WELL-KNOWN Oakworth volunteer Keith Wright has died at the age of 71 following a road accident.

Big-hearted Keith was heavily involved in village life despite being a full-time carer for his wife Kathleen for the past 18 years.

Kathleen this week described Keith, a retired textile worker and school caretaker, as her “knight in shining armour”.

She said: “Keith was a wonderful, genuine person who would give a helping hand to anyone. He had great community spirit and was well-liked

Every year Keith cleared the pass around flats near their home in Windsor Road, and he regularly went shopping for housebound neighbours.

The pair were also instrumental in setting up the Oakworth Contact Point, Keith serving as chairman, and they founded a local branch of Arthritis Care.

Keith was also involved in Keighley in Bloom and the Friends of Holden Park, and three years ago he successfully campaigned for a new bus shelter in Windsor Road.

Keith was an overlooker for many years at Keighley textile firm Haggas, and after being made redundant at the age of 50 became caretaker at Oldfield Primary School. He later retired through ill-health.

Previously married, Keith met Wyke woman Kathleen in the late 1990s through the Keighley News’s then Two’s Company dating service.

The couple married 11 months later, bringing their teenage children together at the house in Windsor Road, Oakworth.

Kathleen had an accident a couple of years later and Keith became her main carer. Between them they had six children, now grown-up.

Keith’s big passion away from Kathleen was to go for a walk or a day trip every Thursday with long-time friend Bob Crossley.

The pair were returning from the Yorkshire Air Museum near York earlier this month when they were involved in a road accident.

Keith received treatment for a cracked sternum and was sent home, but after further visits to hospital suffering from breathing difficulties, he died peacefully at home on November 18.

Kathleen this week described Keith and I self as “two halves” of a whole.

She said: “He was such a blessing to my life. We’d only been married two years when I had my accident and he had been my main carer ever since.

“Our love only grew stronger as the years went by. He is going to be missed.”