Mourners set to line the streets to say goodbye to 'passionate father, husband and coach'

Lee Howick, 33, of Dudley Avenue, North Shore, died on New Year's Day after being diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer last March.

Ahead of his funeral, which will be subject to strict Covid restrictions, many of those who loved and admired him will instead gather on the route from his home to the chapel.

The service will then be live-streamed online.

Tributes have poured in for Lee, who married Stacey, a sister on Blackpool Victoria Hospital's neonatal unit, on December 14 and was dad to James-Lee, eight, and Dorothy, 10 months.

Lee, a building surveyor, also for several years coached the Bispham Junior Football Federation (BJFF) Lasers team, which is now competing at under-nines level.

The club described him as "a passionate coach, a passionate father, a passionate husband" who "fought his illness with bravery and dignity".

It added: "At BJFF we feel privileged to have had Lee as a player, a coach and as a manager and his legacy will live through each and every child he coached."

Lee's son James-Lee made headlines last year while raising more than £30,000 by completing various challenges to help fund holistic treatments for Lee, who is also survived by his parents Kathy and Nigel, and his sister Kelly.

Lee's cortege will follow a route starting at 10am from his Dudley Avenue home. It will travel down Warley Road and Queen's Promenade, before ending on Devonshire Road by Ashley Close.

The funeral is due to start at 11am.

Lee's family has asked for donations to be made to Trinity Hospice through funeral director D Hollowell and Sons here.