POPULAR York sports umpire and Freemason Ross Anderson has died at the age of 70.

Life-long friend Peter Dew paid tribute to Ross, a former accountant, who passed away on January 2 in York Hospital.

Peter, who met Ross while they were pupils at Archbishop Holgate’s Grammar School, said: "He had a good sense of humour. He ended up being the treasurer of everything he was involved with."

Born John Ross Anderson, but known to all as Ross, he took up hockey at Archbishop Holgate’s Grammar School and played for York Trojans and City of York Hockey Club for many years.

Ross became an umpire and, until fairly recently, was involved in the training and assessment of hockey umpires on behalf of England Hockey.

He attended the annual Easter Hockey Festival in Blackpool for some 50 years and took part in visits abroad.

A spokesperson from the Yorkshire Hockey Umpires' Association said Ross had been a larger-than-life character in Yorkshire Hockey for "more years than most of us can remember".

They added: "Ross graduated from the ranks of players to become a neutral umpire for over 30 years where his style was always laid back and ready to diffuse any potential conflict or flare up with a quiet, usually humorous word.

"His quiet, very dry sense of humour was his trademark and enabled him to make friends throughout the hockey world even travelling to the USA to umpire on occasions.

"As an umpire coach he was also able to provide excellent practical advice to new and developing umpires to help them on their journey.

"However, it is as a friend that we will all miss Ross, his infectious laugh, winning smile and his excellent company both on the hockey pitch and in the bar."

Ross was the son of the late Brian and Betty Anderson. He spent two years at Canon Lee School, close to their home in Clifton Without, before passing the 13-plus exam and moving to Archbishop Holgate’s Grammar School where his father was head of history.

After school, he studied at Newcastle Polytechnic and became a cost accountant, joining the Field Group and working in Bradford.

Having moved back home to look after his father, who was terminally ill, Ross took redundancy from Field and undertook various jobs in York before becoming a cost accountant with The Ogden Group.

This involved, at one point, in Ross also becoming caretaker of Ogden’s headquarters at Boston Hall. After the company moved its headquarters to Harrogate, Ross remained for a while before finally retiring from work.

His other interests were in transport and photography. He was a lifelong railway enthusiast and could often be found among the photographers gathered at Colton Junction. Ross was also a Freemason, joining Mitre Lodge (which was formerly associated with Archbishop Holgate’s School) in 2001 and acting as its treasurer for several years.

Ross had a number of health problems and became increasingly frail over the past couple of years.

He had several stays in both Harrogate and York hospitals and eventually moved into the care of Connaught Court.

He was transferred to York Hospital on January 1, and passed away on the following morning. His funeral will be held at York Crematorium at 12.20pm on Wednesday, January 26.

A celebration of his life will be held at City of York Hockey Club during the summer.

The funeral will be handled by Rowley and Sons.