ALMOST 400 people attended the funeral of former High Sheriff of Gloucestershire Charles Lloyd-Baker of Hardwicke Court at Gloucester Cathedral.

Father of three Mr Lloyd-Baker, who served as the 1001st High Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1993 and 1994, was 70 when he died on December 23 last year.

A leading light in the horse racing world, he was a director of Cheltenham Racecourse, a member of the Jockey Club, and a steward at several National Hunt courses.

He had horses of his own in training with Peter Hobbs and Guy Harwood.

An estimated 375 people were at his funeral to mourn his passing and celebrate his life with his widow Sally and their three sons Henry, Alex and Will.

The Rector of Dorchester, Canon Thomas Woodhouse, who led the funeral service, had become a close friend of Mr Lloyd-Baker's during his time as Vicar of Hardwicke from 1998-2005.

Canon Woodhouse said "It was a friendship that continued after I left Gloucestershire. Charles had a laugh that could change the course of a day.

"To meet him in the course of my duties was to have my day improved. He was a wonderful human being.

"His final days were filled with love and the companionship of family and friends."

Gloucester Crown Court presiding judge Jamie Tabor QC, who attended the funeral, said "He was a larger than life character who cheered up the lives of all who knew him."

The funeral service was full of references to Mr Lloyd-Baker's love of horses.

One of the readings, by Michael Henriques, began "Horses he loved, and laughter, and the sun, A song, wide spaces and the open air."

It went on "The trust of all dumb living things he won; and never knew the luck too good to share."

His eldest son Henry read the famous passage from Ecclesiastes which begins "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted."

Printed on the final page of the Order of Service were the words: "The wind of Heaven is that which blows between a horse's ears."

A retiring collection taken at the cathedral will be donated to the Longfield Hospice and the Injured Jockeys Fund.