Former Wellington town and Taunton Deane councillor Peter Horsford died last Friday (May 22) at the age of 90.

Mr Horsford, who was a regular WWN Christian Comment contributor, served as Mayor of Taunton Deane 31 years ago.

He also served for over 40 years as a Lay Reader – latterly as Reader Emeritus – across many churches in the area, most recently at All Saints, Rockwell Green.

He was an author and Christian broadcaster, being one of the pioneer contributors to ‘The Epilogue’ on Southern Television. He also contributed ‘Thought for the Day’ to local radio.

The Rev Andrew Norris, who co-ordinates the Christian Comment column for the WWN, said: “Peter was never afraid to talk about his faith but neither would he impose it on others. He has been frail for some time but, as a man full of faith, was looking forward to meeting his maker and being at peace. He was a shining example of integrity and service, and a great support to many in the church and ministry, as well as to this community.”

Pow makes Cummings statement

Taunton Deane’s MP Rebecca Pow has called for a line to be drawn under the row over Boris Johnson’s top adviser.

Ms Pow said she had received many emails from constituents over Dominic Cummings’ visit to Durham from London during the coronavirus lockdown.

In a statement she acknowledged ‘a mix of views, from support to anger and condemnation’, and the questions raised about his actions when many had made big sacrifices.

She added: “On Monday, Dominic Cummings made a detailed statement which addressed some inaccurate allegations and made clear that his driving motivation was to protect his son and he explained step-by-step the actions he took in the light of his own particular circumstances which he considered exceptional in this respect. Notwithstanding, this detailed explanation, ideally it could have come much sooner.

“I hope we can now put this behind us and focus on tackling the huge challenges we are currently faced with. We must continue to fight this virus, prepare for measures to be eased when it is safe to do so and start to get the economy going again – and this is what I shall be working on with Government.”