A street flower seller famous for wearing a bowler hat has died after trading for 52 years on the same pitch.

Doris "Dolly" Deacon sat in all weathers selling blooms outside Alldays store at the junction of Goring Road and Brooklyn Avenue, Goring, Worthing.

Despite being desperately ill with cancer Dolly, who was 78, still insisted on manning the pitch with husband Joseph until a few weeks before her death.

The hearse will drive slowly past the spot tomorrow, before she is buried alongside her parents and some of her 12 brothers and sisters at Broadwater Cemetery, South Farm Road, Worthing.

All are welcome to attend the 1pm funeral service at St Mary's Church, Broadwater, when it is expected that at least two trucks will be filled with floral tributes.

Her daughter Jean Piper, of Lancing, said: "She couldn't walk but insisted on sitting in the van while my dad ran the pitch for her. She was the oldest of Worthing's original flower-sellers.

"Her customers are absolutely devastated and have been putting flowers and cards in a bucket on her pitch. They idolised her. She was an absolute legend.

"She used to wear different kinds of hats but she was really well known for her bowler, which she loved wearing. It was her trademark.

"She never missed a day, come rain or shine. She would always be there. People from all over the world have sent me photographs of my mum in her bowler."

Jean said she and her sister, Maria Deacon, also of Lancing, would take over the pitch.

Dolly had four children, three of whom survive her, ten grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

Pay your tributes to Dolly below.