If there were a few wobbly notes at Norman Shaw’s funeral, his bandmates in West Yorkshire Brass were forgiven.

For the band turned out at Rawdon Crematorium yesterday to play a final fitting tribute to one of their stalwarts.

Mr Shaw, 82, had made it one of his last requests for the band to play him out.

And he even summoned band sergeant Graham Lumley to his bedside to make sure they would get it right.

Mr Lumley said: “We’ve had our strict instructions. Norman wanted us to play The Thin Red Line. It was the first march he played when he joined the Army and he committed it to memory.

“He went through it all with me, just to make sure we put all the phrasings in the right places.”

Prior to the special musical memorial, Mr Lumley added: “It’s going to be a sad occasion, but we’ll do our best to make him proud. If we throw a few wobbly notes, people will forgive us, but I’m not sure about Norman. Music was his life, he was a brilliant musician.”

Mr Shaw, who lived in Pudsey, played with the Bradford-based band for the past decade and kept on playing even after he was diagnosed with lung cancer.

However, secondary cancers were diagnosed and he died last month at Wheatfields Hospice.

As a seven-year-old, he joined a Salvation Army band and eventually signed up for the Army as a bandsman posted out to Malaya.

Back home, he had worked at a bacon factory and as a clerk working his way up to a wage manager’s post. He also got work as a professional musician despite being self-taught.

He was a regular member of BBC Symphony Orchestras and appeared with the Syd Lawrence Orchestra on Les Dawson’s television shows.

His younger daughter Barbara Hodgson said her father had played with the Carl Rosa opera company in orchestras and dance bands touring all over the country, and when she was little, instead of a bedtime story she would request a goodnight tune from Tubby the Tuba.

Mr Shaw later played with a number of bands in the Bradford area and put in some guest appearances with the world-famous Black Dyke Band, of Queensbury.

He was also a founder of the Drighlington Youth Band which has continued to grow as his legacy and is now entering championships.

Mr Shaw also leaves an older daughter Maureen Reynolds, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

“When dad died, instead of flowers at his funeral he wanted donations to go somewhere that would support and inspire young people in music.

“We trawled the internet looking for ideas and came up with The Youth Music Charity. He would have liked that,” said Mrs Hodgson.