FAMILY and friends packed out Pershore Abbey to pay their final respects to a well-known farmer.

People gathered to bid a fond farewell to Edwin ‘Eddie’ Day, who died suddenly on February 19 at the age of 86.

The father-of-two, of Conningsby Drive, Pershore, was born and rai-sed at Manor Farm House, Bishampton, near Per-shore, and was the youngest of five children.

He was expected to follow in his father’s farming footsteps, but went to work at Gordon Bancks solicitors, Pershore, when he left school.

However, farming was something Mr Day had always wanted to do and when the chance arose to buy Manor Farm, he took up the opportunity with his older brothers Francis and Richard. While the farming was traditional for the area in those days, consisting of beef, sheep, dairy and grain production, Mr Day moved with the times and Manor Farm was one of the first to have a self-propelled combine harvester.

Despite working long days at the farm, Mr Day was also a keen sportsman. He reared pheasants and organised a shoot at Manor Farm, as well as being a member of the shoot at Wadborough for many years. Mr Day loved his shooting dogs and they were still very much a part of his life after moving to Pershore.

As a young man, he played centre forward for Bishampton United and was the season’s top goal scorer on many occasions. He also played cricket for the Lenches.

Mr Day took up golf later in life and was a member of Evesham Golf Club for many years and later played bowls at Pershore Bowling Club with Wilma, his beloved wife of 61 years.

Mrs Day was born in Australia and the couple spent happy times visiting family and friends there, as well as travelling New Zealand on a bowls tour.

Mr Day was a proud father and would spend as much time as he could with his sons, Geoff and Phil, passing on his skills and knowledge and watching them play team sports when they were youngsters.

Mr Day’s grandchildren – Laura, Rebecca, Edward and Alastair – loved donning their overalls when they were little and spending time with him on the farm, but he was forever in trouble for allowing them to ride on or drive the farm vehicles.

He also collected two more much-loved grandchildren along the way, Claire and Steven.