Hundreds of friends, colleagues and supporters of a popular former MP gathered to remember a man with an “irrepressible, infectious laugh”.

So many people attended the memorial service for Andrew Rowe, former Conservative MP for Mid Kent and later Faversham and Mid Kent, at All Saints’ Church in Maidstone on Friday afternoon, that there were not enough orders of service to go around the congregation.

Family members, old school friends, colleagues and people who had worked on numerous projects and charities all paid tribute to the Conservative MP who died in November after a long battle with cancer.

Among them were his son, Nick, one of his stepdaughters, Kathryn, and Tom Underwood from the JC2000 project.

The service was led by the Rev Canon Christopher Morgan-Jones, and there was an address by the Right Rev Michael Turnbull. The choir from the Holy Cross Church, Bearsted, where Mr Rowe regularly worshipped, also sang during the service.

John Bowis MEP, who read a tribute to Mr Rowe, said: “He was a combination of the thoughtful and enthusiastic but never losing the sense of the absurd.

“He made you want to listen to him and participate with him and you knew where he led would be worthwhile and it would be fun.

“Above all we should remember that laugh because then we can smile and give thanks for a man who cared; who was fun to be with and who was quite simply and goes on being our friend.”

There was a retiring collection which will be shared between the Blackthorn Trust and the Heart of Kent Hospice.