A LIFELONG Isle of Wight resident and amateur radio enthusiast, Michael Gilbert Buckland, has died aged 76, following a short illness.

Known best as Mick or Mike, he was born at St Mary’s Hospital on April 10, 1946, the first child of Gilbert and Dorothy Buckland.

Mick grew up in Whitwell, where his father was a farmhand and had five siblings Nigel, Norman, Bruce, Rosemary and Jackie.

He attended Rookley Primary School and Ventnor Middle, showing an early interest in photography.

After leaving school, he gained his dream job as an assistant protectionist at Ventnor’s Rex Cinema, also working at cinemas in Ryde, Sandown and Shanklin.

Mick also undertook building work and assisted on a farm, passing his driving test and acquiring a small black car nicknamed the ‘puddle jumper’.

This skill proved useful in the 1970s when his father bought a Ventnor taxi business.

In the 1970s, Mick married Francesca Trueman and lived at Ryde, Newport and Ventnor before returning to Newport in the 1990s.

Later, he worked in landscaping and as a delivery driver before joining Southern Vectis, working in Newport Bus Garage and, on occasion, at Ryde, fuelling and cleaning buses until his retirement in 2006.

He enjoyed various interests, including visits to steam railways, the IW Bus and Coach Museum, reading crime thrillers, watching old films and being a member of the IW Radio Society.

Mick made contact with fellow radio enthusiasts across the globe, meeting some of them when they visited the Island.

Often described as dependable, reliable, generous and kind by all who knew him, Mick is sadly missed by his two remaining brothers, two sisters, nieces, nephews and their families.

His funeral service took place at the IW Crematorium on January 30.