HUNDREDS gathered to pay tribute to the former head of a Swindon Brewery.

More than 500 people celebrated the extraordinary life of Peter Arkell at Kempsford Church today, including fellow brewers from across the country, family, friends, brewery staff old and new and representatives of the United States Airforce.

Peter moved to Swindon in 1954 to take over the family business at Arkell’s Brewery where he reinvigorated the brewery and made it one of the most successful breweries of its size in the UK. He worked there from 1954 to 2008, coming into the brewery every day well into his 80s.

Peter Arkell died peacefully on Friday, August 27, at the age of 87.

James Arkell, Peter’s son who took over as chairman of Arkell’s Brewery in 2008, addressed the gathered congregation, so large that it spilled out of Kempsford church into a specially-erected marquee. He said: “Peter lived his life well. He was a great family man, he ran and swam every day for many years near his home in Fairford and was an excellent fisherman. He loved Grand Prix racing and he was the greatest of men.”

As well as his work with the brewery, Peter was also a pilot in the Second World War who flew Lysanders, Spitfires and Mustangs behind enemy lines delivering and retrieving secret agents and provisions under the cover of darkness. Lt Col Tom Gill, who was Deputy Commander at RAF Fairford and a former fighter pilot himself, paid tribute to a ‘Gentleman’s gentleman and a pilot’s pilot’. He said: “When Peter joined the RAF in the war he was sent to Arizona in the USA to learn to fly. He loved his time there and must have been treated very well because years later, from 1982 to 1996, he became chairman of the Anglo-American Community Relations Committee at RAF Fairford. He worked so hard that he was awarded the Medal of Distinction USAFE. This medal has never been given before or since for such work.”

Peter, who was awarded the OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 1997 for his work as chairman of the Anglo-American community relations committee at RAF Fairford, once said: “My initials are ‘PA’ – Pale Ale. Lt Col Gill paid tribute to an ‘unsung war hero’, flying Lysanders in and out of occupied France, under moonlight. “Imagine, if you will, flying at night in total darkness, landing in a field which you hope had been cleared sufficiently, met by a Frenchman who you hope had not been compromised by the Germans, picking up agents and others and taking off a short time later, using just the moonlight, to return home the same night. His work flying Lysanders in the war was second to none in terms of bravery.”

Friend and brother-in-law, Michael Falcon, who also spoke at the service, took up this theme: “Peter and his fellow Lysander pilots’ missions were so secret that they were perhaps not fully appreciated. These were very brave men.”

After the service, conducted by Kempsford vicar, Reverend Tim Hastie-Smith, a World War 2 Spitfire flew over the assembled congregation in tribute.