A STALWART of Kendal's popular putting green at Gooseholme has died, aged 81.

Kevin 'the putter' White died peacefully at his Kendal home after more than 50 years playing, managing and organising events on the 18-hole course and at its previous home on Miller Field, between Aynam Road and the River Kent.

The course at Miller Field was run by Kendal Borough Council but in the early 1970s a river widening scheme meant that the putting green was relocated to its present site at Gooseholme.

It was Mr White's idea to introduce a league for teams which led to the formation of the Kendal Putting Association in 1966. The league grew from strength to strength with teams made up of players from local workplaces, pubs and clubs.

When the league started there were 15 teams and at its height of popularity in 1973 there were 44.

Mr White's ambition of playing in every tournament organised by the association since 1965 - a total of around 500 - was marked with a ceremony attended by the then Kendal mayor, Cllr Chris Hogg in September 2015.

Mr White was born on July 5, 1936. He was educated at Barrow, and after leaving school in 1952, he became an apprentice butcher at JH Dewhurst in Barrow.

After five years there, he carried out two years of national service, during which time he worked as a staff driver in Cyprus.

In 1959 he relocated to Kendal and worked in a number of butcher's shops, before opening his own in 1974 on Stramongate.

He ran that shop until his retirement in 1992.

While employment as a butcher dominated Mr White's professional life, putting is what he was best known for in the town.

A family statement said: "He came up with the idea of creating the first putting league and it went on from there.

"He became the secretary, the fixture secretary, the general organiser, and he did that for 50 years. He always wanted to say he'd been able to play for 50 years – he created it and he saw it through."

Mr White is survived by two daughters, five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, and had spent 29 happy years with his late partner Irene.

"He was just a bright and cheerful man," added the family statement. "He was always singing or trying to make people laugh by telling jokes and things. The kids used to call him 'silly grandad' and he was well known throughout the town as well."