THE sounds of the ukulele made famous by George Formby played out a lifelong Barrow AFC fan from his funeral in the village of Wistaston, near Crewe.

Barrovian Brian Edge died aged 84 and the Reverend Ken Sambrook, who conducted the funeral service at St Mary's Parish Church, noted his dedication to his home town's soccer club.

Mr Sambrook said: "He did have a need to be ‘on line’ on Saturdays to listen to the match.

"His father Fred before him had supported the team and throughout his life Brian had supported them from afar.

"He would have been so excited to know that they are through to the next round of the FA cup with a match against Rochdale."

Mr Edge, who was born at Westmorland Street, Barrow, and spent most of his early life at Coniston Road, was the founder in 1994 of the South Cheshire George Formby Ukulele Society.

Many of its members were at the funeral and eight players gave an impromptu concert of George Formby hits at a reception in the Wistaston Memorial Hall.

There was also a table-top display at the hall showing Mr Edge's wide-ranging interests - arranged by his daughter Diane-Heather, son-in-law Steve and grandson George - which included several of his books on local history and token coinage.

In 1968 Mr Edge formed the Crewe and District Coin and Medal Society and in 1982 he founded the National Token Congress at the Crewe Arms Hotel.

The annual congress now attracts collectors from Australia, the United States, Israel, France, Germany, Holland, Denmark and Belgium.

At the 2006 silver jubilee of the Congress, held in St Helens, Mr Edge was presented with a silver medal in appreciation of him starting it all off.

Mr Edge was a Second World War evacuee from the Barrow Blitz and stayed with his grandparents at Lindal.

He would have seen the damaged caused by bombing in 1941 to Barrow Central Station and it was here that he started work as a junior clerk, aged not quite 15, in the spring of 1948.

His starting wage was £1 and 15 shillings (£1.75) a week and he worked in the booking office on sleeper reservations and then in the parcels office.

After National Service, Brian and wife Connie left Barrow in 1955 after he became the 23-year-old station master at East Langton Station in Leicestershire.

He was later station master at Kibworth, both stations being closed in 1966 as a result of the Beeching Report

Mr Edge worked in the British Railways Paper and Printing Division in Eversholt Street, Euston and then at Crewe until his retirement in 1989.