TRIBUTES have been paid to a distinguished public servant.

William 'Bill' Allington, whose distinguished public service with Worcester City Council and Hereford and Worcester County Council spanned more than four decades, has died at the age of 98.

He was awarded the OBE in the Queen's New Year's Honours of 1997 in recognition of his 40 years' public service during which he was Tory Leader on both the city and county councils and City Chamberlain and High Sheriff of Worcester and county council vice chairman.

But farming was always in Bill's lifeblood.

He was born in 1918, the only child of Claude Allington, a cattle, sheep and horse dealer, and his wife Mary, an accomplished horse woman.

Earl's Court Farm, mentioned in the Domesday Book, and the neighbouring Ambrose Farm were the agricultural domain of the Allington family.

Their Worcester Westside land extended to 360 acres and formed what was then a vast, unspoilt and truly rural expanse lying all the way out from the Hallow Road to Crown East.

Bill recalled his halcyon days of the 1920s and 30s at Earl's Court and of helping his father and his men to take cattle and sheep in droves through St John's to the Cattle Market and to Worcester's former historic annual Hop, Sheep and Cheese Fair each September.

There was also the "great fun" of herding trainloads of horses, sheep and cattle, arriving in Worcester at Henwick Station, through St John's to Earl's Court Farm.

The farmhouse, cottages and barns of Earl's Court Farm were originally a monastic property probably connected with the monks of Worcester Cathedral but have long since been swept away.

In the early 1950s many of the farm's 260-acres yielded a very different harvest – the bricks, mortar and concrete of Worcester's second largest council estate – Dines Green.

Bill's schooling was at a St John's kindergarten and the Royal Grammar School, Worcester.

In his youth he formed the Earl's Court Cricket team and in the late 1930s joined the Civil Air Guard. During the Second World War, he became, in his own words, "the local Captain Mainwaring" in charge of the Bromsgrove Battalion of the Home Guard.

Then in 1952, when the Home Guard was re-formed in the face of the Cold War, he served as a captain again for about four years at Worcester.

He was a member of the Western Command shooting team and shot several times at Bisley and in other top contests.

Bill married Dr Moira Allington in 1946 and lived in Bromwich Road, Worcester for 20 years with the marriage ending on amicable terms.

He was elected to Worcester City Council in 1956 and served on it for 23 years.being, in turn, chairman of two main committees, leader of the controlling Tory Group for three years, City Chamberlain in 1976-7 and High Sheriff in 1977-8.

In 1973 he won his way onto the new Hereford and Worcester County Council and served at County Hall for 16 years. He was Leader for four years of the Tory controlled county council, chairman of its overlord committee, Policy and Resources, and Council Vice Chairman from 1985 until 1989.

He was a leading figure in the Worcester Conservative Party and Association for 40 years, serving as chairman and vice president and giving active support to Worcester MP Peter (later Lord) Walker.

He chaired several school and college governing boards in the city and county and was a past president of the Worcester and Hereford Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He retired from the city council in 1979 after moving from the city to live at Lower Howsen Farm, Cotheridge where he returned to his "beloved countryside" and to farming, primarily with sheep.

Dogs were one of Bill's greatest loves and he kept whippets for many years until his death.

To political friends and foes and to all who knew him Bill was a real gentle man of immense charm and integrity.

He leaves his partner of many years Jennie, his daughter Vivienne and two granddaughters.