Communities will come together tomorrow for the funeral of a man believed to be one of the first West Indians to settle in Bradford during the immigration boom of the 1950s.

A memorial service for Pearl Gladstone Minott, who became a big name on the Bradford music club scene, will be at St Joseph's Church in Manchester Road, at 1pm, followed by the burial at Scholemoor cemetery.

Mr Minott, who is better known as Bibby, settled in Bradford in the 1950s and lived with his wife, Rosita, in Manningham.

His clubs, which included the Cricket Club in Thorncliffe Square and The Capricorn, also known as Bibby's, at the Edwardian Bar in Cornwall Terrace, Valley Parade, were famous for bringing together Afro Caribbean, Asian and white people.

Bibby was 75 when he passed away earlier this month at Bradford Royal Infirmary, where he had been suffering from heart problems.

He was known as a Good Samaritan within the community.

Son-in-law John Khan, 39, has lived with Bibby's second eldest daughter Karin for around 14 years.

He said throughout his lifetime, Bibby helped and advised people of all races and ages at their time of need.

He said he would organise and fund people's funerals and help people trace their families.

Bibby was born in Jamaica in May 1931 and arrived in the UK in the 1950s. He worked in Bristol in a glass factory and then moved up to Bradford where he worked for North Eastern Gas and then later as a bus conductor.

He had eight children, and nine grandchildren.

But it is for his reggae and dance music clubs and his generosity that he will be remembered.

Mr Khan said Bibby would have preferred his departure to be seen as a celebration to bring people of all races together, and not a day for sorrow, mourning or crying.

He said: "It will be the biggest West Indian funeral that Bradford has ever seen. He helped so many people and they will want to come and pay their respects.

"People are travelling the length and breadth of the country to be there, and some are even coming from Australia and America."

The funeral, which will have African music, promises to be a celebration of Bibby's life.

Herbert Wuver, from the Pan African Arts and Cultural Group, was a friend of Bibby and will be one of the musicians performing at the funeral.

He said: "Pearl Bibby was the Don King of black club music. His clubs brought all different members of the community together.

"You can imagine Bradford in the 60s, it was segregation. But at his clubs he welcomed everyone and his main thing was to unite the community.

"The fact that there will be so many people at the funeral shows you how popular he was and how much he helped people. He wanted people to stand on their own two feet."

email: ali.davies@ bradford.newsquest.co.uk