THE family of a showman and steam engine enthusiast gave him a fitting send-off at his funeral.

Great-grandfather David Herbert was taken by his favourite means of transport, a steam engine, to St Saviour’s Church in Frampton Cotterell on Tuesday and later to his final resting place, Mays Hill Cemetery.

The 86-year-old family man, who lived at The Willows in Coalpit Heath for the past 25 years, was a showman all his life working at various fairgrounds and events throughout the South West.

As a youngster he worked on the engines at steam rallies, including The Majestic now kept in Bedfordshire.

"The family which own it now knew my dad used to work on The Majestic and they have kindly made it available to us for his funeral," said Mr Herbert’s daughter Zoe Edwards.

"We wanted to give him a good send off. I imagine no-one has seen a procession like this around here and we wanted local people to know what was happening."

Mr Herbert passed away on May 1 after a short illness. He had previously developed chronic arthritis and was confined to a mobility scooter.

"One of his favourite things to do was to travel to steam rallies and he loved going around the fields looking at all the old engines in his scooter," said Mrs Edwards, also of The Willows.

"He travelled around the fairgrounds all his life and loved the traditional old ones.

"He never wanted to retire. At the end he was working in the cash desk of one of the arcades but he worked right up until the day before he went into hospital."

Mrs Edwards added: "He was a happy sort of man. He didn’t want for a lot and was very content."

Mr Herbert leaves behind his wife Barbara, eight children, 20 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.