A COMMUNITY food group have paid tribute to a well-known former Spar worker.

Shad Chefs, The Council Estate Food Connoisseurs remembered Stevie Power, who was known by many for working for his kindness while working at the Spar in Shadsworth.

The post on Facebook garnered over 170 comments yesterday, with many reminiscing times they had received nothing but positivity from Mr Power.

In the post, the members of the Shad Chefs said: “It is with great sadness that we are hearing that Stevie Power passed away peacefully this morning whilst surrounded by his family.

“Stevie was a well-known figure in Shadsworth. Especially from the times of the Spar and the old Shadsworth Neighbourhood Centre days.

“Stevie worked in the Spar and, if memory serves me right, he also helped out at the old Shadsworth Neighbourhood Centre.

“He was always a happy man and was always full of conversation. Quite a chatterbox he was, especially if you got him talking about football and Blackburn Rovers.”

The family also posted a Go Fund Me Page to raise £4,000 for his send-off and managed to raise £495 in just four hours.

A message from the family read: “We are absolutely heartbroken at the loss of our beautiful and special big brother Stevie.

“I can't thank people enough for following Stevie's journey over these past few years. We just want to try and give our beautiful Stevie the best send-off we can, with the help from family and friends we will be able to do that.”

Everyone at Shad Chefs supported the family and their fundraiser.

They said: “We posted this picture of Stevie on this page a few months back and got a great reaction to it. That just goes to show how popular he was in the Shadsworth Community. We hope Stevie's family can take some comfort from that.

“There's a comment from Stevie's sister, Sharon, on the picture we posted from a few months ago. Sharon had shown Stevie the post and he'd said to her how handsome he was.

“Sharon commented on how it made them all smile and laugh. He was definitely quite the character.

“From all of us at Shad Chefs we would like to offer our deepest condolences to Stevie’s family.”

People can donate to the Go Fund Me Page here.