Norman Painting's ashes are scattered

Painting was known to millions as the voice of Ambridge's genial patriarch

The ashes of the late Norman Painting, best known for playing Phil Archer in BBC Radio 4's The Archers, have been scattered in a private ceremony.

The ceremony took place in the grounds of a local school in Leamington Spa, where trees were planted in his memory.

The area in the school where his family gathered had been named Painting's Plantation to honour his 80th birthday.

A memorial service is expected to take place later in the year to commemorate the actor, who died aged 85 last year.

He made his final appearance on the long-running Radio 4 drama last November.

Painting had played the Ambridge farmer since the show's pilot episode in 1950.

His last scenes were recorded just two days before he died.