MALMESBURY boxing coach Tony Stannard’s funeral will be held next week after he died on Saturday, July 15, following a battle with cancer.

The funeral will be held at 12pm at the Swindon Crematorium on Thursday, August 3, and a wake will be held from 1.30pm at the Wiltshire Golf & Country Club in Wootton Bassett.

Mr Stannard, originally from London, moved to Wiltshire in the 1970s and founded Malmesbury Amateur Boxing Club, which he continued to run until he became too ill last year.

He received an MBE in 2006, aged 59, for his services to amateur boxing and is known for producing numerous regional competitors and champions; he also trained current fighter and two-time national champion, Joe Hughes.

Chippenham man Tony Falcone trained with Mr Stannard and went on to become a professional boxer and the Commonwealth Lightweight Champion. He later returned to coach at Malmesbury and became good friends with Mr Stannard.

Mr Falcone said: “Tony was a very passionate man and a brilliant coach. He was firm but fair and very traditional. He was well respected in the boxing community – if you were fighting a Malmesbury boy you knew he was going to be well-schooled and a worthy opponent.

“He was a dedicated man and a perfectionist; it broke my heart to see how his illness stopped him doing what he wanted to do. Tony will be missed by a lot of people.”

All are welcome to attend the funeral. Family flowers only, but donations can be made to the RSPB, of which Tony was a member.