A MAN who used his hands to punish and to heal, earning him recognition which extended far beyond Bromsgrove's boundaries, has died aged 87.

Harry Pantall, from East Road, died in Wayside Nursing Home in Stourbridge Road last Thursday. He had lost his mobility in the last few years and his health had recently deteriorated rapidly.

In his youth Harry gained an enviable reputation as an enthusiastic and accomplished amateur welter weight boxer. Along with his lifelong pal Bill Kings, the pair started Bromsgrove Amateur Boxing Club, which often attracted crowds of 600 or more when staged on the Victoria Ground.

Away from the ring as a self-taught, private physiotherapist those same hands helped keep Bromsgrove Rovers players' limbs fit and supple for many seasons.

Harry was still travelling the country with the team when well into his 70s. His son John said his father took up physiotherapy partly to eke out his wage as a wheelwright at the Wagon Works at Aston Fields.

John said he never needed to advertise his skills easing aches and pains. His prowess was passed on by word of mouth by his many grateful clients, which included professional sportsmen and women and others, such as police officers whose jobs demand fitness.

John said his father's fingerprints had literally been worn away by years spent massaging clients.

Bill, himself associated with Rovers for many years, said: "He was one of the club's many unsung heroes. He could diagnose and treat sports injuries in a manner born of intuition and experience, and he had a great sense of humour and fund of anecdotes."

Born in Wychbold, Harry lived for a time at Stoke before moving to Birmingham to work on the railways. But after his marriage to Beryl, the couple returned to Bromsgrove to avoid the Blitz.

Harry was a man of many parts. He taught boxing and self defence to boys at Bromsgrove School during the war and also bred and trimmed dogs and reared cage birds.

For 18 years before he retired he worked at Garringtons.

A funeral service will be held at Redditch crematorium next Monday at 2pm.