Grieving friend mourns Mansfield Woodhouse pal who asked for toilet brush tribute at funeral

Edwin Horne, known as ‘Edmund’ or ‘Eddy’ had wanted people to wave the brushes as he made his final journey to Mansfield Crematorium in recognition of his job as a cleaner.

While a golden toilet brush was on his coffin, no-one was brave enough to hold one up as his cortege passed through the town.

Mr Horne, of Tattersall Walk, died suddenly aged 60, on December 2, 2021. His funeral was at Mansfield Crematorium, on Thursday, January 6.

Around 50 people braved icy conditions to attend the service and at his wake, at The Angel, Mansfield Woodhouse, mourners tucked into £3 meal deals and did scratchcards in memory of his two favourite habits.

The scratchcards raised £70, donated to Mr Horne’s funeral costs, and meal deal soft drinks were given to the Mansfield Woodhouse Stables foodbank.

Yvette, 60, from Burnt Oaks Close, Mansfield Woodhouse, met ‘Edmund’ her best friend, aged six, at the Robin Hood Infants School.

She said: “The actual funeral couldn’t have gone better, it was as individual as he was, and Celebrant Drew Baxter pitched it perfectly.

“There were almost 50 people, he would have loved it and been bursting with pride because Byron Edwards attended. Edmund was Captain of the Manor School Rugby Team, and played for the county, he idolised Byron who taught us in the 1970’s.

“The weather was decidedly against us; it was bitterly cold, minus two degrees, it snowed heavily during the crematorium service. We only had two school friends on the High Street, sadly neither holding the toilet brushes I had supplied.

“I reassured Edmund, I’d do everything to make it happen. I was in the car behind his hearse with the golden bog brush proudly displayed on his coffin.”

When we discussed his wishes, he’d said “Nobody’ll do that for me, I’m Mr Cellophane.” Mr Cellophane is a character in Chicago.

"I could hear that pitiful song playing as a soundtrack to his life – it broke my heart, I felt I had let him down. Now the funeral is over I have an enormous, Edmund-shaped void.”

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