GET-well-soon messages have been flooding in for council veteran Donald Eastwood after he was admitted to a hospital's intensive care unit suffering an attack of pancreatitis.

The 73-year-old former Burnden councillor is said to be in a stable condition following the life-threatening inflammation of the pancreas two-weeks-ago.

He is currently too ill to undergo an operation at Manchester Royal Infirmary where he has been transferred from the Royal Bolton Hospital.

His only daughter Tracey said: "All we can do is wait and hope he will be okay.

"But we are grateful for the many messages of support we have received from all his friends and former colleagues"

Mr Eastwood, a retired painter and decorator, left politics earlier this year after serving for 25 years as a councillor.

He spent 14 years as the Labour administration's chairman of education and arts before stepping down in 2000 and is due to be offered the title of honorary alderman.

The grandfather of Tonge Moor Road has also served as a magistrate.