HUNDREDS of mourners in Malvern paid tribute to a showman who lived and loved the fairground life.

A funeral service for David Rogers, who died aged 56 on March 16, was held on Wednesday at St Matthias' Church.

Mr Rogers was a member of the family who, for over a century, have run Ledbury Mop Fair and fairs at Upton and Welland Steam Rally.

Yesterday (Thursday), his wife Ann said: "My husband was a true gentleman, a showman through and through.

"He will be very greatly missed, not just by me and our five children but also by the many, many people he knew."

She said people came from all over to pay their respects and the fair at Worcester Racecourse closed so those running it could attend.

The Rogers family have lived in Backfields Lane, Malvern, since 1999.

They run the annual Ledbury Mop Fair for charity and last month lent the parish church scenery from the waltzers to use in the Mystery Plays.

Paying tribute to Mr Rogers before the funeral, Graham Downie, secretary of the Showmen's Guild of Great Britain Midland Section, said: "He had a very large family and an even larger family in terms of the showmen community, and we're here today."

He described him as "a showman of the old school who liked nothing better than to talk about his family's long history in the business".

Rev Peter Cheeseman, from Frampton-on-Severn, said Mr Rogers allowed a hymn service to take place on the dodgems at the Frampton Feast fair every year.

A tribute from his sisters at the funeral remembered him as a child who invented dozens of excuses to miss school and stay at the fair.

Mr Rogers came originally from a showman family based in Chipping Sodbury and was the tenth of 11 children. He met his wife, Ann, whose father ran bank holiday fairs on Poolbrook Common, at Frampton Feast fair when they were children.

They were married in 1974 and had children David, Duncan, Ashley, Natalie and Frankie.

Mr Rogers passed on his fairground skills to the children and his wife said they would continue to run Ledbury Mop Fair.

Mr Rogers was cremated at Worcester and a wake held at Bank House Hotel, Bransford. Mourners gave donations to the County Air Ambulance and St Matthias' Church.