FORMER Wellington student and bridal dressmaker Izzi Stockton went to great lengths to gather Taunton locals to attend the funeral of the well-known resident Brian King.

Brian, who recently passed away, was a friend of the designer but had no immediate family upon his passing. Having been a regular visitor of shops around Taunton, Brian knew many of the town’s business owners. Izzi contacted a number of them in an effort to bring locals together for his funeral.

Having been informed of Brian’s death by Sarah Clauson, the Director of Medineeds, Izzi posted on her business’s Facebook page inviting friends and acquaintances of Brian to join her in celebrating Brian’s life.

She said: “I was trying to reach out to people around Taunton because Brian was an elderly friend who had no immediate family, and he always talked about all the friends he used to visit.

“I struggled to find out any more information about [Brian’s funeral] and I thought there would be a lot of friends who would feel the same as me and would like to go [to it] and say a final goodbye.

“I tried calling the registry office, the crematoriums at Taunton and Bridgwater and was about to start calling funeral homes when I had the idea to put a post on Facebook.

“That evening, I had had lots of replies and the following day a distant relative called me at my shop and let me know the date hadn’t been set for the funeral yet. I found out the date the following day and let everyone know.

“Sarah Clauson held a memorial for him as he used to visit them most days. I met friends who grew up near him and ladies from his dentists were there too as he used to pop into them most days as well!”

Roughly 40 people attended the funeral of Brian King on Wednesday, October 23 at the Taunton Crematorium.

A small wake was held at the Coffee Cabin at the crematorium after the service where, Izzi said, attendees shared stories about their late friend and remembered his caring and funny character.