Tributes have been paid to a 'principled' long-standing Weymouth councillor, Roy Gainey, who has died aged 90.

Mr Gainey was first elected to Weymouth's council in the same month Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne, and went on to serve his hometown for more than 50 years.

In honour of his unprecedented service, Mr Gainey will be given a full civic funeral tomorrow, Friday, April 13, at 11.30 am at Hope United Reformed Church on Trinity Street.

Mr Gainey was elected as a Labour councillor to Weymouth and Melcombe Regis Borough Council in 1952, at the age of 25. He would go on to serve on the borough council, and its successor Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, until 2002.

Born near Pye Hill in 1927, he attended the now-defunct Cromwell Road School before gaining a place as an apprentice engineer at Post Office Telephones; he later took civil service exams and joined the telephone sales team.

In 1954, he married Weymouth schoolteacher Barbara Ward, who remained a constant supporter of his council work until her death last year. They had two children, Martin, born in 1959, and Elizabeth, born in 1963.

The family moved in 1968 from Melcombe to Westham, Mr Gainey from then on representing Westham West.

Mr Gainey was twice elected mayor of the borough - his re-election was the first in some 30 years. He and his wife were moreover the only first couple to serve as mayor and mayoress of both the old iteration of the borough, and its new form following the amalgamation of Weymouth and Portland in 1972.

In honour of his outstanding service, Mr Gainey was in 2002, at the time of his retirement from the council, granted the Freedom of the Borough – an honour unheard of for a councillor, since the year of his first election.

At the time, he remarked that one of his proudest achievements had been helping to bring in legislation to addressing the flooding that had plagued the town at the time of his first election.

'I became a councillor because I have always held strong social beliefs, upon which I have based my opinions," he said, adding: "Although these opinions, after careful consideration of the facts, have not always been popular."

In his long tenure as councillor, Mr Gainey acted in a number of momentous roles. He dug the first sod at Weymouth swimming pool; he opened Wyke Library; and he inaugurated the now-closed ferry terminal.

He also served as a county councillor from 1964, leading the Labour group on Dorset County Council, and also as a magistrate, a trade union official and a governor of Budmouth School - from which position he resigned in protest when two members of staff were laid off.

His daughter Elizabeth Goodsell paid tribute to 'a very principled man'.

"Many people who have offered their condolences have spoken of what a trustworthy man he was," said Mrs Goodsell, who continues to live in Weymouth.

Mr Gainey is survived by he and his wife's two children, and two grandchildren, Elise and Melissa.