A LIFELONG sportsman scarred by his experiences as a prisoner of war, Ron Old died peacefully on April 7, aged 93.

He was brought up in Dorset and attended Longfleet Junior and Poole Grammar schools before starting work at the Bournemouth and Poole Electric Light Company in Bourne Valley in 1937.

At the age of 17, already a keen footballer, he signed up for the 4th Dorsets, attracted by the Army lifestyle, but when war broke out he and his childhood friend Ernie Matterface were found to be too young to serve in the infantry and were sent to Singapore with the searchlight unit.

Their task was to train Malay forces, but after a few months the city fell to the Japanese and both were captured.

Mr Old was taken to Saigon where he worked in the docks for around a year, before he and his comrades were moved on to work on the infamous Burma-Siam railway.

He was imprisoned at camps in Taso, Tamuang, Nakomaye and Pratchai, and endured terrible hardship, brutality and loss. Mr Matterface was among the many thousands who lost their lives.

There was only rice to eat, and Mr Old developed ulcers on his legs through malnutrition. By the time he was liberated, at the age of 24, he weighed little over six stone.

He sent his first message to his parents in four years written on a piece of toilet paper.

Mr Old always felt lucky to have survived, and believed the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan had saved his life.

He returned to Denmark Road, from where he had walked to school in his childhood, and to his job at the Electric Light Company.

At various times a player, secretary or treasurer for sports clubs including the Bournemouth and District Cricket Association, Mr Old threw himself into sporting life, and he even met his wife Gladys in the bar at Broadway Park after a game. They married in 1955.

He was known as a tough-tackling half-wing on the Electric Club football team, and over time he gradually regained his powerful frame.

He was as much a supporter as a player, and saw the first Poole Town game at their new stadium in 1932.

After he moved to Charminster in the late 1950s he became a regular at Dean Court, seldom missing a match. In the summer he watched the cricket at Dean Park, and he was still working as an umpire in his 70s.

He was described by a cricketing friend as "a gentleman in the true sense of the word" and was well-known and widely respected by fellow sportsmen young and old.

Mr Old received £75 compensation for his wartime ordeal, which he used to buy a carpet.

In 1998 he returned to the site of his imprisonment in Thailand to visit the war cemeteries and pay his respects to his lost comrades, a trip he described as a "wonderful experience".

A much loved father, grandfather and great-grandfather. A funeral service will be held at Bournemouth Crematorium today (APR 24) at 11am.