LONG-serving Keighley football referee Squire Farrar has died at the age of 94.

The funeral service was held on Tuesday for the great-grandfather who spent more than 40 years refereeing matches far and wide.

Mr Farrar was a soccer player before he picked up the whistle, and even after his retirement he loved to watch games on his local playing fields.

He was born in 1919 in Worth Village, Keighley, where his father was foreman at the gasworks.

After attending Eastwood School. Mr Farrar went on to become a lathe turner, and because of his engineering skills he was not called up to serve during the Second World War.

He met his wife Jean at a dance and they were married 70 years ago.

The pair lived in Thwaites village, where their son Mick was born in 1944, and in the 1960s the family moved to Jean’s home village of Crossflatts.

The married couple were inseparable, and both loved ballroom dancing at the Ritz and going on coach tours of the UK.

Mr Farrar had a great love of football throughout his life, becoming a popular referee in Keighley as well as venturing to matches in Leeds, Nelson and Rhyl.

In 1988 Mr Farrar was honoured for his 40 years’ membership of Keighley and District Referees Association, which included refereeing at least four cup matches.

Mr Farrar retired from refereeing at the age of 65, but continued to watch football matches at the recreation ground near his Crossflatts home.

In his 70s, he suffered a small stroke, which affected his speech, and at 89 a larger stroke. Jean visited him every day in his nursing home to read to him and help encourage him to speak.

Mr Farrar was this week described as a perfect gentleman who never swore and always had a smile on his face.