A GRANGE-over-Sands man and pillar of the local community has died aged 94.

John Richard Peat was born in 1925 in North Kensington, London.

During the Second World War his school was evacuated to Aylesbury. Mr Peat stayed with three different families across the course of the war.

Beginning in 1944, he served in the Royal Navy for two years, visiting Nagasaki and Hiroshima as part of a tour of Japan in 1946 and witnessing the devastation caused by the atom bombs.

He then worked at chartered accountants Deloitte, Haskins & Sells, during which time he met future wife Anne.

They married in 1956.

After a seven-year spell at gas and chemical company Air Products, the family moved to Windermere in 1965, with Mr Peat working for K Shoes.

When K Shoes merged with Clarks, his work took him to Street in Somerset and abroad to Holland - developing Clarks stores on the continent.

Mr Peat did not slow down in retirement, working in the Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency in Kendal between 1986 and 1989, helping people to set up businesses across the county.

Between 1986 and 1994 he was a member of the Industrial Tribunal Panel, sitting in Carlisle.

In 1997 Mr Peat and his wife moved to Grange, where he remained living independently until his death.

After his family, his greatest love was his garden, where he grew many flowers and vegetables.

He was proud to win Grange in Bloom awards in later years.

Across his time in Cumbria, Mr Peat was an active member of community life, being involved with numerous groups and organisations.

Among these were St Mary’s Church in Windermere; Troutbeck Bridge Swimming Club; the Scouting movement; and the Grange Probus Club.

He is survived by his wife Anne and five children.