DR KENNETH HEAP, a well-known country GP and sportsman, who spent 36 years in in the Pickering area, has died at the age of 84.

He retired from the practice of Heap, Blacklee, Gaskell and Capes in The Ropery, 20 years ago.

Brought up in West Yorkshire, Dr Heap qualified from Leeds Medical School in 1940 and then spent six months working in a hospital before joining the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1941.

He served throughout the Second World War and worked at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary for six months after he was demobbed.

As a boy, he yearned to be country GP - an ambition he achieved in 1946 when he moved to Pickering to join the practice of Dr JF Murphy and Dr TJ Muir.

In 1951, the Thornton-le-Dale practise was joined to the Pickering one when the late Dr L P Owen became a partner, and it later moved from Hall Garth to The Ropery.

He was a well-known personality in many organisations, being chairman of the Ryedale Abbeyfields Society, and serving on the Scarborough District Medical committee.

He also took a keen interest in Pickering Recreation Club, where he was vice-president and a trustee.

In his younger days he was a keen sportsman, playing cricket and football for Pickering teams, and was a member of Malton and Norton Golf Club.

His many other interests included motor caravanning, photography and gardening, and he was also a member of the Pickering and Malton Bridge Club.

He leaves a wife, Berry, two sons, and six grandchildren.