A doctor who retired to Burton-in-Lonsdale has died aged 80.

Keith Horsfield was born in Accrington and was educated at Summerhill School in Leiston and Blackburn Technical College.

His innate curiosity led him to study medicine at Manchester University and subsequently work at Manchester Royal infirmary, and then in the Bury and Rossendale areas.

He then moved to Birmingham Medical School where he developed an interest in research into lung form and function.

He married Judith in 1965, and in 1968 they went to Denver, Colorado, where he did research at the Webb Wearing Institute, working with Professor Giles Filly.

On returning to England, his sons, Giles and Alastair, were born and he soon became deputy director of the new Midhurst Medical Research Institute.

He helped to design a unique research set-up and became a consultant physician. Many papers ensued, often in collaboration with an American geography professor.

For political reasons, the institute closed and Keith was able to retire to his roots in the North.

His hobbies were legion, each one entered into with great enthusiasm.

He played the clarinet in jazz bands in Manchester, Denver and the Rocky Mountains of America, later transferring to classical music with the Burnley Municipal Orchestra. Only a year ago, he took up the soprano saxophone.

He also made Meccano striking clocks and rebuilt grandfather clocks; counted butterflies on Warton Crag; and was a very keen trout fisherman and gardener. There was fell walking too, and he wore a black tie and sipped champagne to celebrate reaching the top of his final Wainwright!

He had become interested in history and archaeology and was treasurer of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeology Society.

His family will miss his deep wisdom, enormous generosity, care and humour.