KEEN cricketer and charity volunteer John Caspell, whose family has farmed land at Worth, near Deal, for generations, has died. He was 77.

More than 100 family, friends and colleagues attended his funeral service at Barham Crematorium.

His friend Alec Tilman said: “John was a gentleman in every sense of the word. He was patient, polite and caring to all who met and knew him. He will be sadly missed.”

Mr Caspell, of Felderland Lane, Worth, was born in 1929 on the family farm of J J Caspell and Son in the days when the horse and plough were important to the running of the business.

Mr Caspell was a pupil at Sir Roger Manwood’s in Sandwich and Simon Langton Boys’ Grammar in Canterbury, apart from the Second World War years when he was evacuated to Wales.

He joined his father on the farm after leaving school and helped develop the fruit side of the business, introducing mechanisation and ensuring the firm continued to flourish for the next 60 years.

Following in the Caspell family tradition, Mr Caspell was an active member of Worth Cricket Club for more than 20 years.

He had a great love of the sea and served as the chairman of the Sandwich branch of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution for more than 30 years.

He leaves a widow Betty, a son, daughter, two grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.

Donations in his memory can be sent to the RNLI, c/o J Dilnot Smith and Son, 183 Gladstone Road, Deal, CT14 7EL.