A packed congregation at Saltash Wesley Church paid tribute to former MP Colin Breed who died May 9, age 77.
The memorial service was a celebration of Colin’s life attended by colleagues from Westminster including the Rt Honourable Lord Paul Tyler, Baron Robin Teverson and former North Cornwall MP Dan Rogerson. It also looked back on his life as a cherished member of the community of Saltash, especially the Wesley Church.
Reverend Jonathan Budd began the celebration with a series of tributes led by former Mayor, and Freeman of Saltash Bob Austin. He remembered not only his dedicated work as MP but his tireless efforts leading fundraising events to build the new Wesley church in the mid 1980s, succeeding in raising the £200,000 needed to construct their new place of worship.
He reminisced how Colin had bought a 16-seater bus with the number plate VET252 which was worth more than the value of the bus itself, to raise money by selling refreshments beside the A38. He also looked back at their Pleasure and Leisure Society (PALS) group outings to the Norfolk Broads and France - places, he quipped, where they only went once as they were never invited back!
He finished his tribute saying: “Colin, your work is done on earth, you can now rest in peace. But your legacy will remain forever, and we will always remember you in our hearts”.
Andrew Baldwin, former researcher for the MP shared anecdotes of his time in Westminster saying: “He never bought into any Parliamentary nonsense. He was kind, decent, sensible… a rarity in politics these days”, and noted how he only ever became angry when he saw one of his constituents being treated badly. “His main priority”, he said, “was and remained South East Cornwall and his constituents”.
Colin’s son Matthew spoke of his father as “a pretty amazing man” who was “never short of a story or two” and how his storytelling will be missed at Sunday lunches. He reminisced to the congregation about the Vote Liberal Democrat signs which appeared at election time with the word ‘Breed’, and how Colin mused about whether tourists thought it might be an instruction to them! And he paid homage to his Mum Janet, for her support of the MP throughout his life as a ‘true partnership’.
Reverend Jonathan Budd, closing the service said: “In the face of problems in our world, it can be tempting to run away with despair or give up trying… It wasn’t the way for Colin. He used his time well, and achieved much. He used in good faith that gift he was given. No wonder he has been loved and respected.”