More than 100 Feltham FC players, managers and figures past and present turned out to say a final farewell to club legend Willi Seuke last Wednesday.
Seuke, who ended up in the area as a German prisoner-ofwar and liked it so much he stayed, passed away last month from a heart attack having battled illness for a while.
The 81-year-old had been committee member,chairman and president at the club, having joined when it was still Tudor Park FC in the 1950s.
Son Richard Seuke said: "My father's days at Feltham FC were certainly the most enjoyable of his life. "And he certainly left his legacy on English non-league football, with three referees and three players coming through his sons and grandsons - not bad for a German! "One of his sons, Paul, was in goal for Horsham when they played Swansea in the FA Cup on TV this season, and dad was watching it saying 'is that my son on the television?' "He still just about knew what was going on."
Players and managers from every decade of the club's existence from the 1950s onwards turned out for the funeral at Hanworth Crematorium.
Recent ones included Bob Barnes, Phil Heggie, Carl Taylor and Dave Baker,while at the other end of the club's time-line, former player Ronnie Cobb turned out in a Tudor Park FC blazer from its early days.
Seuke added: "One of the hymns we sung,Glory be thy Spoken, had the same tune as the German national anthem, so that raised a few eyebrows, and as the curtain came down we played World Cup Willie by Lonnie Donegan.
"It was a special day, and one of celebration rather than sadness."
