Paddy Ashdown's funeral was held in Somerset this afternoon

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Paddy Ashdown's funeral was held this afternoon at St Mary's church in Norton Sub Hamdon.

The service was a private one for family and friends - the latter including Sir John Major - but it was relayed to around 200 people in the village hall.

It  was conducted by his friend, the church's former rector Peter Thomas, who began proceedings thus:

"We’ve come together to remember before God our brother Paddy - and I suspect God also knew him as Paddy rather than Jeremy and probably didn’t call him Lord."

An appropriately Liberal note was struck by the presence of a miniature pony with a rosette in party colours.

One of the speakers at the service, Myles Wickstead, said of Paddy:

"He was never happier than when at the Lord Nelson on a Friday night, indulging in a mixture of arguments, fun, gossip, banter and, of course, drink."

The party has suggested that people listen to the Reflections programme Paddy recorded with Peter Hennessy.