Tributes to former Express & Star librarian after death aged 90
A former Express & Star librarian who was responsible for cataloguing thousands of precious photographs has died aged 90.
Hazel Jones, from Penn, died last Thursday following a short illness.
She worked at the newspaper's Queen Street headquarters in Wolverhampton after she left school in 1942.
Her duties included storing and maintaining an archive of photographs that today includes one million images dating back more than a century.
Among images she stored included ones sent on the train from agencies including Press Association and Reuters from the day Princess Elizabeth married Phillip Mountbatten in 1947, and pictures from the liberation of the Belsen Nazi concentration camp.
She had recently backed the Express & Star's campaign for Lottery funding to digitise its huge collection of old photographs.
Linda Green, Miss Jones' niece, said: "She suffered a broken leg in September and never really recovered.
"Until her fall she really loved life and lived it to the full.
"I've had lots of cards and notes from people I don't even know. She was always sharp. She enjoyed living at Pendene Court and being involved in charity activities.
"She helped raise lots of money for local charities over the years. She loved her gardening as well."
Miss Jones played a vital role in the production of the newspaper at a time when pages were made on a stone in a composing room, using hot metal sheets.
In 1949, she moved to London to work for Trinity Mirror, staying there until she retired and moved back to Wolverhampton.
Chris Leggett, director of marketing and communications at the Express & Star's publishers Midlands News Association, showed Miss Jones around the offices in 2014. He said: "It was a real honour."
