TRIBUTES have been paid to an adventurous engineer and founder of York Sub Aqua Club, who has died aged 70.

Family and friends remember Derrick Simpson as "an unstoppable character", whose passion for life was matched only by his dedication to helping others.

Mr Simpson was born in Acomb, and grew up in the village of Thorganby with his parents, George and Jayne.

He was educated at Thorganby School, Fulford School, and naval college. Following the death of his brother Geoff, in 1947, he was apprenticed to his father, a renowned blacksmith's farrier.

The family later moved to Wheldrake, where they bought The Forge and specialised in wrought ironwork.

Mr Simpson became an outstanding engineer, specialising in drainage equipment, but able to turn his hand to anything.

He formed the Sub-Aqua Club after he and fellow adventurers spent happy hours diving in a fish pond near Elvington, using basic equipment like gas masks.

The club had practical uses. Members reinforced the banks of the Foss Basin during the building of a glassworks, with Mr Simpson devising a method to keep the welder's torch alight underwater, using an envelope of compressed air. Their services were regularly required for underwater building and repairs around the city.

Their expertise was also often called upon by the police before the North Yorkshire force had its own police divers.

Mr Simpson won a national bravery award in 1960, after rescuing a friend who had been shot in the head and knocked unconscious while diving off Thornwick Bay, near Flamborough Head. It emerged that the man who fired the shot believed the divers were seals.

Mr Simpson regularly exhibited his drainage machinery at the Yorkshire Show, and also enjoyed spear-fishing and golf. In 1973, he bought Wheldrake Station, and donated its bungalow and ticket office to the Derwent Valley Light Railway enthusiasts.

His daughters, Beverley and Anne-Marie, paid tribute to "a wonderful dad", saying: "He was very much a traditionalist, and he would help anyone. No one can find a bad word to say about him."

Mr Simpson died in St Leonard's Hospice on September 16, after a short illness.

He is survived by his widow, Fiona, his daughters, and three grandchildren.

A funeral will be held at St Helen's Church, Wheldrake, on Monday, at 2.30pm.

Updated: 10:03 Saturday, September 21, 2002