Dedicated swimming coach Laurie Dormer of Ringwood has died at the age of 85.

Having started his career at a lifesaving and teaching club in Middlesex in 1950, he went on to coach several swimmers to national titles and later formed the London Borough of Ealing Swimming Club.

He also led several successful campaigns for new swimming pools including the one at Littledown Centre in the late 1980s.

Laurie was a founding member of the British Swimming Coaches Association and served as the chairman from 1985 to 1991.

He joined the Bournemouth Dolphins in 1984 after moving to the area for business reasons and was credited with transforming the Bournemouth Dolphins into one of the leading clubs in the Western Counties.

In 1994 he founded the Southern Junior League and during his career, he had coached Olympic and Commonwealth swimmer, Karen Legge, when she was a teenager, and junior champions Charlotte Evans, Sabina Heywood and Ben Gibbs.

During the first few years from 2000, he had also held the position of head coach of the West of England team at various meetings.

In 2003, the Bournemouth Dolphins won a record 49 medals at ASA Maxwell Open Meet and Laurie retired from the group two years later at which he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Outside of swimming, he was a keen supporter and administrator of Tools for Self Reliance, having set up the Ringwood branch in May 2008.

The group worked to restore items including saws, planes, hand drills, spanners and screwdrivers to a usable condition, before they were sent abroad to places such as Ghana and Malawi for people to build businesses and improve their communities. He was also former chairman of Churches Together in Ringwood, which raised thousands for the charity, Christian Aid, to help the poorest people across the globe.

Laurie's wife, Janet, died in August 2015, and the couple are survived by their sons Luke and Joe and daughter, Laura, who are all keen swimmers.

His funeral takes place at Trinity Church in Ringwood today at 2.15pm.