Ken Irving who has bowel cancer. He was going to sell his beloved acoustic guitar but the distribution company stepped forward to buy it on his behalf so he could keep it. Picture: James Bass

For 10 years he has loved playing his favourite Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel songs on it.

And now a father-of-four can continue to look forward to the day when he might play his prized guitar again, thanks to a generous move from a man he has never met.

Ken Irving, 63, decided it was time to sell his Art and Lutherie cedar acoustic to allow him to focus on his fight against cancer.

But after a compassionate shop owner noticed his reluctance to part with it, the company responsible for bringing the guitars into the country bought it for him.

Mr Irving, of Spexhall Way, Lowestoft, was diagnosed with bowel cancer when he went into hospital at the end of November with pneumonia.

He underwent an operation shortly after Christmas but found it had spread, and is now facing six months of chemotherapy.

“They say that you can have trouble doing buttons up, which is correct, so the thought of having this lovely guitar that I can’t play made me think I should give it to someone else who could buy it cheaply and get enjoyment out of it,” he said.

He asked Pete Lister, of Lister Guitars, in High Street, Lowestoft, to sell it but Mr Lister was so touched by his emotion when parting with it that he posted a message on his personal Facebook page.

This prompted Tom Harrison, from 440 Distribution, to contact him asking to buy it so that he could give it back to the retired carpenter.

Mr Irving said: “I just want a chance to thank everyone. He did not know me from Adam, he did not have to do that. What a wonderful man he is – and the shop owner. I did not know these people but they did this.”

He added he had been touched by the support of all his friends, family and the staff at the James Paget University Hospital, in Gorleston.

He hopes to raffle off the guitar for Cancer Research in the future.

richard.wood@archant.co.uk