Almost 100 bikers rode through the streets of Witney to pay their respects to a man they said would always make them laugh.

Club members and friends travelled from near and far to take part in the procession in honour of Witney biker Brian ‘Zombie’ Stewart, who died on October 17.

The motorcyclists rode behind a special bike hearsefrom Witney along the A40 to Oxford Crematorium at Barton.

One rider had travelled from Germany for the service. Many bikers rode in the procession without helmets, a tradition at motorcyclists’ funerals.

Mr Stewart was remembered as a friend, a drinking partner and a keen fundraiser for charity.

He helped set up and ran the West Oxfordshire branch of Motorcycle Action Group, which fights for motorcyclists’ rights, and would regularly fundraise for the National Association for Bikers with a Disability.

The charity helps bikers who have had accidents get back on the road.

Later in life Mr Stewart joined The Royal British Legion Riders Branch and worked to raise funds for Help for Heroes. He died of bowel cancer, aged 45.

One of his close friends, ‘Rock’, said Mr Stewart always gave his support to charities and was a hardworking – and successful – fundraiser. He said: “Zombie could sell a fridge to an Eskimo.”

Mr Stewart’s friends remembered him as a kind man who was quick to laugh, and would always try to make others smile.

Dave “Disco” McCarthy, a friend and club member of Mr Stewart’s, said: “He was the nicest guy you could meet.

“He always used to make us laugh and we will miss him always.”

Mr Stewart was part of the Wiltshire-based bikers’ club ‘Sad Bastards’ and became the Witney representative for the group.

Club president Glyn ‘Gas’ Kerfoot said: “Zombie raised an awful lot of money for charity.”

Mr Kerfoot said one of his strongest memories of Mr Stewart was at a bike rally called ‘Perverts in Leather’.

He said: “Zombie was not one for fancy dress, but he decided that year to go the whole hog.

“You can imagine the scene – a six-foot tall Scottish man in a pair of army boots and a pink tutu, and my vice president helping him do up a pair of pink tights and suspenders. It will stay in my mind for many years.”

Rob Easthope, a friend and housemate of Mr Stewart, said: “Everybody will miss him for a long, long time.

“He made a difference when he was there. He was very much a personality.”

Mr Stewart moved to West Oxfordshire from Scotland at the end of the 1980s, living first in Eynsham and then Witney.

He worked as a fork lift truck driver for Smurfit Kappa Sheetfeeding in Witney.