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Reading Minster was packed to capacity today when more than 800 of Pete's family, friends and fellow pilots gathered to pay their respects and celebrate his life.
Pete's coffin was carried into the church by fellow pilots Paul Barham, Gary Butcher, David Lomas, Shaun Tinckler-Rose, Quentin Smith and Eric Swaffer.
Note the waistcoats. Pete was famous for his brocade waistcoats at Ascot and other occasions, and many of the scores of helicopter pilots who attended wore them in tribute to him.
The eulogies were a perfect balance of moving tributes and funny stories from Pete's life, by his brother Chris, Amer Nimr (an Oakham school friend) and pilot Patrick Margetson-Rushmoor.
The hymns were a mixture of traditional and modern:
Jerusalem,
One More Step Along the World I Go [chosen by Pete's children Alexandra (12) and Freddy (8)],
Lord of the Dance and, after a rousing
Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer, Pete's coffin was carried from the church by his skiiing friends, to the sound of
I Wan'na Be Like You from Jungle Book.
Before the family left for a private service at the crematorium, we stood in the churchyard as an Agusta 109 flown by Captain Leon Smith performed a fly-past over the church.
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Pete's partner Rebecca (Bex), brother and mother
A very sad occasion, but interspersed with laughter.
Barnesy would have approved.
It was impossible to be in his company without laughing - and anecdotes about him made us laugh to the very end.
I shall always remember not only the enormous number of people who attended the funeral but the very obvious affection for Pete throughout the day, both during the service and and at the reception later.
He was a good man.
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