A Humanist service was held at a Hereford crematorium for 103-year-old Olive Dingle Blackham,a puppeting pioneer who exhibited at the great Paris exhibition of 1937.A resident for several years at Aldwyn Towers on St Ann's Road,in Malvern, and then Sherborne Tower nursing home,in Malvern Wells.Born in 1899 in West Bromwich,Miss Blackham was one of the early stars of television,featuring with her self-made,nearly life-size marionettes during the 1930s.She took up the art in her forties,having spent her earlier years helping to support her mother and four younger siblings by working in a Birmingham bank.Her nephew Paul Blackham said: "While she was at the bank she actually started and created the Ark Puppet Theatre in a Birmingham loft,devoting all her spare time and energy to building up that theatre, writing plays,designing productions and experimenting with puppets." Between the wars she toured Europe with her puppets,which are now in a London museum.Later she moved to a converted barn in the Cotswolds and wrote two books on the art.Mr Blackham said: "She was very strong minded and independent and innovative, a bit avant-garde for her day."She had a major influence in the development of puppetry in this country. Much of her work was taken up by others." Sherborne Tower manager Linda Griffiths described Miss Blackham as an "amazing character"."She was a very determined lady. She knew what she wanted in every way and what she wanted was always going to happen. Everybody loved her for it because that was the way she was." Ms Griffiths said Miss Blackham had been "fit and well until the end". Miss Blackham's younger brother,99-year-old Harold,a founding member of the British Humanist Association,attended her funeral service.