ARTHUR HEDGES, who has died age 74, was a football giant and one of the founding members of Saxton Rovers Football Club.

Mr Hedges was best known for setting up the club in 1959. He was described as a bit of a ‘clown’ and a ‘legend’ by his friends and football colleagues.

Arthur Philip Hedges was born in Abingdon on March 26 1941 to parents Ivy, a housekeeper, and Albert George, a steamroller driver.

He had four sisters – Caroline, 71, Susan, 66, Rosemarie, 65, and Audrey, who died at the age of five after her nightdress caught fire – and a brother, Richard, whom everyone called Bill, age 63.

As a baby Mr Hedges lived in Abbey Close in Abingdon but the family moved to Saxton Road while he was a boy.

He attended Bury Street Primary School from 1946 to 1951 and then Boxhill CofE Senior School from 1951 to 1956.

At age 15 he left to work at various building sites but moved to the MG car factory in Abingdon in 1967.

He went on to work at the UK AEA at Harwell until 2002, where he acted as a chauffeur and also worked in health and safety.

Mr Hedges met his wife Marjorie, nee Maidment, in 1960 when she was 16 at a cafe in Abingdon. They married in 1963 at St Augustine of Canterbury Church in East Hendred, where she grew up.

The couple set up home in Bostock Road in Abingdon and lived there until 1965 before moving to Southmoor Way where their first son Paul was born in 1966.

The family then moved to Cotman Close in 1967 when the couple’s second child Mark was born. In 1992 they moved to Grundy Close and stayed until 2007, before moving to Argentan Close where Mrs Hedges still lives today.

Mr Hedges suffered a stroke in 2002 that forced him to retire from his job. He eventually moved to Winterbrook Nursing Home in Wallingford.

In 1959 he and his friends founded Saxton Rovers FC with help from local pub The Saxton Arms, which bought them their first kit. Mr Hedges played for the team and became the club secretary.

Mr Hedges was also a member of Abingdon Bowling Club and enjoyed golf at Radley Golf Club.

Mr Hedges died on September 30 at Winterbrook. His funeral was held on Tuesday.

He is survived by his wife Marjorie, 71, sons Paul and Mark, four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.