HARRY Cooper died in Bath’s Royal United Hospital on Friday, July 8 after losing his battle with liver cancer.

The 82-year-old became renowned in the local area for making wooden toys – a hobby he passionately pursued for 20 years.

His much-loved handcrafted wooden toys, which included rocking horses, chalkboards and see-saws, brought joy and happiness to children in playgroups across the country as well as at Frenchay Hospital, Children in Need and hospitals in Russia and Romania.

Mr Cooper started making toys when his grandson, Adam Cooper, asked if he could make a chalkboard for his friend and didn’t look back from that fateful day, spending up to 18 hours a day in his workshop on busy days.

His 30-year-old grandson said: “He was a very loving, caring and loyal man.

“His two main hobbies were woodwork and fishing. Every January, he would go to New Zealand to go on a fishing holiday. If you look through his holiday pictures, he’s holding a fish in pretty much all of them.

“He wasn’t just a jack of all trades, he was a master of them. He used to fix things for people and loved doing so – he always put others first and was very modest.”

Mr Cooper was born in Manchester and moved to Bratton in the 1960s.

He met his wife, Josephine, when he was 12. She walked into his dad’s bike shop where he was working at the time and he told his dad he would one day marry her.

Sure enough, seven years later, they tied the knot and enjoyed 63 happy years of marriage together. Mrs Cooper still lives in Bratton.

Prior to making toys, Mr Cooper worked at Celcon Blocks in West Witls Trading Estate, Westbury.

Grandson Adam added: “He was a fantastic storyteller and had a story for everything.

“If we were in the car together going past a monument or something like that, he would have a story about it, but he rarely spoke about himself – he would always want to talk about other people instead.

“I have started making toys now and we also hope to do something with the tools he has left behind to keep his legacy alive. He deserves it.”

There are no funeral plans in place, but it is expected that it will be in around two weeks' time.