TRIBUTE has been paid to a retired Keighley GP who has died after a long battle with a brain tumour.

Dr Jim Hodgson died with his wife Verity and daughters Amelia and Grace at his side. He was 66.

Born at Billingham on Teesside, Dr Hodgson studied at Oxford and Cambridge before moving to Keighley in 1982.

Four years later he joined Kilmeny Surgery, where he worked for three decades.

He retired in 2016, but later donned scrubs to help with Modality's Covid vaccination programme after the outbreak of the pandemic.

Dr Hodgson's chief passion was primary care education.

He served as a GP trainer and course organiser on the Airedale GP Vocational Training Scheme, and was responsible for training many of the doctors within the Modality Partnership.

Plus he was a GP appraiser, a role he continued in until becoming ill.

His services were recognised in 2012 when he received the coveted Fellowship of the Royal College of General Practice.

Dr Hodgson was a gymnast in his youth, and took up fell running on his move to Yorkshire – competing in several Karrimor challenges.

He was also a keen cyclist, with he and Verity pedalling their tandem across the UK and Europe.

His other passions included the arts, and he was an accomplished saxophonist.

And he and Verity loved their garden, and observing the animals and birdlife that visited it.

Tribute is paid by his former colleagues.

Dr Brendan Kennedy and Dr Andrew Parsons – both GPs and partners at Kilmeny, in Ashbourne Road, Ingrow – were long-standing colleagues of Dr Hodgson.

They said: "Jim will be remembered as a kind and caring GP who dedicated himself to the people of Keighley for over 30 years and helped foster a culture of personal and practice development.

"He was a true inspiration to many of us, and in particular his Kilmeny colleagues.

"Jim derived real pleasure from working at Kilmeny and treating patients, many of whom he knew for four generations.

"He was loved by all, and will be greatly missed."

Anyone wanting to express their condolences can drop off cards and messages at any Modality practice, and they will be passed on to the family.