HEARTFELT tributes were paid to the Adver’s own ‘Mr Sport’ today as mourners said their final goodbyes to a ‘true gentleman’ at Kingsdown Crematorium.

Alan Johnson, who worked at the paper in various roles for 43 years, passed away earlier this month aged 77.

Friends and family filled the crematorium and heard a moving eulogy from Alan’s son Steve.

“We would like to thank you all for coming here today,” he said. “We appreciate your thoughts for dad and the family.

He spoke warmly of Alan, making it clear just how much he meant to him. “As a young lad he would spend many an hour train spotting and the family would take him on trips to see the trains.

“I would like to think that dad was delighted with his boys and he was happy when spending time with his grandchildren.

“Dad was the educated one of the family and got his first job at the Adver. He certainly enjoyed his time at the paper and there were many stories that seemed to involve Rum and Pep. It certainly was a job he loved.

“Whether he was in the bookies or stood on the touch line, we knew what the old boy meant to us and the memories we have of him will last for ever.

“Whether he was your friend, your uncle or you brother, or whether he was your loving husband, always remember that your lives are poorer for having lost him but are much richer for having known him.”

In his 43 years at the Adver, Alan had just four days off and one on strike.

Jeremy Goulston, who conducted the service, said: “Alan knew everything except DIY.

“He was a good leader. He would take people gently under his wing, probably without even knowing he was doing so, and he was the kind of man who could bring people together at times of difficulty and struggle.

“He was a gentleman with a sense of fun and he had a great kindness and the gifts of friendship and family.”

Alan was born in 1939 and grew up in Wantage. In 1957 he joined the Adver as a reporter and became sports editor in 1990, where his encyclopaedic knowledge of the local sports scene was put to good use.

Upon hearing of his death, tributes poured in from as far away as Australia, the United States and Dubai for the man who will always be remembered as Swindon’s ‘Mr Sport’.

The service ended with Elgar’s ‘Pomp and Circumstance’ and mourners were invited to join the family to celebrate Alan’s memory at Shellingford Village Hall.

Any donations made at the funeral were sent to the Brighter Futures Radiotherapy Appeal at the Great Western Hospital.