TRIBUTES have been paid to a Bolton sailing enthusiast, accountant and broadcaster who died suddenly at his home in the Lake District.

Giles Howarth, aged 64, will be best known in Bolton as the founding father of the thriving Delph Sailing Club which he helped to establish in 1962.

In later years, Mr Howarth became known in the Lake District area as a broadcaster for Radio Cumbria and regularly enjoyed verbal sparring matches on air with Terry Wogan.

Born and bred in Deane, Mr Howarth was educated at Giggleswick School and later trained and qualified as a chartered accountant.

He held a number of professional and industrial appointments in Bolton and Manchester -- an early one being at Colgate Palmolive.

At Colgate, much of the time of the clerical staff was spent typing memos and letters for his beloved sailing club.

In forming the club, only a handful of the friends he brought together knew much about sailing.

But they included a solicitor and a quantity surveyor and they "laid the foundations" of what has become a successful dinghy sailing club on Delph Reservoir at Egerton.

Mr Howarth's love of sailing led him to the Lake District and he moved to Windemere in 1971.

His widowed mother had moved from Bolton to Bowness some years earlier.

The move also meant Mr Howarth was nearer to Scotland where he visited regularly to watch rugby and to enjoy the fishing.

The move brought him closer to Kendal, where he fulfilled his ambition of founding his own accountancy practice. He retired from accountancy in 1996.

He died at his home in Windemere earlier this month and leaves his wife, Gill, of 34 years.

The funeral service took place at The Jesus Church, Troutbeck, where he had recently become treasurer, which was packed with mourners.

The service involved a special performance by the Chapel Choir of Giggleswick School as a tribute to their former pupil.

Close friend Dr John Leather of Green Lane, Bolton, said of Mr Howarth: "He valued greatly the friends and acquaintances that his various activities brought to him.

"He was particularly known as a great raconteur, with an inexhaustible supply of amusing stories.

"It was this which led to his all too short broadcasting career with Radio Cumbria, where he was frequently heard in the early morning verbally sparring with Terry Wogan on the friendliest terms.

He added: "Though he was short in stature, he was large of heart.

"All who knew Giles will miss his friendship and his ability to comment on the amusing side of life."