GILLINGHAM players from the past joined other mourners to pay their last respects at the funeral of former club chairman Charles Cox.

From the 1950s there was Alec Farrell, Arthur Hughes and Bill Collins, Mr Cox's brother-in-law, from the 1960s Bill Williams and from the 1970s, Dick Tydeman, Graham Knight and Geoff Bray.

Also among the mourners were former club secretary Richard Dennison and his wife Jacqui, Jim Thompson, ex-chairman of Maidstone United, and his wife Katie, plus former Gillingham commercial manager Mike Ling.

Brian Luckhurst represented Kent Cricket Club where Mr Cox held a catering franchise for more than 10 years.

For many years Mr Cox, who leaves a widow, Mary, also ran the Central Hotel, a popular Gillingham nightspot.

The Gills Independent Supporters Club was represented by former chairman Alan Liptrott and the Medway Messenger Sunday League, for which Mr Cox was patron for many years, by recently retired secretary Colin Boswell and his wife Sheila.

Former Gills boss Keith Peacock, now assistant manager of Premier League neighbours Charlton, sent his condolences. He said: "Charles was a terrific boss to work for and my family are so sorry to hear of his passing".

The small chapel at the Woodlands Road Cemetery was packed and the service was relayed to the many people stood outside.

They heard the Rev David Green describe Mr Cox as a "warm, friendly man who made friends easily".

Mr Cox, who was 75, collapsed and died at Ashford's William Harvey Hospital where he had been taken after falling ill at his home in Challock, near Canterbury.