A crossword lover who always dreamed of arriving at her funeral in a carriage drawn by black horses has been remembered by her family.

Betty Florence King, known as Bett, died on June 22, aged 87.

She was born in Teddington in 1926 and when the war came, the 13-year-old left school and started working in the Hawker Siddeley factory in Kingston.

She was never very good at getting up in the morning so her employer bought her an alarm clock to help her with her time keeping.

She was encouraged to join the Army and became a cook in Twickenham’s Kneller Hall.

After the war she signed up to the territorials and would often drive lorries in Richmond Park.

Her family described her as a family woman who loved having picnics in the countryside and by the sea and would often feed the birds in her garden.

She never felt she was wrong, and her family recalled a time when she rode her motorised scooter through Hampton Court Gardens.

Her nephew, Ernie Leadbetter, said: “She always said she wanted a big send off and that is what she has got.

“When we used to go to hers she would say ‘Come upstairs, let’s talk funeral’.”

Her funeral, arranged by T H Sanders and Higgs in Twickenham, was held at South West Middlesex Crematorium on Wednesday, July 10.