A gambling-mad great-grandad who regularly pocketed thousands in horse-racing winnings managed to have one final flutter after he died - on the way to his own funeral. When retired foundry foreman Bill Blair died of rectal cancer his grieving family were determined to give him a send-off that celebrated his passions in life.
So when the 83-year-old, who loved placing daily bets on the horses and playing dominos, was on his final journey to the crematorium the procession paused at William Hill in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. Funeral director Drew Lilleker nipped into the Sheffield Road branch on January 30th to place a £2 bet on a horse and pinned it to Bill's betting slip-shaped floral tribute as staff silently bowed their heads.
Ex-army man Bill was then welcomed at Chesterfield Crematorium by flag-bearing pals from the regiment he served in during the 1950s - to represent his pride at serving Queen and country.One of Bill's granddaughters, carer Tyne Hadley, said she and her family wanted his funeral to be a celebration of her grandad.
Tyne, from Whittington, Derbyshire, said: "We wanted to celebrate all the things he loved in life. He's betted all his life. Every day he was there, he and one of his mates used to socialise at the weekend with their pints watching the horse races.
"Anything and everything he could put a bet on he's done but he was very dedicated to horse racing and he was good at winning. He's had a couple of £15,000 wins. He'd never tell you which one he was betting, he kept that quiet.
"We had a horse racing wrap put on the coffin and had dominos on the top of the coffin as he was a dominos player. We had a big flower [tribute] of a betting slip, which had the 10/1 odds - it was just a coincidence that it ended up being the date he died.
"William Hill did one last bet for him on the way past. The funeral director Drew went in and did it and put it on his coffin. The staff came out of the betting shop and staff from another betting shop had arranged for them to be able to attend [the funeral]. It was lovely.
"We all fell silent when we paused there and got a bit emotional. It was slightly overwhelming but in a good way, I think he would have loved it. They put his bet [on a horse called] Bill Baxter on for 3pm [the horses] because Bill was his name. He didn't win, he fell at the first hurdle. He'd have laughed at that."
In addition to including things representing his love of having a flutter, decorations on his coffin included the Notts and Derby Foresters emblem and an image of an owl - in a nod to his chest tattoo.
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Tyne, 33, said: "He loved life, he was such a character. We didn't know that was happening [pausing at William Hill] either, we didn't plan that that was a surprise from the funeral director for us. Harold Lilleker and sons were absolutely fantastic."
Owner of Harold Lilleker and sons, Drew Lilleker, said: "Our vision is to do funerals super personal, I always see it as an honour. It's our job to make sure that funerals aren't the same, because two people aren't the same.
"When someone says they want to do a horse-racing theme then we go horse racing. We thought 'if we're going past the betting shops, we'd better stop'. It's the first time we've ever done that."
