Friends of a much-loved former Echo photographer came together to unveil a bench in his memory.

The bench has been placed on Cornhill in Dorchester, and is named after James Philips, better known as Jim, who died in June aged 96.

Dorchester town crier, Alistair Chisholm, rang the bells and recited Great Things, a poem by Thomas Hardy, while friends of Jim stood around the bench and listened to the touching tribute.

This was followed by prayers from Minna St Aubyn, the lay pastoral assistant of St Peter’s Church, before the bench’s ribbon was cut by Jim’s close friend and former cleaner Karen Woodsford.

She said: “Val suggested I should cut the ribbon and I was honoured to have been asked.

“I knew Jim for many years. I was his cleaner and became his friend. He was a lovely man, everyone knew him.”

After the ribbon cutting ceremony, attendants of the small ceremony were treated to a cup of cider and a slice of lemon cake, two of Jim’s favourite things.

John Fury, another close friend of Jim, said: “I knew him ever since I first came to Dorchester fifteen years ago. We became good friends.

“We looked after him and took him to the hospital as he got older.

“He was a true gentleman, he would always take off his hat when women came into the shop. He was also my customer and everyone in Dorchester knew him.”

Mr Chisholm described Jim as a ‘character’ and said they would always have fun together.

He added: “When he was house bound I would pop in and see him from time to time. We would have a lot of fun. He was a true gentleman and was older than me. He would tell me about the women he had loved and I would ask him why he hadn’t followed it through because he never married.

“I loved the way he entered into the spirit of things.

“He enjoyed dance until his late 90s and when he couldn’t dance anymore he would enjoy watching others dance.”

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was organised by Val Beavis and her husband David, who decided to unveil the new bench on Saturday, December 9, which would have been Jim’s 97th Birthday.

Mrs Beavis said: “We were friends of Jim. He didn’t have any family, but his friends were his family.

“Today would have been his 97th birthday.

“You couldn’t not get along with him. He was amazing, he would stop and talk with everyone.

“It is lovely everyone is still talking about him.”