FORMER Kent Messenger journalist Celia Shingleton has died in the Kent & Sussex Hospital at Tunbridge Wells after a short illness. She was 79.

Mrs Shingleton spent 28 years as a reporter with the KM Group during which time she worked at its head office in Larkfield as well as its offices in Maidstone and Sevenoaks.

She was a familiar figure at meetings of Maidstone Borough Council, Maidstone and West Malling magistrates' courts, parish councils and local arts and theatrical events.

Daughter Lee Milne said: "Stories with a positive outcome gave her the most satisfaction. She was a prolific writer and the stories and features which she produced came as a result of her own sound news sense and her reputation for accuracy, integrity and fairness in her reporting."

John White, assistant editor of the KM Group's new media department and a former KM news editor, said: "Celia was a likeable, highly reliable journalist who was trusted by council members, officials and many other contacts.

"She was an easy person to be around. For a time, she was reporter-in-charge of the KM's editoral operation in Maidstone. You didn't often have to tell Celia what to do - she knew."

Mrs Shingleton attended Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar School and then joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force in 1941 at the age of 17. She was working as an airframe mechanic in the WAAF when she met her husband Ricky, a glider pilot. She returned to civilian life at the end of the war.

She leaves a son, Brian, daughter Lee, and four grandchildren. A service of celebration marking her long and varied life, is to be held at All Saints' Church, Loose, near Maidstone, at 1pm on Thursday, April 1. It will be followed by a private committal at Vinters Park Crematorium.

Donations, in lieu of flowers, should be sent to All Saints' Church PCC, Church Street, Loose, Maidstone ME15 OAG or Sevenoaks Branch RAFA Wings c/o Cyril Coston, 11 Kingswood Road, Dunton Green, Sevenoaks.