9:00am Thursday 2nd September 2010
By Claire Marshall
TRIBUTES have been paid to a Dursley stalwart and former chairman of Bailey Newspaper Group, which founded the Gazette.
Peter Bailey died aged 81 on Bank Holiday Monday after suffering for over a year with respiratory problems.
Peter was best known in Gloucestershire as part of the Bailey family which owned Bailey Newspaper Group that printed among its many titles the Gloucestershire Gazette.
However in Dursley he was a dedicated community volunteer serving as church warden at St Mark’s Church, in Woodmancote for 40 years and on the Town Trust until very recently.
Peter has been described as "a gentleman of the type they do not make anymore."
Nick Priest, who is married to Peter’s niece Sarah and runs Bailey Newsagents, said: "He was just the most polite man you could ever hope to meet.
"He was very modest, not at all flamboyant and loved to work in the community."
Peter, was born in Dursley and went to Dursley Grammar School, now Rednock School.
After national service in the Royal Ordnance Corps he studied at the London School for printing and returned to work for the family business, owned by his father Fred Bailey.
At its peak the firm employed around 400 people, most of whom worked in Long Street Dursley where the print works were based.
Peter’s passion was for printing and photography and despite working full time managing the press he fitted in wedding photography across the county and took photos for the newspapers.
His brother Michael, 84, said: "Peter loved printing and was very skilled at it. He was meticulous in his work and we both immersed ourselves in running the business."
The company was sold on in 1997 and Peter took over running Bailey Retail shops and continued to visit all seven of the newsagents every week until 15 months ago.
He suffered several falls as a result of his respiratory problems and lived his last months at The Hollies care home in Dursley.
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