A LIFELONG socialist from Keighley has been honoured for his 50 years’ service to the Co-operative movement.

The award to former district and county councillor John Prestage also recognises his five decades’ active membership of the Co-operative Party.

Mr Prestage, who lives in Sandbeds, received his National Merit Award from General Secretary Joe Fortune at the party’s annual conference in Glasgow.

Mr Prestage has been a party secretary for 50 years, this year retiring from the position with the Bradford and Craven branch, which covers Keighley.

He was a member of the party’s national executive and Parliamentary committee during the 1980s and 1990s.

Mr Prestage has been involved in the wider Co-operative Society for 40 years, starting with Keighley Co-op and finishing as vice president of United Cooperatives, which ran shops, funeral directors, travel agents and car showrooms across the North and Midlands.

He said: “I was virtually born into the Co-op – my parents and grandparents were involved. I started with the Woodcraft Folk when I was nine and got involved with the sporting side of the Co-operative when I was 14.”

As he grew up. Mr Prestage became involved in the Co-op’s community and education groups, and when he later became involved with the Labour Party it was as a member of the Co-operative Party.

He said: “The Co-operative movement is even more relevant now because there are more people with co-operative ideals – workers cooperatives, community groups and credit unions. I’m still involved with the Co-op – I’ve stepped down as secretary but I’m still very active.”

In 2006, the year he stepped down as a Bradford councillor, he attended a special celebration of his four decades in public life, attended by more than 100 colleagues past and present, from as far afield as Chester, Rochdale and London, as well as his two daughters’ families.

They heard that he had been a member of around 30 organisations during his years as a politician. They recalled John’s work in the Labour Party, trade unions and Cooperative movement, as well as fields such as public transport, disabilities, education, trading standards and the voluntary sector.

Mr Prestage was born in Rugby and moved to Sunderland, where he met wife Eva, who died in 1978. John moved to Keighley to become the Labour organiser in 1961 and in 1966 became a senior rating officer for Keighley Borough Council.

He transferred to Bradford Council in 1974, doing the same job, then later moved to Bradford’s unemployment unit and employment initiatives division. He retired in 1997.

Mr Prestage became a West Yorkshire county councillor for four years in the early 1980s before joining Bradford Council.