Herefordshire chimney sweep Geoff Pritchard has hung up his brushes, 24 years after being forced to sweep news of his death under the carpet.

Mr Pritchard, 84, has been celebrating his second lease of life since August 1985, when reports of his death carried through the market towns and villages of Herefordshire.

But, in the words of Mark Twain, the reports were greatly exaggerated, and Mr Pritchard carried on cleaning chimneys.

At the time news of his sudden demise was taken to seriously that prayers were said in the local church and florists were told to make up wreaths.

His sister Iris, who was living in Canada at the time, and relatives in Germany were shocked when they received sympathy cards from Leominster.

But nobody told Mr Pritchard he was supposed to be dead – he was actually lying low for a few days because it was cold outside.

"I was cleaning chimneys at an old person's bungalow when I saw this woman peeping out the window," said Mr Pritchard, a bachelor.

"By the time I got to her she said 'Have you heard the story about you? They've had you dead'.

"I hadn't been seen for a long time as the weather was bad but prayers were said at church, and that started all this talk of me being dead. But it was nice to think the public thought that much of me."

Mr Pritchard, a favourite at weddings, is well-known around the town and lived in a railway guard's van until getting a caravan a few years ago.

One resident, who did not want to be named, said: "It's only a small town and news like that spreads like wildfire, particularly amongst the older population.

"I remember it well. Everybody was talking about it and because I had not set eyes on him for a bit, I presumed it was true.

"I sent a card to one of his sisters and then I saw him and realised he was still alive. I was having kittens trying to get her on the phone to apologise before the card arrived.

"I heard afterwards that somebody of the same name had died and people got them muddled up.

"When people realised he was alive there was a rumour that he had turned up to sweep the chimney of the vicar who was supposed to be doing his funeral and the poor fellow nearly had a heart attack.

"I don't know if it's true but I'm not surprised. It only takes an afternoon and an evening for that kind of news to make its way around Leominster."

Mr Pritchard worked on the railways as a young man, and took on the dangerous job of cleaning a sooty tunnel to earn some extra money in 1950.

H e never looked back – and became the proud owner of a letter from the Queen Mother after sending her a die-cast model of a sweep.

Mr Pritchard said cleaning his last chimney in Herefordshire was an emotional moment but he has not ruled out teaching an apprentice to the do the job.