HARMONICA Man Michael Thomas Nelder’s coffin will be taken in a procession from outside his favourite busking spot in Swindon town centre to Kingsdown Crematorium tomorrow.
The locally famous musician died in Gloucester during the early hours of December 30, aged 83.
He was a common sight playing his harmonica and entertaining shoppers outside Primark on Regent Street.
A memorial event will be held at his old busking spot on Thursday, before his harmonica-emblazoned colourful coffin is driven to Kingsdown Crematorium.
Both the memorial event outside Primark and Mr Nelder’s funeral will be open to the public.
The memorial will start at around 10.30am and the funeral will follow at 11.15am.
Mr Nelder was a famous face in Swindon for years and people were so fond of him that they clubbed together to raise more than £5,000 towards the costs of the service.
Last summer, he was among the town heroes to be replicated in woollen doll form for Swindon Stitch and Bitch’s Characters of Swindon exhibition.
And he was a previous winner of the town's Pride of the Community Award.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here