FORTY years of full-time ministry ended with a trip down memory lane for retiring Methodist superintendent Bill Middlemiss.

Old friends from Methodist circuits he had served across the country joined congregations from Crook and Willington at his farewell service in Crook.

Mr Middlemiss spent eight years in Crook before moving to Guisborough this week with his wife, Mary.

Born in Shiney Row, he was brought up in Normanby and went to school in Redcar before embarking on a career as a mechanical engineer with Dorman Long.

His switch to the church came during his Army National Service.

He trained at Handsworth Theological College, in Birmingham, before joining the Wolverhampton circuit and meeting his wife.

After spells in Keighley and North Lincolnshire, he moved to Nunthorpe, becoming superintendent in the Middlesbrough and Eston circuit.

In Crook, he chaired the Churches Agency for Regeneration and the ecumenical group Churches Together. He was also involved in the 2D initiative, particularly a scheme called Volunteering into Work, the Bishop Auckland College and the Four Clocks Project in Bishop Auckland.

He was also community chairman of Crook Rotary Club for a number of years.

Mr Middlemiss, 64, said: "Most of all I was a Methodist minister and was very happy to serve for 40 years.

"I have some lovely friends, not only in the Methodist family but also in the other churches.

"They all came to support me along with visitors from my previous circuits. It was wonderful. There were 300 people at the service."