A man who 'made Preston look fabulous' dies aged 61

A rare photo of Tony Worrall who preferred to be behind the lens.

Tony, who lived in Ashton, had a passion for the city and snapped anything and everything about it over decades behind the lens.

The retired civil servant published an incredible 78,000 pictures on the photo website Flickr, many of them about life in Preston or his second love good food.

He captured the extraordinary and the ordinary in the city, from a Prime Minister's visit to tadpoles in Haslam Park.

One of Tony's most recent photographs - a striking image of spring tulips in Preston city centre.

One fan wrote on Twitter: "Such a talent, and a tremendously important figure in documenting the fabric and life of Preston. His bus station pictures were at the heart of the successful campaign to save the structure."

Another said: "He was an excellent photographer and made Preston look fabulous."

Garry Cook, who organised the Lancashire Photographic Festival in Preston in April/May, said: "Tony was the first Preston photographer I discovered online - first on Flickr and then Twitter.

"I was absolutley inspired by his images, particularly because so many of them were taken in Preston and showed the city in a far more artistic and beautiful way than I'd ever seen it.

"Like many people, I felt like I knew him through his online posts even though I did not meet him very often in real life.

"I last saw him only a few weeks ago. We arranged to meet so he could get a copy of Peter Dench's photo book from me. He had been out taking photos that morning and we talked about how great it was to see so many people in Preston taking photographs.

"I think he played a massive part in encouraging that."