Aylesbury Rugby Club has paid tribute to a former player and key man in its redevelopment.
Tring businessman Stephen Hockley Grace, 45, who lived off Shootersway, Berkhamsted, died two days before his birthday after being hit by a train in Kempston Hardwick, near Bedford.
Club treasurer and close friend Jez Harrison said: “They say you can count your close friends on one hand and he was one of those kind of guys. You could ring him up at two in the morning with a problem.
“We want to celebrate what a great chap he was.”
Mr Grace played rugby for the third team for many years and was friends with Mr Harrison for more than 20.
The club was chosen by his family as the location for his wake today.
Any donations will go to Great Ormond Street Hospital or the Woodland Trust Charity.
Stephen Hockley Grace was the director of manufacturing firm Arrow Valves.
The business is based at the same High Street address as Tring’s oldest family business, hardware and ironmongers G. Grace and Son, which is run by Stephen’s father Gilbert.