has retired - so the fish in the Wear can smile again."

Billy liked that.