THE funeral has taken place on March 29 of David Wilson Hardman, who died at the age of 91.

David was born in Bacup, Lancashire to a line of ironmasters.

He was first class honours in mechanical engineering at UMIST and completed an MSc.

Following the premature death of his beloved father David Nuttal Hardman, he moved to Cheshire working as a design engineer for ICI Alkali Division.

He was a leading authority on steam turbines but perhaps his proudest, or at least his most exciting moment, was when he rescued the ICI salt mine at Winsford from flooding.

In 1958 he was widowed and devoted himself tirelessly to bringing up his three children.

In 1975 David took early retirement from ICI to indulge his passion for sailing.

He was a familiar figure on Winsford Flash for many years, a passion which he passed on to his children and grandchildren.

He firmly believed that retirement should mark a clean break and resisted all offers of consultancy work in his field.

He was associated with the Scouting movement, becoming an assistant district commissioner and later with the Abbeyfield movement.

David is survived by his children John, Richard and Margy, his son-in-law Harry and daughter-in-law Sheila and by his grandchildren David, Johnny, Robert and Kate, and by Robert's wife Meg.

Arrangements were by George Lightfoot, Northwich.