JOHN Monks, whose travel, coach and funerals empire made him a household name in the Leigh area has died.

Mr Monks, 80, had been admitted to hospital three weeks ago after being taken ill as he and his wife, Jean, returned to Britain on a flight from Mallorca.

His funeral will be held on Monday at Newchurch Parish Church, Culcheth, followed by cremation at Howe Bridge, Atherton.

Born in Rydal Street, Leigh, above what was Monks' Railway Road company office, John Monks attended the town's Boys' Grammar School.

In 1937 he began work for his father, the start of his involvement in a family business which had been founded in the 19th century.

But two years later his interest in the Territorial Army was put to a stern test with the outbreak of war. He served during the conflict as an officer with the Welsh Royal Horse Artillery in Burma, North Africa and Italy.

A keen sportsman he played rugby for Tyldesley, cricket for Leigh and was a county standard tennis player representing Lancashire. He also played hockey.

In later years he turned to golf and was a member of Leigh Golf Club and a keen supporter of Orrell RUFC. His great loves were travel and gardening where he had a practical approach taking delight in sampling the fruits of his labour.

A qualified undertaker, his business experience spanned the contrasting eras of horse-drawn carriages and long-haul flights.

He was just as happy getting behind the wheel of a coach to take day-trippers to the Lakes as he was offering first-hand advice on the route to Ayres Rock.

His wife, Jean, recalled how the company was often in demand for horse-drawn hearses for gipsy funerals.

She said: "John never forgot one of those in particular. It was a big one and a horse dropped dead at Leigh Turnpike. They dragged the animal out of the shafts and put in another - a piebald - and carried on."

He built-up the travel and coach tour side of the business retiring in October 1996 when John Monks and Sons Ltd had 12 offices within the region.

In the 1940s he married his first wife, Betty, with whom he had a daughter, Trish, and sons Nick and Tim. They divorced in the 1960s.

He married Jean in 1963 with whom he had a son, Simon and a daughter, Jayne.