THE funeral has taken place of the man whose green fingers helped to make Queen's Park one of the town's big attractions.

Arthur Burden, who was the park's head gardener, died on Easter Saturday at the age of 94 after falling and breaking a leg at his home in Penrose Walk. Surgeons at Great Western Hospital operated, but Mr Burden failed to recover.

He grew up near Devizes and became a gardener at Nursteed as soon as he left school at the age of 14. He went to work for Lady Cowdrey when his employer refused to increase his pay to £1 a week. He later worked at several stately homes and met his wife Mary when she was a housemaid.

After coming to Swindon, the couple lived at Coate in the house occupied by the family of Victorian author Richard Jefferies.

Mr Burden's wife died in 1999 and he leaves a son, a daughter and four grandchildren. His daughter Sue Hooper is chairman of the Swindon and Wiltshire committee of the NSPCC.

"He was a gentle man who loved his job and he was still growing things right up until the time he died," she said.