STAN Rhymes, who has died aged 94, was a D-Day veteran who founded a cricket club for Oxford speedway supporters and remained active until his final days.

Mr Rhymes was one of four brothers who left Marston to fight in the Second World War.

In 1951 he founded the Oxford Willows Cricket Club from a community of speedway supporters, whose first season was played in the middle of track.

In November last year, more than 70 years after his heroics on D-Day, he was awarded the Legion d'honneur alongside his brother Bill - who died on March 20 aged 96.

Stan Rhymes was born on July 30, 1923 in William Street, Marston to parents Lucy and Stephen Rhymes, who was chauffeur to Lord and Lady Cowley.

He grew up with his four brothers; Son (Albert), Vic, Bill and Pete and two sisters Lucy and Eda.

He went to what is now called St Michael's Primary School and then East Oxford School before leaving education at the age of 14.

On leaving school he became an apprentice electrician at Lowe & Oliver.

He moved to the Pressed Steel factory where he worked on and made landmines at the beginning of the Second World War - he didn't like the job and would blame the noise of the landmines for his loss of hearing in later life.

But on April 15, 1942 - along with a friend at the factory - he went to the recruiting office in St Giles and signed up aged 18.

He served with the Royal Navy as an ordinary wireman – an electrician – and just two years later he was on a landing craft carrying tanks to the beaches in Normandy.

His brother Bill described his wartime experiences as 'an adventure' and Stan said what he did was 'just a bit of fun'.

When his boat was hit, engineers tied it up so it wouldn’t leak, then they worked back along the beach, picking up prisoners of war.

After the war and while working for Morris Motors, Mr Rhymes frequented the Saturday night dances at the scout hall in William Street.

It was here that he met Joyce Hewlett, who was playing the piano for the dancing band.

The couple were married at St Clement's Church on July 24, 1948 and moved out of the-now Mrs Rhymes' parents' house in Marston Road to a property on the same road.

In 1961 their only daughter Mandy was born and they had firmly settled in Marston.

As fans of speedway they were regularly up at Oxford Stadium watching the Oxford team.

As an extension of this - and through his passion for cricket - Mr Rhymes founded the Oxford Willows Cricket Club, which was essentially the Oxford speedway supporters club cricket team.

Stadium leaseholder Les Calcutt allowed the team to play its first season, in 1951, on the grass in the middle of the track but after that the club's home ground jumped from college to college, including St Catherine's, Christ Church, Wadham and Merton.

It then became the Stanton St John Willows, of which Mr Rhymes is still president despite the club last playing in 2013.

After taking a redundancy from the factory in the early 1980s, he used some of the money to buy a van and became a jobbing gardener - or as he called it a 'horticultural technician' - around the city.

When he moved into Green Gates Care Home in Summertown at the end of 2014, he began regular sports and dance classes with his daughter Mandy to stay active.

The pair played boccia, inclusive bowls played sitting down, every week at Oxsrad sports centre and also went to West Oxfordshire Wheelchair Dance in Witney.

He also took part in inclusive cycling through the Oxfordshire Wheels for All Scheme at Horspath Athletics Ground.

He died on April 9 and, predeceased by his wife Joyce, who died in 2003, and all his siblings, he is survived by his daughter Mandy.

His funeral will take place on Tuesday at Oxford Crematorium at 12pm.