FAMILY and friends gathered yesterday to pay tribute to an "unforgettable character" who became an instantly recognisable face to a generation of North-Easterners.

Mourners packed St Mary's and St Cuthbert's parish church, in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, to bid farewell to Alice Scott - the former face of the town's Dainty Dinah toffee.

And residents turned out in force to pay their last respects to the feisty and fun-loving woman, who died last week, at the age of 102.

Mourners were told about an unforgettable character who was a pioneer in her day.

Not only was she the model adorning countless tins of Horner's Toffee, but she was almost certainly the first woman to drive a car in Chester-le-Street - turning heads as she drove round a town emerging from the Edwardian age.

Born in 1899, Alice lied about her age to get the job of chauffeur to George W Horner, owner of the toffee factory, when she was just 16.

She later became personal assistant to Mr Horner, who picked her to be the first face of Dainty Dinah.

Her features shone out of posters put up across the North-East, and, when her face found its way to the trenches of the Western Front during the First World War, she became one of the region's most recognisable women.

The Reverend Mary Judson told the congregation about a mischievous and well-loved character.

"If you set out to describe Alice, you would not be able to keep a straight face," she said.

"In many ways, she was ahead of her time. As the face of Dainty Dinah and a chauffeur before 1920, she would have caused quite a stir."

Chester-le-Street historian Gavin Purdon spoke to Alice several times.

He said: "She showed me her driver's licence, which was from the First World War period. She told me her mother thought her being a chauffeur was absolutely scandalous."

As the town's oldest resident, she was asked to lead a Chester-le-Street parade celebrating the theme of age last month.

Horner's Toffee works, at the town's South Burns, closed in 1960 after producing toffee for 50 years.