GEORGE Ball told pals they should put a mobile phone in his coffin when he died – and when he failed to answer at his funeral yesterday they knew it was time to say goodbye.

Hundreds of mourners packed into Bradwell Crematorium to remember the life of the local character they knew as George the Hat.

A floral tribute reading "Never kid a kidder", Mr Ball's favourite catchphrase, lay next to his coffin.

And, on the way to the crematorium, the funeral procession stopped outside the Village Tavern in Wolstanton, where the 72-year-old was a regular.

Helen Kara, who conducted yesterday's humanist service, told the congregation: "One of George's friends had said to him 'What are we going to do with you when you're gone?'.

"George replied, 'You can put my mobile phone in the coffin with me and ring it and I'll pop up and say hello and it will all be a joke'."

A member of the congregation then rang George's phone and the ring tone came from the direction of his coffin.

But Ms Kara said: "Unfortunately there's no answer, so we'll have to continue with the service."

Mr Ball was found dead after a fire in his flat above the Baa Humbugs sweet shop in Wolstanton High Street.

It started less than an hour after he returned home from the Village Tavern on November 12.

Ms Kara yesterday described Mr Ball as a "happy man" who was known for wearing his trademark red woolly hat and who enjoyed the simple pleasures in life.

She said: "He enjoyed going to the pub to meet people and have a drink and a laugh. He regularly got barred from the pubs for his singing.

"When he got barred from the Village Tavern, he had to do the rounds and drink in the Plough and the Smithy until new owners took over the Tavern and he could go back there.

"He was a workaholic and worked as a tiler. Once he was tiling a bathroom and the man he was doing it for said 'George, do as much as you like each day'.

"One day, George felt a bit tired so he got into the bath for a nap and the man came home to find him asleep and just left him there."

Mr Ball's daughter Jayne Harris told the congregation that she hadn't realised the "little man with grey hair, in sandals and a woolly hat" had been so popular.

She said in a letter to him: "I remember when you came back from Saudi Arabia and I came out of the school gates to see you waiting for me. You'd brought me back many gifts but the best one was finding you standing there."

The congregation sang Danny Boy and Mr Ball's coffin was carried out to the sound of Twilight Time by The Platters.

Keith Melbourne, who runs the Village Tavern, said: "I'd known George for 14 years and he was a true character.

"He was a genuine, hardworking, a very clever man.

"I'd only known him to take his hat off once – and that was to put his bed cap on.

"His table is still here in the pub with drinks on it. Nobody will ever forget him. He is a legend of Wolstanton."

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