Hundreds of mourners have paid their respects to former Grimsby Telegraph editor Peter Moore at his funeral in the town.

Peter died a fortnight ago, aged 61, after a short illness.

The funeral cortege went past the Grimsby Telegraph offices on Cleethorpe Road on its way to St James’ Church.

The Rector of Grimsby, Canon Michael Hunter – a friend of Peter’s – told the congregation: “This is not your average funeral of someone who has been cruelly taken from us at this time.

“As a partner in this community, Peter was someone we could ill afford to lose and as a close personal friend, we are heartbroken.

He urged people not to simply remember Peter as “a good guy who played golf, loved horse racing and was a lot of fun”.

He said: “There was gravitas behind his work. This parish church is proud to honour this distinguished son of Grimsby.”

The church was so full of family, friends and journalists that scores of people had to stand in the aisles and at the back to take part in the service.

Hymns included We Plough the Fields and Scatter and Jerusalem. Rev David Sudron read a passage from St Luke’s Gospel. Rev Ian Shelton Waltham led prayers giving thanks for Peter’s life, his work as a journalist and editor, “his friendship and – above all – his love”.

Personal tributes were given by John Sexton, racing editor at the Wolverhampton Express and Star and a long-term friend of Peter, and Mike Wood, former managing director of Grimsby and Scunthorpe Newspapers and a former editor of the Hull Daily Mail.

They lauded Peter as one of “the great editors, regional or national” who spurred the Grimsby Telegraph on to become “champion of the community”.

John said: “I could not imagine him in any other profession. He was inquisitive and he regularly passed the acid test of any journalist, having never lost the thrill of the chase.”

And Mike Wood added: “Nobs and nobodies, young and old were as happy in his company as he was in theirs.

“Give him 20 minutes and he’d know most of what was worth knowing about any given companion. Give him an hour and he’d have the outline for a biography.”

Diane Grimshaw, a family friend, read the poem read at the Queen Mother’s funeral, urging those in mourning to “smile, open your eyes, love and go on”.

The service was followed by a private cremation.

Peter joined the Hull Daily Mail as a junior reporter in 1960. In 1979, he was appointed assistant editor. He left the Mail to take up the position of editor at the Grimsby Telegraph in 1982, retiring in 2002.

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