Friends and family of a roofer who died in a fire have raised thousands of pounds for charity in his memory.

Dave Ward, of Raleigh Crescent, Worthing, died in May after the cottage he was staying in on the Isle of Wight caught fire.

His family organised a charity football match, between Arundel and East Preston Football Clubs, which took place on Saturday.

In the evening, fund-raising raffles and an auction were held at East Preston FC.

Graham Ward, Dave's brother, said he believed they had raised in excess of £5,000.

Among the much soughtafter prizes was a portrait drawing of Dave, by one of his aunts, and hospitality tickets for the Harlequins rugby team.

The framed drawing was bought by one of his close friends for £300.

The rugby tickets sold for £700.

Friends and family had already raised £1,500 at Mr Ward's funeral, which was held at the Maybridge Community Church in Worthing and attended by more than 400 people. Speakers were set up on the lawn and a TV screen in the foyer played video tributes for the many people who could not squeeze into what organisers said was "the biggest service they had ever known".

Poster-sized pictures, a football shirt signed by teammates and flower arrangements in the shape of Fosters cans were set up in tribute to Dave - known as "Wardy".

Saturday's match was won by Arundel FC 3-2.

East Preston were captained by Graham, 25, and his brother Jamie, 21, led the Arundel players.

Graham said: "Dave would have loved it. We chose East Preston because Dave used to play up there and we had some of our best nights out there.

"That's why we chose to hold the game there.

"It was absolutely brilliant.

The match was fantastic."

All the money raised will go to Diabetes UK and Cancer Research UK.

The latter charity was chosen because Dave's girlfriend of four years, Erica Gardener, lost her mother to cancer.

Erica also suffers from diabetes, as does Dave's father, Charlie.

Dave, who was 24 when he died, had been working as a roofer on the Isle of Wight on a one-week job in May.

An inquest found the cause of death to be an accident.

A candle had been left burning in the cottage and a log fire had been lit on the night he died.

Detective Sergeant John Stirling, from the Isle of Wight police CID, attended the scene.

He told the inquest: "He failed to wake in time to escape."

The former Durrington School pupil had been training to be a plumber at Chichester College.