Cllr Eleanor Jackson has paid tribute to a brilliant local historian who was a key force at the Radstock Museum.

Dr Nick Hall stood down as a Trustee at the Somerset Coalfield Life Museum due to illness earlier this year.

News of his death was greeted by sadness by those on the council, at the museum and in the local community.

Cllr Jackson told Nub News : " Dr Nick Hall's death is a terrible loss for Radstock Museum. In the few, all to short years, he had led the Museum trustees and staff, he had raised the organisation to new heights, and secured its financial future, which was a very great challenge in the covid-19 era, but the Museum survived and is staging a gradual re-opening, which he has not lived to see completed.

"He made volunteering at the Museum such fun, but he was also a mine of knowledge about the North Somerset coal field. I treasured his friendship, and his wit and humour, as I imagine everyone he worked with did.

"He is also a great loss to the wider community. I shall not forget his support for the History of Westfield exhibition we staged in 2017 and the brilliant organisation behind the visit of the Countess of Wessex to the Museum in 2019. He understood how important history is in establishing self worth and identity in the former mining communities like Westfield. "

The council also praised Dr Hall's energy and enthusiasm and said the much-loved heritage boards around the town are down to his hard work.