by James Scott

jscott@thekmgroup.co.uk

Friends and family paid tribute to "adventurous, brave and fun
loving" sea cadet Jonathan Martin at his funeral in Ashford
today.

Scores attended the funeral for the teenager who died in a
tragic sailing accident.

Ashford Sea Cadet Jonathan, 14, of Shadoxhurst, suffered fatal
chest injuries after falling from the rigging of training ship TS
Royalist in the Solent, Hampshire on May 2.

Final journey of a Kent
Sea Cadet

Fellow cadets and leaders from TS Churchill marched in a
procession behind his coffin as it was taken from the sea cadets'
base at the Ashford TA Centre in Chart Road to the St Mary the
Virgin Church in the town centre for the service at 2pm.

More than a hundred people, including family members and pupils
from Cranbrook School, which he joined in September last year, were
in attendance.

Tributes were delivered by the Captain of the Sea Cadets Mark
Windsor, a serving Royal Navy captain, and the sea cadets chaplain
the Rev Colin Preece, who read out a eulogy written by members of
Jonathan's school boarding house.

Poignantly, the congregation sang the Royal Navy or Seafarers'
Hymn, also known as For Those in Peril on the Sea, before the Last
Post was sounded.

For full report see next week's Kentish
Express.