Phil’s coffin style

A MAN who loved driving and talking about diggers had his final wish granted – when a JCB carried his coffin to his funeral.

Phil Goldring, a 64-year-old grandfather from Holmfirth, spent decades driving plant machinery around West Yorkshire working on projects for some of Huddersfield’s best-known companies, including David Brown, LB Holliday and Brook Motors.

It was an incongruous but strangely moving sight as the coffin was carefully placed in the bucket and the JCB left to wind its way the short distance from the gates of Huddersfield Crematorium to the building where around 100 mourners awaited its arrival.

Diane Hughes, who led the service, said: “Every picture tells a story. What do I see? I see there are a lot more men than women here.

“Phil was a much-loved man, a man’s man, a big man in a man’s world who did a man’s job.

“This was a unique way of making that last journey and it brought a lump to my throat as his coffin came down the hill. He would have loved that.”

Former workmate Ivan Conroy, who worked with Phil for 40 years, said: “He was always happiest when covered in oil and diesel, smoking his fag and talking about diggers and everything connected with that. His talk was of little else. You had to understand him to be able to deal with him.”