"SHE lived more or less for her pub and her customers."

Mary Minterne, from Carrbridge Road in Talbot Woods, was the epitome of a landlady - gregarious and jovial, she spent more than 40 years serving drinks to the people of Bournemouth.

She was licensee of the Royal Oak in Ringwood for 26 years and the Westbourne Hotel in Poole Road, Westbourne, for another 22 years.

Her funeral took place at Bournemouth Crematorium yesterday.

"She was a remarkable fantastic lady. She was very jolly, lived life to the full," said neighbour Jacqui Green, 67, of Dulsie Road in Talbot Woods.

"One hour before she died she had her sherry in bed - she had to have her sherry!

"She used to have all kinds of characters come to the hotel, and she saw everyone at the farmers' days and cattle days at Ringwood."

Her cousin Ivor Hopkins, 83, from Wilverley Avenue, Townsend, said: "She was very jovial. She lived more or less for her pub and her customers."

At one point she was Madame President of the Federation of Licensed Victuallers Association, which represents self-employed publicans.

Mrs Minterne and her husband Stanley were originally from Birmingham.

They lived in Carrbridge Road and she died on August 24 after spending her final days St Bridget's Nursing Home in East Avenue.

Neighbour Jacqui Green said: "I cared for her when she was frail in her later years. She was like my mother and she used to say: You are like a daughter to me'."

Stanley Minterne, known as Sam, died around nine years ago. He was a former merchant seaman who served on the Queen Mary and as a quartermaster on a D-Day landing craft at Utah beach.