A SPECIAL service celebrated a loyal worshipper's 80 years of supporting his local church.

Eric Barnes attended his first service at St Leonard’s Church in Stanton Fitzwarren when he was seven years old.

Since then, he’s spent 36 years in the choir and over 30 years as a church warden.

Dozens of close friends and colleagues joined him for the service yesterday before going to the Stratton Methodist Church Hall for lunch.

He said: “It was a very nostalgic occasion and I’d been really looking forward to it.

“It must be quite rare for someone to stay at the same church for such a long time.

“My parents lived in Catsbrain Farm and in 1938, the landlord suggested that we visit the church, so we walked a mile and a half to the service that Sunday.

“I’ll never forget opening the door and walking into such a pretty church full of flowers and fruit, with oil lamps over the pews and the choir in their cassocks, it was fantastic.

“I’ve had a lot of support from my friends over the years and I feel honoured and lucky to be part of this community.

“My wife was also a church warden at St Leonard’s, which is how we first met.

“It was quite unusual for two church wardens to marry each other.”

Eric spent most of the week before his commemorative service in hospital, but luckily he was back home in time for the event.

He was greeted by a packed Sunday service full of family, friends and fellow churchgoers, who applauded as he made his entrance.

The celebration was centred solely around the 87-year-old with hymns changed at the last minute to his favourites. Friends decorated the church to resemble what it would have looked like when he first saw it.

His friend Roger Hillman said: “This has been talked about for a few months - Eric and the priest helped organise it.

“We had a special service for Eric’s 70 years of worship a decade ago and there’s a scroll commemorating that occasion in the church now.

“Eric has been very well-known around Stanton Fitzwarren, Stratton and Highworth for many many years. He regularly delivered eggs from his chickens to Stanton.

He said: “He’s always been ready to assist anyone in the community, tend the churchyard and do innumerable jobs needed in an ancient building.

“Eric lived through many hard years as the son of a farmer. Even after buying the farm and eventually some extra land, life was never easy and holidays were impossible.

"However, Eric was always cheerful and ready to help others."