REG O'NEIL, charity worker and founder member of Greasby Methodist Youth Club, has died aged 74.

He helped start the club in 1937 and, when the older members were conscripted in 1940, he became the leader until he was called up in 1942.

Reg worked as a regional representative for the National Children's Home, was a founder member of the Wirral Guild of Craftsmen and the Peninsula Arts and Crafts Association.

By 1973 he was the longest-serving youth club leader in Merseyside and was elected President of the Liverpool District Methodist Association of Youth Clubs for that year.

Other honours include the Cross of Bangladesh, awarded in 1980 for his contribution to disaster relief in India, and an invitation to the Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace to commemorate 100 years of the National Trust, for whom he lectured.

Reg's son Jim said: "He was so active in so many spheres of local life that he will be sorely missed."

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