A celebration of the life of John Montague will take place at Kingsbridge Methodist Church on Saturday.

John Montague was born on July 17, 1931, and died two days before Christmas last year. A well known man locally, he has bred new species of crop, represented his area as a councillor and started businesses.

His list of accomplishments throughout his life is long, here are some of the main things he achieved:

After achieving an MSc in Agriculture, he was sent by the government to the research station at former Rhodesia to breed a blight-free potato, which he achieved.

He was Head of Biology at Stoke Dameral High School in Plymouth for 23 years, he started MGM Nurseries in Loddiswell, now MGM Landscaping, with his son Malcolm Montague and he was a Liberal Democrat District Councillor for Loddiswell, Woodleigh and East Allington.

He was the South Hams District Council’s representative for the Environment Agency, he helped to set up the Recycling Department at SHDC and established worm bins and was a trustee for the Tresillian Garden in Kingsbridge for many years.

He started the Cockington organic garden in Cockington, Torquay, he was one of the ’movers and shakers’ for the LETS (Local Exchange and Trading System) along with John Watson, founder of Riverford Farm, he met Prince Charles last year at the Soil Association’s 70th Celebration - he was the longest serving member in the organisation.

Alongside all of this, John also won many cups for his solo singing at Torbay, Plymouth and Saltash Festivals over the years and was well known for his solo singing with the Stanborough Chorus and duets with Charles Westlake.

The service will take place at the Methodist Church at 3pm.