HUNDREDS of relatives, friends and workmates of 29-year-old furniture worker Lee Wells turned up to bid him a sad farewell.

Mr Wells, who was born in Bromham but lived in Melks-ham, died after he was knocked off his bike and run over in Sandridge on September 30.

Mourners met outside the Greyhound pub in Bromham last Friday, then followed the cortege to the West Wiltshire Crematorium in Semington.

Most of the mourners carried single red roses, which they put on Mr Wells’s coffin after the service. Many were in tears.

There were dozens of workers from Mark Wilkinson Furn-iture – where Mr Wells had spent his entire working life – including the firm’s founder, Mark Wilkinson.

The coffin was carried by members of Mr Wells’s family, including his 19-year-old bro-ther, Jamie.

Also among the mourners were his mother, Linda, and stepfather, Terry Pyle. The Rev John Darling, who took the service, read a tribute from Mr Wells’s friends, which said that, although Mr Wells and his family had moved to Melksham when he was 10, he was “Bromham through and through”.

Mr Wells had a vast collection of more than 1,000 music albums, vinyl and CDs and would invite his friends to enjoy the music with him.

Mr Darling said: “I can’t tell you why bad things happen to good people and good things to bad people. But seeing so many of you here today is tribute to Lee and the kind of man he was.”

Mourners filled every corner of the chapel at the crematorium, while others had to listen from outside the building.

Following the service, mourners were invited to Bromham Social Centre for a reception.

It is not the first time the crematorium has seen huge numbers turn up for a tragedy involving the Wells family.

In 2004, Mr Wells’s uncle, Mark “Polo” Wells, and his cousin, Luke, died when the tractor they were using to trim hedges on the towpath of the Kennet and Avon Canal at Pewsey tumbled into the water.

The pair were trapped and drowned.

Their coffins were brought to the crematorium on the back of Mark Wells’s flatbed Transit truck.

Mourners also carried single red roses on that occasion.