Farewell to LollyIce Man Badgi

It was a funeral procession to do veteran ice cream man “Badgi” Majitha proud.

For 45 years, he plied his trade on the streets of Liverpool, selling 99s, sweets, groceries and cigarettes.

As a fitting final tribute to the veteran trader, his cortege included four ice cream vans – with their distinctive bells silent as a mark of respect.

The unusual procession was the brainchild of Mr Majitha’s family, including his wife Saroj, who was known as Rose, and children Kusum, Shirley and Lalit.

Lalit said: “My dad would have been made up with this. He really found his niche with the ice cream van and he would be chuffed they were in the procession.

“In the 1950s and 1960s, there was still a lot of poverty in Liverpool and he would give people things on the ‘tick’, knowing they had no money.

“I remember him driving around on Christmas Day giving out selection boxes to the kids who he knew would not be getting presents.

“A lot of people in Liverpool will remember my dad for things like that.”

Aged 23, Mr Majitha, whose first names were Baij Nath but was known as Badgi, came to England from India in 1954 and got a pedlar licence to sell clothes in Liverpool.

He saved enough to buy his first ice cream van for £750 in 1957 and started his round in Huyton, Page Moss and Dovecot.

Mr Majitha died aged 77 on October 24.

The funeral procession, with a hearse, three limousines, four ice cream vans and 30 cars, left his Rainhill home before winding its way around St Helens and on to the crematorium.

One of the vehicles was Mr Majitha’s state-of-the-art ice cream van with tinted windows and Mercedes engine.

It was the vehicle Lalit inherited from his father.

He said: “I took over at 16 and I remember that van was wicked.

“I started work on the ice cream vans at the age of seven – I was never paid any wages but I could eat as much ice cream as I liked.”