Tributes pour in for popular journalist

Buy photos » Talented music journalist James McLaren died last week in a road accident in South Wales. (s)

TRIBUTES have been made to a talented music journalist who grew up in Evesham after he died in a road crash in south Wales.

James McLaren, 34, who attended Prince Henry's High School as a youngster was killed on the M48 eastbound between Margor and Chepstow after he was struck by a lorry.

After his time in Evesham, James worked as an assistant producer on the BBC Wales website after moving to Cardiff as a student.

In a statement, James' parents said how he loved his music and will be hugely missed by his friends and family.

"Our son was greatly loved and will be greatly missed both by his devastated family and his many friends," they said.

“On Flickr, where he shared his wonderful and wide ranging photos, he described himself as a 'music and F1 geek', but he had many other enthusiasms - his friends, his dogs, journalism, ornithology, history and Warhammer gaming.

“He'd been an active and happy resident of Cardiff since 1996, when he moved to the city as a student. He was involved in music, journalism and music journalism from his first arrival.

"However he still had many connections in Worcestershire, and particularly Evesham, where he attended Prince Henry's High School.

“All those close to him loved him deeply and we would wish he had been with us for many more years, but those years he had were busy, useful and lived to the full.”

The respect James earned in the music industry was truly evident on social networking website Twitter where bands such as Manic Street Preachers and Lostphrophets tweeted tributes to him after they learned of his death.

Welsh band The Manic Street Preachers tweeted: "Terrible news about James McLaren a brilliant writer and great promoter of welsh music always supporting new music-very sad and very shocked."

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