A former Keighley rugby star who played for his country in the 1930s has died, aged 89.

Welsh winger Len Orchard represented his home nation at rugby league against England, in April, 1935.

He scored a try in the match, at Liverpool, and won high acclaim for his performance.

The appearance was the pinnacle of a rugby career which began with the union code in his native Newbridge, and included county honours with Monmouthshire.

The seventh son from a close-knit mining family, Len left school at 14 and followed his brothers down the pit.

But when he was 22 he moved to Keighley and took up a job as a tyre fitter with the old West Yorkshire bus company.

He continued to pursue his beloved rugby, switching to league and enjoying a relatively brief, but successful spell, with Keighley and playing for the bus firm's team before deciding to hang up his boots.

He then refereed for local junior leagues for many years.

During the Second World War he served with the Royal Scots Fusiliers in Holland, France and Belgium, and then with a peace-keeping force.

When he was in his late 50s, Len took up a job at Haggas textile mill, in Ingrow, where he remained until his retirement.

Even after retiring, Len was determined to keep active -- he played bowls with the Lund Park veterans and was a keen walker.

His daughter, Mrs Silwyn Atkinson said: "He was passionate about his rugby and although his playing days in Keighley were fairly brief, wherever we went people knew him and folk would ask me if I was related to Len Orchard. They remembered the man.

"He was also a great walker, and right up until he was 80 he could still do ten miles."

Len -- whose wife of 60 years, Ann, died four years ago -- lived latterly in the Fell Lane area, but had lived for many years before that at Sunny Hill Avenue. He died at Airedale Hospital on Wednesday after a short illness.

He leaves his daughter, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A funeral service is being held at the Knowle, in Keighley, next Friday, at 2pm.