THE funeral of David Dalton, production director of the Kent Messenger Group, is to be held at Peterborough Crematorium, Marham, on January 3, at noon.

Mr Dalton died on December 19 after a long battle with cancer. He was 61.

Before his death, Mr Dalton invited friends to "have a pint" at The Haycock pub in Wansford after the funeral. Flowers from family and close friends should be sent to Anglia Co-operative Funerals, Fitzwilliam Street, Peterborough PE1 2RX.

Donations towards cancer research should be sent to Customer Services, Cancer Research UK, P.O. Box 123, London WC2A 3PX

Meanwhile, friends throughout the newspaper industry stood to toast Mr Dalton's life at an annual event he had been due to attend on the day he died.

In a poignant moment, around 300 people gathered for the Fleet Street Club lunch in the Connaught Rooms, London, raised their glasses to celebrate a larger-than-life character who was well-known and admired throughout the industry.

A few weeks before his death, Mr Dalton and his wife, Wilma, moved from Hollingbourne in Kent to Lincolnshire.