THE funeral took place yesterday at St Mary’s Priory, Old Malton, of Reverend Dr Quentin Harcourt Wilson, the church’s former vicar.

Rev Wilson, 69, who died last month, took on the role as vicar in 2010 following the retirement of Canon John Manchester.

The service was taken by the current vicar, the Reverend Peter Robinson, who said that one of the wishes expressed by Rev Wilson about the service was that he did not want people standing up and eulogising.

So Rev Robinson read the notes from a programme about a lunchtime concert, which featured Rev Wilson, who was an accomplished organist and singer.

Rev Wilson was ordained in his early 20s and his various positions before he and his wife, Anne, moved to East Heslerton.

His various roles also included being chaplain to Castle Howard, the organist at All Saints Church, Helmsley, and rural deal of Southern Ryedale from 2004.

He completed a PhD at York University and researched Charles Howard, the third Earl of Carlisle and evangelist Richard Conyers, who lived in Helmsley.

Rev Robinson spoke of how he remembered the Rev Wilson’s whole face smiling, of his long and happy marriage to Anne, and who was a man very much at ease with himself and others.

More than 200 people attended the service where donations were given for King’s College London Cancer Research and church funds.