A VETERAN journalist who worked on the Daily Echo more than 60 years ago returned to see his old patch.

Mike Morrissey, 86, was a reporter at Richmond Hill from 1951-52 at the start of a lifetime in journalism.

He had travelled from Liverpool to work in Bournemouth, where his uncle Lindsay was the town clerk.

“I was very young and it was my first time outside home,” he said.

“The town clerk of Bournemouth was my uncle so I knew the place a bit. He was town clerk for 10 years.”

During his time at the Echo, Mike worshipped at St Bernadette’s Church in Ensbury Park, and picked up some stories in the process.

“I was known as the Pope of Bournemouth because I got news from the local Catholic community. I used to get stories from the pulpit,” he said.

“I also ran the daily gossip column, called Richmond, for a few months."

Mike remembers colleagues, including sub-editor Pat Palmer, and future England mascot Ken Baily, whom he recalls as a gossip columnist for the Bournemouth Times.

“I recall remember writing about a lot of motorbike accidents. I had a motorbike and I sold the darn thing, there were so many accidents,” said Mike.

Mike went on to work in Manchester, Darlington and Middlesborough, as well as in Australia and Nigeria. He worked on the Northern Echo in Darlington when Harold Evans, later a revered editor of the Sunday Times, was in charge.

“He was a little dynamo. He’s 87 and still involved. He’s a roving editor for Reuters,” he said.

“Whatever he’d asked us, we would have said yes. We didn’t want him to go.”

Mike said he still believed in the importance of the press. “I’m a great believer in newspapers and I’m pleased they’re surviving,” he said.

“It’s up to the staff to use their brains and skills to ask politicians good questions.”

He enjoyed returning to Bournemouth from North Yorkshire but did not approve of everything about the town.

“I recall the town centre, walking around the gardens, and I’ve been a bit horrified to see the big balloon,” he said.

“It’s too garish in my opinion. I feel the town’s civic society need to be strong.”