THEY turned out in droves to say farewell to Southender Sonny Perry - legions of Rotarians, Round Tablers, Masons and others packing Christ Church, Thorpe Bay, and reflecting just some of the many interests and involvements of a remarkable man.

Cancer claimed James Arthur Perry, nicknamed Sonny, widower, father, grandfather and friend of many, though he had always looked trim, handsome and fit for a man in his seventies. His wife Beryl had died years earlier, leaving him devastated.

As Frank Sinatra's "I Did It My Way" echoed through the church those days after his death on Sunday August 12, few outside his immediate family may have known of the many, many things Sonny did in his life, not until fellow Rotarian Eric Quarmby rose to tell of this man of many tastes and talents.

Sonny was born to parents who ran a jewellery repair business, which he would join and later develop into a wellknown firm of jewellers in South- church Road. But his hobbies, his memberships and his loves of sport were incredible in range.

Sonny went to the old Brewery Road School in Southend, later renamed Porters Grange. Then he went on to Southchurch Hall and to Southend High.

He was a talented footballer as a boy, one of the thousands of evacuees from Southend to the Midlands in the early years of the Second World War, and, too, a juvenile comic and stage performer who once appeared on the same Kursaal bill as Frankie Howerd.

He played golf at Thorpe Hall, but his deepest sporting interest and commitment was tennis. He was a member of the Thorpe Bay club and at one time was rated so highly he might well have reached a lofty level in the game had not his devotion to family life and his incredible commitment to so many interests been so demanding.

In 1973 Sonny became a JP. He remained a Southend magistrate until 1990. He was also on various advisory groups, as well as being noted among his extensive range of friends and contacts as the organiser of memorable social gatherings and dinner parties.

Sonny, was born in Southend and died in Southend. He was dedicated and devoted to the town.