THE community will come together at a memorial service being held for a selfless activist who tragically died following a flat fire.

A celebration of Chris Cooke's life will be held at a church in the Kemp Town part of Brighton he worked so tirelessly to improve next month.

The legacy of the 48-year-old is also set to live on with improvements to Queen's Park after kind-hearted donors gave thousands of pounds in his memory.

Mr Cooke died following a fire in the 13th-storey flat he shared in Essex Place in February.

Firefighters rescued him from the property but he died in the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton two days later.

An inquest into his death is due to be held on June 23.

A small private family funeral has already been held and his ashes scattered in Queen's Park but now organisers have arranged a celebratory event to mark his life which all the community can get involved with in St Mary’s Church in St James’s Street on Sunday, June 19.

His family will be buying a memorial bench in Queen's Park while new flowers and trees are set to be planted in the Brighton park which he served as a volunteer after more than £3,600 was raised in his memory.

As well as the Friends of Queen’s Park, Mr Cooke was heavily involved with other community groups and organisations during more than a decade of service in the city.

His roles included chairman of the fundraising committee of the Rainbow Fund, the residents' association at Essex Place and he was LGBT representative for the city's equalities and inclusion partnership.

His sister Emma Hindell said their mother did not "feel strong enough" to attend the memorial service, which is being held on Father's Day.

She added: "We are very pleased that the community has chosen to celebrate Christopher’s life in this way as it really does show us that his life had meaning and he contributed to many causes.

"My parents are still grieving deeply and will be for a long time, he was very special to them and finding a new way of life without him is challenging for them."

Guy Smyth, vice chairman of the Friends of Queen's Park, said: “We have spoken to the family and we decided the money wouldn’t go towards a memorial but that the money would go towards projects in the park.

“We have lost a few trees to disease over the years so it’s possible we could use the money to replace them but it’s not straightforward, we can’t plant just any old tree anywhere.”