FIREFIGHTERS honoured a former colleague by carrying his coffin on a restored 1960s’ fire engine.
The Merryweather engine, complete with turntable ladder, led the cortege at John Hitchings’s funeral.
Family members were joined by colleagues from Beckenham fire station, who knew Mr Hitchings as “Oily”.
A former stoker in the Royal Navy, he joined the fire service in 1958, serving first in New Cross before moving to Beckenham in 1987.
The funeral procession ended with a well-attended service at Beckenham Crematorium at 1pm on Friday.
Mr Hitchings, who is survived by his wife, Freda, son and daughter Tony and Susan, and four grandchildren, died on May 25, aged 71.
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