POLITICAL activist Len Dole was remembered yesterday with a final tribute to "a great man and a great fighter".

More than 150 people attended a Humanist funeral at Burnley Crematorium for Len, of Lomeshaye Way, Nelson, who died last week, aged 85.

The congregation included his wife Betty, children Len and Janet, Pendle councillors, family members of the late Nelson and Colne MP Sydney Silverman, Lord Hoyle of Warrington and representatives from the Labour Party, trade unions and the Co-op movement.

The non-religious service included the song Give Peace a Chance, and Len's family and friends paid tribute to his pacifism and socialist principles.

Lord Hoyle, who served as Pendle MP from 1974 to 1979, said Len had been the person who inspired his move into politics at a national level.

He added: "It was important to Len that there was a representative for Nelson and Colne who prepresented ordinary people.

"He couldn't understand how ordinary people throughout the world could go to war with each other. He thought everyone was equal and that ordinary people shouldn't be exploited.

"He was a great man, a great fighter and a great socialist."

Len's grandaughter Jane read the poem The Sword and the Sickle, by William Blake.

Len was a Labour party agent for 33 years, working for Sydney Silverman and Gordon Prentice among others.

Humanist Edward Joyce, who led the service, said: "Len had a strong social conscience. He has been variously described as having been a strong-willed person, as having been a resilient person and as having been a scholarly person.

"He was a man of great integrity and strength of character. He was independent in thought and independent in action.

"At all times he retained an interest in the welfare of underprivileged people in Nelson and Colne. He was well-known and highly respected by all those who knew him."

Len's son Len, who now lives in America, spoke on behalf of himself and his sister Janet Bowers, 55, from Padiham.

He said: "We want to thank our dad for what he gave us, our lives and the principles he gave us to live those lives with. We all know he was a very highly principled individual.

"Never shall we forget what he gave to us, so that we could live our lives peacefully and in a humanitarian way like he did."

Len's ashes will be placed at Clarion House, where a memorial service is likely to be held later in the year.