A village temporarily came to a halt today while respects were paid to Sir Reg Doyle, the former Chief Inspector of the UK Fire Service.

Family, friends and firemen filled St Peter and St Paul’s Church in Headcorn.

Sir Reg was born on June 13, 1929, in Birmingham to a large family - he had four brothers and two sisters.

After leaving school at 15, he joined the Royal Navy, where he progressed up the ranks leaving as Petty Officer in 1954, in the year after marrying June Stringer in December 1953.

He then joined the Fire Service on his return to Birmingham. The couple had two daughters, Mandy and Wendy in 1963. The family moved around the country many times as he progressed through the ranks, eventually becoming the Chief Fire Officer of Hereford and Worcestershire Brigade in 1974.

In 1977, he was appointed Chief Fire Officer of Kent Fire Brigade, and the family moved first to Lenham and later to Harrietsham.

On retiring from the Fire Service in 1984, he moved to the Home Office as HM Assistant Chief Inspector of the Fire Service, becoming HM Chief Inspector in 1987, a position he held until retirement in 1994.

During this time he was made an CBE in 1980 and knighted in 1989.

Across the years, he still found time for his hobbies which included swimming, badminton and clay-pigeon shooting. He was president of Lenham Bowls Club and president of the Weald of Kent Rotary Club.

He became a widower in 2006 and then moved to Headcorn to share a house with his daughter Mandy and her husband Nick, who is also in Kent Fire and Rescue Service.