Funeral cortege of former long serving Burnley MP and devoted Claret will pass Turf Moor

Former Burnley MP Peter Pike on his beloved Turf Moor with his daughters Carol (left) and Jane

It will take place on Thursday next week (January 13th) with a service at St Peter's Church at 10-30am followed a committal at Burnley Crematorium at 12-15pm.

A huge Clarets fan, the cortege will pass Turf Moor on the way to the church and Burnley Town Hall en route to the crematorium.

For the many friends Peter had around the world who will not be able to attend the funeral there will be a live stream on the St Peter's facebook page.There is a request for family flowers only but people are invited to make donations in his memory to the many charities Peter supported, including St Peter's Church or Burnley Emmaus, the homeless charity he founded.

Tributes have continued to flood in for the former Labour Party politician who served as MP for Burnley from 1983 to 2005 after joining the party in 1956.

In December 2013, his role in the Anti-Apartheid Movement was praised in Parliament during tributes to former anti apartheid activist and President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. Mr Pike made several visits to South Africa from 1986 to 1990. He was devoted to Burnley and was recognised as being a voice for residents on issues that mattered to them.

Paying tribute to Peter this week Sir Simon Hughes who was MP for Bermondsey and north Southwark 1983-2015, and Liberal Democrat Dep Leader 2010-2014, said: "Peter Pike was a friend of mine for 35 years and a colleague in the House of Commons for 22 years.

"It was our shared Christian faith, shared commitment to support the fight against apartheid and a common love for South Africa which brought us together with the Conservative MP Alistair Burt and two other friends, Anthony Cordle and Garth Collins, who were outside politics.

"For nearly 20 years whenever the Commons was sitting we met privately every week to share information and pray for South Africa. In 1986 we three MPs from three different parties visited for the first time.

"We all spoke of the life-changing effect of this visit in a Commons debate on June 17th, 1986.

"Peter and Alistair returned in 1988 and all three of us again in 1990. We visited each other’s constituencies and spoke together on a common platform calling for action, engagement and prayer.

"We kept up our interest right until recent days.

"Peter was a great and hugely respected and phenomenally hard-working Labour MP, whose principles and commitment to his communities, equality and justice at home and justice internationally never wavered.

"But he was also a man of mischievous humour, from a lovely, mutually supporting family. I feel his loss very keenly, as will Alistair and his other many friends at home and abroad outside the Labour Party."