EX-FIREFIGHTER Ernie Taylor was so popular among his old crew at Royal Wootton Bassett they gathered to provide a guard of honour as he made his final journey.

“There wasn’t a man at the station he hadn’t helped, he was a very kind man and it was a great loss when he died,” said his friend of more than 40 years, Chris Wannell.

Mr Taylor, 76, was carried to North Wiltshire Crematorium on a wartime fire engine he and Chris found in Bridgewater after it was scrapped.

Chris, worked alongside him at the the town’s fire station many years.

“He went to many large fires, like the ones at the Bell in Old Town, the Knoll at Malmesbury and the Electronics Centre at RAF Lyneham," he said.

“I met him through the fire service, he helped me move into my house on Noremarsh Road in 1976 so we were friends for a very long time.”

“There was a pretty big fire in Malmesbury and Ernie was at the bottom of the ladder. One of the other firemen said: ‘Stay there Ernie don’t move you’re there to foot the ladder for anyone who wants to come up and down’.

“He was there for an hour and he saw a white helmet go past and he asked: ‘Hey mate, how long do I have to stay here?’

"It was the chief officer and it’s pretty funny because you don’t say ‘hey mate’ to the chief officer.”

On his first house fire Mr Taylor found himself in the same crew as his dad Peter.

It was a difficult and unpleasant job and they couldn't see a thing because of the heavy smoke. Then his dad discovered he had managed to put his hand in a full chamber pot.

Mr Taylor joined the retained crew at Bassett in 1965 after a three-year spell in the auxilliary fire service.

The former Lime Kiln school pupil's first full time job was as an apprentice at United Dairies in the town. Once he had completed his apprenticeship he moved onto Taymac and then Devonshire Dairies as a transport manager.

But after he was made redundant he set up his own business as a mechanic before eventually retiring.

In 1986 he was awarded a long service medal by the chief fire officer at the time Dennis Robins. He was handed the Queen’s Fire Service Medal in the 1993 Birthday Honours List.

He served 27 years as an on-call fire firefighter and hung up his helmet for the final time in 1992 as the last to hold the rank of station officer at Bassett.

Chris, who bought the old turntable fire engine to use at charity events, said: “We managed to get a lot of the old crew to come along and form a guard of honour and then he was taken to North Wiltshire Crematorium.

“It was lovely to see old comrades to serve with and we are trying to come together again for a night out which will be lovely. It was a lovely service and there were some great tributes.

Mr Taylor leaves a wife, Marion, a son and a daughter.

The money raised at his service will be going to The Fire Fighters Charity.