TRIBUTES TO BRIGG GRAMMAR SCHOOL EDUCATED VETERAN JOURNALIST NICK COLE WHO HAS DIED AGED 72

Brigg Blog was very sad to be informed of the death of Nick Cole - one of our very best mates in journalism and someone  we'd worked alongside since 1984.
The veteran Scunthorpe Telegraph news reporter and prolific columnist was 72.
As a boy in the steel town he passed his 11+ and attended Brigg Grammar School from 1957 to 1962 - travelling in daily by bus via the "old" Mortal Ash Hill.
He progressed into journalism and part of his early career was spent covering stories in Brigg for The Star weekly paper.
While with the Telegraph, Nick reported extensively on the Brigg music scene and our pubs and clubs in his long-running Steelbeat and Bar Fly/Around Clubland columns.
He joined Brigg Blog on occasional but prolonged and enjoyable tours of town pubs in recent years, during which we introduced him to some local landlords and pub personalities.
Having been to the Telegraph office in Scunthorpe to write our own tribute to Nick yesterday morning, we got a lift back to Brigg in the afternoon and made for the nearest hostelry to raise a glass or three in his memory.
Among locals to pay tribute to Nick has been well-known Brigg charity fundraiser Andrew Markham.
He told Brigg Blog: "So sad to hear of Nick's passing. A great local 'hack' and a nice bloke."
Community leaders, ex-colleagues, friends and company representatives across North Lincolnshire have also mourned Nick's passing.
Our picture, taken some years ago, shows Nick in party mood with his wife - also, sadly, no longer with us today.
You can read the Scunthorpe Telegraph's online tribute to Nick Cole through this link...

Friends, colleagues and readers pay tribute to Scunthorpe Telegraph reporter Nick Cole here...

There will be much more about his career and service to the community in this week's paper, which will be in the shops from Thursday, July 19.