HUNDREDS of friends and colleagues will join the family of a successful leisure group boss at his funeral tomorrow.

Michael Noble, who jointly ran the family-run amusement business, the Noble Organisation, died after losing his fight against cancer, last Wednesday.

The 54-year-old father-of-three was joint chairman of the business, based on the Team Valley Trading Estate, Gateshead, with his brother Philip.

Their father, William Noble, a member of a travelling show family from South Tyneside, started out in the entertainment business in the 1960s, expanding into social clubs, cinemas, amusement arcades, nightclubs and bingo halls.

On his death, in 1981 at the age of 62, the business was left to his two sons.

The company now has a workforce of more than 1,000, many employed in Noble amusement arcades across the North, but with interests spanning the leisure field, including casinos, throughout the country.

Mr Noble, originally from Cleadon, South Tyneside, lived with his wife, Gill, in Gosforth, Newcastle.

He is survived by her, his three children and his mother.

The funeral will be held at St Michael's Church, in South Shields, at 2pm. It will be followed by a service at South Shields Crematorium.

Donations can be made in Mr Noble's memory to the Alan J Lerner Fund for Lung Cancer Research, care of 1A Dukesway Court, Team Valley, Gateshead, NE11 OPJ.