TOP brass from organisations throughout Hampshire packed into Fawley Parish Church yesterday to pay their respects to former New Forest Council leader and chairman John Coles who died last week.

More than 300 hundred people packed the church to hear a moving tribute from his son Mark about the "dad who was always there for us" and a poem from daughter Laura, accompanied by a photograph of him preparing to give her away on her wedding day. In addition there was an outline of his dedication to the community in his Fawley Parish and to the wider area of the new Forest by his long-term council colleague and friend Brian Dash.

"Not only did John work hard for his patch, but he also worked hard for the people of the Forest in general. If I were to list the committees on which he served it would be like reading out the telephone directory.

"John was of the people - one of us. He was an ordinary nice guy. He worked hard, with ability, integrity and dedication. He became a national figure in local government circles and he did a great deal of good on the way," he said.

Fawley's assistant priest, the Rev Stephne Van Der Toorn recalled his early life in North Finchley and his family's move to Knotty Ash in Liverpool.

"John's claim to fame is that he went to school with Ken Dodd and played football for Knotty Ash," she said, adding that after joining the RAF as a radio operator apprentice, he trained as a cook before spending a couple of years in the merchant navy. He moved to Hampshire with his wife Kathy, where he worked for many years at Fawley refinery.

"He was always fighting in someone's corner and there were many fights over the years. The last were over Dibden Bay and the proposed closures of our schools, which would be devastating," she said.

He was one of the county's most active Lib Dems but political rivals like New Forest East MP Julian Lewis and Hampshire County Council leader Ken Thornber were present too.