The grandson of a well-known farrier will shoe the horses pulling his grandfather's hearse as a final mark of respect.
Oliver Kenchington, known to many as Jack the blacksmith, died last week at 88 after battling prostate cancer.
Originally born in Dorchester, he moved to Letchworth to learn how to make horseshoes after serving in the Royal Navy in the Second World War.
In 1948, Kenchington married his childhood sweetheart Georgina at St. Mary's Church in Baldock, before the couple moved to Norfolk where he shod King George V's horses for four years.
The couple then moved back to Baldock and lived in London Road, where they had two children - Shirley and Carole.
Kenchington continued to work as a farrier until the 1990s, retiring at the 72 when his grandson Sean took over the business.
"I always went with him when I was a kid, especially during the holidays," says Sean, 44, who has been a farrier since he was 15. "Sometimes he even took me out of school so I could help him with a bad horse.
"Of course, he's having a horse-drawn hearse and I've shod the horses that are going to draw it."
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