A FUNERAL service will be held next week for a former Wellington priest, the Rev Martin Beaumont, who has died less than a year after his second retirement.

Mr Beaumont died on August 30 after retiring in September of last year, and is survived by his wife Ruth.

His funeral will take place at 1pm on Thursday (September 26) in All Saints Church, Rockwell Green, where he had served as priest in charge.

Mr Beaumont came out of his first retirement to Milverton in 2017 to become associate priest for four years with the Wellington and District Team Ministry.

He was responsible for the parishes of Rockwell Green, Thorne St Margaret, Sampford Arundel, Ashbrittle with Greenham, Bathealton, Stawley, and Kittisford.

Earlier this month, the new benefice of West Tone saw the Rev Andrew Barton installed as priest in charge of Mr Beaumont’s former parishes.

Mr Barton’s installation service in All Saints Church was conducted by the Bishop of Bath and Wells the Rt Rev Michael Beasley, and the Archdeacon of Taunton the Venerable Simon Hill.

Mr Beaumont was a rugby-playing Yorkshireman who read theology at London University and was ordained as a priest in Newcastle in 1975.

He spent much of his career as senior chaplain in Haileybury School, Hertfordshire, where he taught moral philosophy and prepared pupils for A level religious studies.

A spokesperson for the Haileybury Society said: “Martin touched the lives of many and will be remembered with deep affection and gratitude by all those who knew him.”