WHILST the steady drum of Johann Walch’s funeral march echoed around Colchester's George Street Snooker Club from the television coverage of the Queen’s funeral, it marked the third monarch which 92-year-old Frederick Bowley has seen come and go.

Though the majority of people watched today’s state funeral – the first Britain has seen since 1965 –from their own homes, a handful of Colchester’s pubs and clubs remained open with many opting to watch the procession in the company of friends and fellow patriots.

Mr Bowley, a regular at George Street Snooker Club, was one of them – sitting in one of the corners and wearing a beige tweed jacket onto which he had pinned two miniature poppies.

Having moved to Colchester at the age of ten in 1939, Mr Bowley can still remember Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953, when he was returning to the UK after having been stationed in Hong Kong.

Part of the reason he was at George Street Snooker Club during the state funeral was because his television set had packed in, but as with many others, he wanted to be around others whilst watching an historic state funeral which will be engrained indelibly into our memories.

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He said: “I’ve always preferred being around people – always.

“But I can’t stay at home and watch it anyway because my television has packed in.

“Has it been emotional? I suppose it has been in a way, because I’ve seen two kings go, and now a queen.”

Mr Bowley’s military history goes back as far as the First World War, when his uncles joined the forces to fight, despite one of them being only 16-years-old.

By the time Mr Bowley turned 18 in 1948, it was time for him to continue the family tradition – and he can still remember the exact date he joined.

“I joined on February 28, 1948, and I came out in August 1953 – so nearly six years.

“I was in Hong Kong when King George VI died and when Elizabeth was made the Queen – then I was on my way home during her coronation.”

Now, 70 years on, Mr Bowley will remember where he was when he watched the state funeral of the longest serving monarch the United Kingdom has ever seen – surrounded by friends and acquaintances at George Street Snooker Club, his home away from home.