Family and friends filled Oakworth Methodist Church last Friday to celebrate the life of Arnold Sharp, who died on October 13 aged 92 and was buried alongside his wife and parents at Oakworth cemetery.

Deacon Joan Patton spoke about Arnold's zest for life, his lively conversation and the twinkle in his eye.

She also paid tribute to the friends and relatives who enabled him to remain independent in his own home until just before his death. Many of them were there to share happy memories over refreshments provided by Andrew and Jane Holdsworth.

Arnold's death marks the end of a chapter in the history of a remarkable Oakworth family of builders and farmers. From 1750, the Sharps had farmed at Slippery Ford and at several farms near Two Laws.

After leaving Keighley Grammar School in 1926, Arnold served his time as a stonemason and took qualifications at night school. His first major job was the Laycock Institute, where he carved the gateway pillars.

The firm was called Walter Sharp and Sons, Oakworth and it continued to build houses and maintain industrial premises. It claimed to bring the first concrete mixers to the area, from Coventry, to lay floors for mills and farms.

Just before the Second World War, they built the house in Providence Lane, Oakworth where Arnold was to live the rest of his life with his wife Marjorie and where his sons Stuart and Stephen were born.

Stuart joined the firm in 1961 and still runs it from his home in Oxenhope.

In 1960, the firm built the new Methodist Church in Oakworth.

When not building, Arnold's passion was plants and gardens. In his early life he grew chrysanthemums and tomatoes with great success. Until well in his eighties, he had two allotments in Dockroyd. He built a garden at his cottage in Glenridding near Ullswater.

But the real love was the hundreds of cacti and succulents in his greenhouse and the breeding of plants from seed.

In 1984, he developed a new strain, "Rose of York", which would have had his name attached if the powers that be had allowed four not three words in the registered title.

At the age of 90, he was still entering and winning classes at the shows of the Bradford Branch of the National Cactus and Succulent Society. He took a particular interest in maintaining the garden at Oakworth Methodist Church.

Arnold is survived by his sons and their families. Stuart sings in the Airedale Male Voice Choir and is a bellringer at Oxenhope Parish Church. Stephen lives near Aylesbury and is writing a history of the family, which will be published later this year.