PEOPLE'S champion Armin Pennington's final resting place will be in the German woodlands where he played as a child.

But his last wish was that his wife, Diane, and family first take his ashes to a beer festival wake.

Hanovarian Armin, who's father was killed at Stalingrad, moved to England when his mother fell in love with a British soldier.

In recent years he settled in Tyldesley and became a prominent figure battling to save Astley Street playing fields and Astley hospital site.

He and Diane stood as Liberal candidates in local elections and in recent months he had backed a rugby ground development access protest.

He died on August 28 at his Hollins Close home from a rare form of bone cancer - myelofibrosis - which had affected him over the past four years.

Grandfather Armin, 57, who was a senior research technician at UMIST, leaves a son and three daughters.

His wife Diane said: "He asked us to take his ashes to a beer festival and then scatter his remains in the Forest of Hanover where he played as a little boy. It may happen at the Oktoberfest."

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