A WELL-known Corsham farmer was yesterday (Friday, May 8) carried to his grave on the front of his combine harvester.

In one of the most unusual funerals ever seen in the town, Guy Stafford’s coffin was placed on the front of a large yellow combine harvester driven by his only son James.

He was carried from AJB Funeral’s parlour on Pickwick Road to Pickwick Lodge Farm where Mr Stafford was laid to rest near a woodland overlooking his farm.

Mr Stafford, 74, died on Wednesday, April 29, after a long illness. He leaves a wife, Gill, 72, three children, Emma Wyatt, 50, James, 48, and Helen Smithers, 43, and five grandchildren.

Funeral director Aaron Bewley, of AJB Funerals in Corsham, said: “It is such a novel way of going, I’m sure it will be something of a show-stopper. I’m yet to find anywhere in the UK of this happening before.

“Friends have been invited to line the one-mile route to say goodbye to him as he travels back to his own farm to be buried in one of his fields.”

The funeral service on Friday May 8 was conducted by a family friend, Reverend Roger Clifton, the former Vicar of Corsham.

Mrs Smithers, who is known to the family as Peanut, said her father was a “larger than life” character who loved the countryside and his family.

“He was born on the farm and lived there all his life. It was his dying wish to be buried there.”

Mr Stafford was a member of Corsham Young Farmers and won many of the ploughing matches the club organised when he was a young man.

He was also a member of Corsham Rotary Club and Chippenham Branch of the Round Table of Great Britain and Ireland, and helped to raise a lot of money for local charities.

He farmed a beef and arable farm after moving out of dairy farming and loved countryside pursuits, particularly shooting.

She added: “My father was a very kind man who was very well known in the area.

“He worked hard and played hard and farming was his life. In recent years, he had been terribly poorly because of heart ailments.”

Only nine close family members attended the funeral service because of the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 coronavirus lockdown.

Mrs Smithers said the family intends to hold a celebration of life service at a later date in memory of her father.