ERNEST Merrifield, founder of the Bournemouth Belles and former chairman of the Bournemouth Carnival Committee, died peacefully on March 29, aged 89.

Mr Merrifield was dedicated to raising the profile of Bournemouth tourism, especially during the 1970s and 80s - organising fetes, carnivals and sponsored events to raise money for various charities and bring visitors to the area.

Born in 1925, he grew up in Parkstone where he trained as a chef's assistant before working as head of all floor services in various 5-star hotels in and around Bournemouth.

During the Second World War he served as a captain’s steward in the Royal Navy, initially on board HMS Furious in the Russian convoys, then later on the HMS Silvio and HMS Sansovino in South East Asia.

He received the Burma Star, Atlantic Star and Medal of Ushakov for his service.

Returning to Bournemouth after the war he worked as a first class waiter in various hotels, later rising to become an assistant restaurant manager, before managing his own hotel in Knyveton Road.

While a hotelier, he became known locally for his charity-fundraising activities.

He was perhaps best known for his carnival work, organising annual Flower Festivals and Christmas Parades involving processions of as many as 130 themed floats, bands and majorettes from Kings Park to Bournemouth town centre.

He also organised parades in Christchurch, Poole and the New Forest, local beauty pageants, fetes at Christchurch Quay, Bournemouth in Bloom, the Hurn TVS Air Show, and record-breaking sponsored paddles between the Bournemouth and Boscombe Piers – all to raise money for charities such as the NSPCC, British Heart Foundation, Age Concern, Macmillan Cancer, and St John's Ambulance.

For one such carnival, he asked Parrs Quality Confectionery to donate 250,000 sticks of Bournemouth rock to give children watching the carnival.

Since he needed walkers to hand out the rock, he founded the Bournemouth Belles, a group of local girls who would go on to represent Bournemouth at sporting and tourist events throughout the country, becoming an iconic part of Bournemouth tourism at that time.

He continued to organise local tourist events, as well as the Bournemouth Belles, until his mid-60s, when he retired from both catering and public life to pursue his love of painting.

Having left school at age 14 to work in a fish shop in Upper Parkstone, he never received any formal training in art.

However, he became a dedicated artist up until his death, creating hundreds of paintings in both oils and watercolour from his garden shed.

He was inspired by landscapes and ships, flowers and coastlines, and, after visiting his youngest daughter in Australia, aboriginal artwork.

He married twice and had three children, and is survived by his second wife Valerie, children Jenni, Adam and Zena, and grandchildren Kerry, Jamie, Brandan and Ophelia.

He will be remembered as a generous and entertaining hard worker, a compulsive storyteller who was forever optimistic.

A funeral service will be held at Bournemouth Crematorium at 10.15am on Wednesday, April 8.