A DEDICATED Brentwood Town Football Club fan who "rarely missed a game" has died, aged 82.
Les Harris was a familiar face to the hundreds of home and away fans who arrived for fixtures at the club's ground at the Brentwood Centre, where it has been based since 1993.
Les had been a follower of the club since the early days in the mid-1950s, when it was located at Larkin's Playing Field, off Ongar Road, Brentwood. For much of that time he served as a committee member.
The grandfather of one was remembered by friends and family at his funeral at Bentley Crematorium at 2pm yesterday (Tuesday). His death followed three weeks in care at Queen's Hospital, Romford.
His wife, Rose Harris, 82, told the Gazette: "His life revolved around Brentwood Football Club. He loved the club and very rarely missed a game in all the time he was there. He was involved with it since 1955.
"He used to manage the bar at one time, but he did lots for it, and helped out whenever he could.
"Les had a quadruple heart bypass 14 years ago. It really was a matter of his heart being too weak in the end."
The couple met aged 25 and would have been together for 58 years in July. They lived in Bishops Hall Road, Pilgrims Hatch, for 47 years, where dozens of cards arrived following his death on February 22.
Mrs Harris said: "He really was a wonderful man, the perfect husband. We met at a dance in Doddinghurst many years ago.
"It was actually a sort of blind date. I had a friend who had a fiancé, and he had a friend, and that was Les.
"We had a wonderful, happy life together. I have lots and lots of lovely memories. He was the life and soul of the party and will be missed by many people."
Born and raised in Harwich, Essex, Les left school at the age of 14 and worked for British Rail as a driver's mate aboard the trains before joining the Royal Navy.
After leaving on compassionate grounds due to the death of his step-father, Les returned to the rails in Harwich as a train driver before moving to Brentwood in his early 20s and working as an engineer for Falcon Engineering.
He ran his own top soil delivery business for a time before returning to the Hutton-based engineering and architectural surveying firm until his retirement at 65.
Brentwood Town FC manager Steve Witherspoon told the Gazette: "Les was a real stalwart of the club. He used to watch me play in the Sunday League when I was coming through at 15. He was a real football man.
"He's been around forever. He was always the first one there when we came off the pitch with his opinion, so he's a very big loss."
He added: "But it was always a pleasure to see the smile on Les's face after we had won a game. It made all the effort worthwhile."
He is survived by his wife Rose Harris, daughter Lorraine Nurse, 51, and his grandson Elliott, 20.
