ORGANISERS of the Oswestry Youth Music Festival (OYMF) have said that Eileen and Alan Metcalfe, the mother and son who died in Wednesday's fire at their home, will be sadly missed.

Sue Turner paid tribute to the pair, who were named locally as the victims of the fire at their home in Glentworth Close, in Oswestry, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Sue said the pair had given years of dedication to the annual event, and said they were much-loved.

"Alan and Eileen were both very kind people, very warm, very calm and very organised," she said.

"Alan had been the vice-chairman of the festival for many years and always did a good job, he was always quietly supportive and just always there.

He was so kind – when the festival was on in March he did the paperwork and he was just so dependable.

"I worked with them every year for the festival, and in the run up to it.

"Eileen had been volunteering at the festival since it began in 1977 and she did more than 40 years volunteering for it, and finally decided to step down when she hit, we think, her early 90s, and she decided her time had to come to stop.

"The OYMF is affiliated to the British and International Federation of Festivals and they do long-service awards and we gave Eileen the longest one they do which is 40 years.

"We made it a special presentation at the festival to her and then re-presented it to her at a Porthywaen concert because she and Alan had such a close link to the band.

"Every person involved in the festival would have known both Alan and Eileen, and none would have had a bad word to say about them.

"They will be sadly missed."

The news of their deaths was announced by members of the band on Facebook, which led to a flurry of tributes, including from former town clerk David Preston, who oversee Alan's Outstanding Achievement Award.

He said: "Alan was the most decent and humble friend or colleague you could wish for.

"His passion for music and Porthywaen Band encouraged so many young people to enjoy and share his hobby.

"When I was with the town council Alan was a huge supporter of the Youth Music Festival and whatever he did you just knew that Eileen would be there to support and help.

"He was given an Outstanding Achievement Award by the council a few years ago for his service to the town and no one deserved it more.

"The wider Oswestry community will so miss these two community champions who touched so many lives – RIP Alan and Eileen."