RON Carrington, who has died at the age of 87, was a man with ink in his veins.

A prominent figure in the newspaper world for more than 40 years, he was a native of St Helens who first entered journalism with the old St Helens Newspaper, later rising to become a group editor and managing director with leading North-West weeklies.

Yet he was lucky to have survived to carve out an illustrious career and to reach such an advanced age.

Volunteering at the outbreak of war in 1939, he was serving with the British Expeditionary Force in France at the time of the Allies' collapse in 1940. Unable to reach the beaches at Dunkirk, he later managed to cross the Channel by small boat, arriving at Weymouth where holidaymakers, thronging the seafront in deckchairs, were apparently unaware of all that was happening in France.

Ron, formerly of Dentons Green Lane, St Helens, then served in England, and after the Battle of Britain moved to the Middle East where he was commissioned. He served in the Western Desert and most other Middle Eastern countries, including a period 'out of uniform' in Turkey.

His second step on the newspaper career ladder had been with the St Helens-based Reynolds News Agency and he became a prolific sports writer, his rugby league and cricket reports being regular features in most national and regional morning and evening papers.

Ron's sporting interest was not entirely passive, having played amateur rugby league in the 1930s and later, during RAF service, turning not only to the 15-man rugby code but also playing soccer, cricket, tennis and golf as well taking part in middle-distance running.

After war service, during which he founded and edited the RAF magazine, The Wing, he launched the St Helens Gazette and then joined the Weekly News Group, with editions in Liverpool, Runcorn and Widnes. Before his retirement in 1978, he became not only group editor and managing director, but also the managing director of News on Merseyside Ltd. (the company controlling the groups' weekly newspapers) and a director of Swale Press Ltd., the parent company.

A member of the Guild of British Newspaper Editors for more than 25 years, he was presented in 1968 to the Queen during one of her visits to Knowsley Hall.

A prominent member of Windle Bowling Club for half a century, he was a former club director and past president and was later awarded life membership. For some years he was chairman of the Weaver Motor Boat Club in Cheshire.

Ron is survived by his wife June, daughter Denise, sons Stephen and Brian and grandchildren Antony and Angela. His first wife Dorothy and their second son William (Bill), also a talented journalist, pre-deceased him.