Tributes paid to former Lincolnshire Life managing editor Geoffrey Manners

Tributes are being paid to a former advertising director who loved publishing so much, it is said he had ink in his veins.

Geoffrey Manners, latterly managing editor of Lincolnshire Life, has died and his wife Caroline has paid tribute to the man who she said thrived in the publishing industry.

Geoffrey, known to his friends and family as Geoff, was born in Liverpool in 1951 and as his father Alfred was a member of the Royal Air Force, the family lived all over the world — including Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Singapore, and Germany, before settling in Waddington at the base there.

Caroline said: “He often spoke of the happy days he spent playing football on the sands at Changi beach, drinking ice cold Coke from the vending machine. His childhood abroad left him with a love of warmth and sunshine which stayed with him throughout his life.”

He was school at the Robert Pattinson School in the 1960s and then attended the Lincoln College of Arts on Lincoln’s Steep Hill.

“He was the Lambretta-driving Mod,” his wife Caroline fondly remembers, “That stayed with him all his life as he was always very sharply dressed with smart, shined shoes, a dress shirt and tie, and a pocket square. That continued until his death.”

Despite studying art and graphics at college, his father was keen for him to learn a trade when he left school and enrolled onto an electrician apprenticeship — but he soon learned that this wasn’t for him.

Geoff then started working in a garage show room in Lincoln to nurture his love of cars and all vehicles, where he made contacts at the then-Lincoln Chronicle and got into work designing adverts in the paper, before turning his hand to working as a sales rep for the Lincolnshire Echo.

He then joined the Newark Advertiser in 1979 as deputy advertising manager, eventually becoming advertising director, where he saw many changes in the technology and working practices within publishing and helped to navigate the company successfully through these sometimes turbulent times.

He met Caroline when she also joined the Advertiser in 1983, and the couple married on June 18, 1997, at the Judge’s Lodgings in Lincoln — having attended the Lincolnshire Show that same morning to check how their stall was faring!

They went on to have two children — Rufus, now 26, and Tiggy, 24.

Caroline left the Advertiser in 1997 and set up her own publishing company, and Geoff worked at the Advertiser for more than 20 years before moving across to join her as director and shareholder of Country Life Ltd in 2006, where he became managing editor of Lincolnshire Life.

“He loved working in the newspaper and print industry,” Caroline said, “They say that newspaper men have ink in their veins and that’s so true of Geoff, he loved everything about it — the deadlines, hearing the printing press whirring away, meeting the targets — he thrived on it.

“He had that love and dedication to creating the best product within that timeframe from a young age.”

Geoff continued at Country Life until last year, when he retired for health reasons.

Poignantly, this year’s Lincolnshire Show will be held on June 18 — the couple’s wedding anniversary.

Geoff’s funeral service will be held on Thursday June 5 at 1pm at Lincoln Crematorium. Donations are invited for Diabetes UK and can be made via Lincolnshire Co-op Funeral Services