DEDICATED fan of AFC Bournemouth Gwen Sheppard from Iford has died at the age of 91.

Born in Stroud in Gloucester, Gwen was one of three sisters, which included Lily and Madge, who moved to Kent with their mother after their father died when she was just three months old. She went to the village school, before leaving aged 14 working downstairs in a house.

Aged 17 she went to work in the RAF making, repairing and packing parachutes for the troops, which is where she met her husband, Alf, who was a motor mechanic on the planes and vehicles.

They were married less than a year after meeting at RAF in Luton and she left while expecting their daughter, Marion, while Alf stayed in the forces, travelling to Cyprus and other places abroad.

The small family got a frefab when Marion was five, before they moved to work in pubs in Slough, Sittingbourne, Hastings, Cambridge and Eastleigh amongst others. When Marion was old enough, she got married, Gwen moved to Bournemouth to take on a guest house in the mid-1960s before it was pulled down to build another in the Wessex Way.

She worked up until the age of 88 in Tesco, after she various jobs in the B&B industry, as a packer for a seed firm and for a courier company.

She met her friend, Lucille Bartlett, in 1973 and six years later, they both answered a plea from AFC Bournemouth for help behind the scenes, which saw them selling cushions in the stand and match day draw tickets.

They continued to travel across the country to away games until she became ill at the start of 2015. At her last football game before she died, she bought the newest Cherries football shirt.

Lucille says that from 1975 to 1994 Gwen never missed an away game and football was 'her thing'. She enjoyed reading and had a dog as a pet throughout her life, but her friends and social life were at the football club.

Gwen was a nan to Tracey and Christopher and a great nan to Martin, Karly, Cassidy and the newest member of the family, Willow.

Her funeral was held at Bournemouth Crematorium on Friday, October 16, and donations were collected for the charity, The West of England Greyhound Rescue.