Tributes have been paid to a popular sheep farmer who has died aged 92.

Enoch Mellor ran Summer Close Farm in Rainow for more than 60 years.

He was also heavily involved in the rural community and served on Rainow Parish Council for many years.

Enoch died in hospital on July 5 after a short illness.

Born in 1920, Enoch spent all his life in Macclesfield’s countryside.

He grew up on Park Farm in the remote village of Flash before moving with his family to a farm near Tegg’s Nose.

After leaving school, Enoch worked as a milkman, delivering all over the town and making many new friends including Ann Coates.

The 75-year-old has fond memories of Enoch.

She said: “I was just seven when Enoch started delivering to our house. He adored children and made me and my sister feel like the bees knees.

“Sometimes he would collect us in his Austin, which was very rare at the time, and drive us to have tea with his mum on the farm.

“He told me some lovely stories about growing up with his younger sister Agnes. The pair of them used to walk three miles to and from school and when they went to town, to the shops or fair, if they got split up in the hustle and bustle, they would whistle to find each other. They both had fantastic whistles.”

Enoch served for five years in the Army during the Second World War, including some time in Gibraltar, but spoke very little about the gruelling experience.

After returning to Macclesfield, Enoch met and married Margaret and they became sheep farmers at Summer Close Farm and had a son, Stephen. They also fostered another son, Kenneth.

For four decades Enoch and his son Stephen assisted the rural community wherever they could, especially during the harsh winters, clearing snow from the Cat and Fiddle, and busing children to and from school.

Enoch suffered a double tragedy when in 2008 Stephen died suddenly aged 56, followed by Margaret a year later.

His funeral took place on July 23 at Holy Trinity Church, Rainow.

His niece Sandra Needham said: “Enoch will be missed greatly by all who knew him.”