RELATIVES, friends and colleagues of Richard Beaumond gathered in Lydbury North Church on June 1 to celebrate his life and work.

Richard died on May 19 a few days after his 70th birthday and his memorial was led by Rev Nick Read, a friend of Richard and his wife Jackie.

In his tribute, Rev Read described Richard as "a poet, raconteur, musician, teacher, gardener, bell ringer and morris dancer but most of all a man rooted in the community where he had lived for most of his 70 years."

The large congregation heard that his life ended where it had begun, at School House in the centre of Lydbury North, next to the village brook.

After schooling in Bishop's Castle High School, where his activities with the drama group group drew the highest praise, Richard went to Bretton Hall in Yorkshire to study drama. There he met and made friends for life, some of whom were in the church for the service.

In 1971 he travelled to Finland to teach English to adults where he met Jackie. Although they both loved living in Finland, the couple made the decision to return to Lydbury North in the summer of 1975 and were married in 1976. They lived in Colebatch for a short time before managing to persuade the then vicar that they would make good tenants for School House. The Beaumonds moved in the summer of 1977 and Richard took great pride in the garden and greenhouse.

Although they had hoped to travel again, the years went by and Richard was offered a full time post as drama teacher at Bishop's Castle High School. He loved his work and relished the connection with Middlesex Polytechnic via his Bretton friend Derek Proctor when students would join with pupils at Bishop's Castle over a few days for drama workshops culminating in a joint performance for parents and friends. Many theatre companies enjoyed performing at the school including Pentabus, Theatre Powys and not least North Country Theatre with whom he enjoyed a collaboration of 22 years, lately at Edgton and Lydbury North. There were numerous projects and shows, 'Icarus', 'The Hokusai Wave' in the swimming pool with Annie Moon and Kate Evans, 'Tunes from the Trenches' and an open air production of 'Gone to Earth' at Walcot to name a few.

Richard joined the Shropshire Bedlams morris dancers when they started in 1975 and although he always maintained he could not dance, he loved morris dancing and performed for many years locally and at festivals around the country. It was through this connection that he learned to play the concertina, with help and inspiration from John Kirkpatrick and went on to play banjo and concertina in many ceilidh bands. Richard was also very proud to be a bell ringer at Lydbury North Church from the age of 11 - he had hoped to make 60 years of ringing but had to give up last year.

He founded the Border Poets in the early 1990s and was finally persuaded to use his own name after many years of writing under the pen name of 'Dick Owen'. His poems appear in many of the Border Poets publications.

Richard was part of the editorial team who put together the Lydbury North Village Newsletter and started 'Bookworms', a monthly literary gathering. Richard also loved his outings with Shropshire storyteller Val Littlehales where he would play a few tunes and tell a few tales and she would recite some of her poetry. He hugely enjoyed researching and meeting folks who had been involved with the filming of 'Gone to Earth', filmed in Shropshire in 1948. His work resulted in a CD recording their memories.

Richard retired in 2000 and since then had become more involved in village life. He was passionate about the village hall old and new and and had been on the committee for over 30 years. He started the annual 'Christmas Miscellany' concert and was instrumental in helping to obtain funding from the Big Lottery, which, together with the legacy from Dorothy Hunt and Mary Adams saw the opening of the new Lydbury North Village Hall in 2014.

Richard will be remembered by many former pupils as an inspirational teacher; for his sense of humour, his love of music and poetry; his love of cricket - Test Match Special could not be missed; his ability to "tell a good tale"; his love of reading - he could not resist a bookshop; his knowledge of his community and his involvement in all things in Lydbury North.

In addition to the tribute from Rev Read, poems chosen by Richard were read at the memorial service by Bryan Podmore and Janet Wantling, while John Kirkpatrick played a folk medley on his accordion which included 'Buttercup Polka' written by Richard himself.