The benefit of a man of wise counsel

Countryside Column for 11^th April

The evening light was fading outside the church’s leaded windows.

Inside, the bulbs were low, the rector was informal in a pullover and the Lady Chapel was full to overflowing.

Residents had gathered on the news of the death of a village doyen.  Anthony Beattie had been taken ill abroad. His wife rushed out from England and reported he seemed to be recovering.  But then came the shocking news that he had died.

He was a tall man with a wry smile who could be spotted daily walking his dog along the lanes. He’d retired ten years back and thrown himself into village life. Early on he agreed to help our community orchard. He was instrumental in re-writing the constitution and seeing through our change to charitable status.  It was he who dealt with the Charity Commission and advised us neophyte trustees how to proceed. 

Then he involved himself in the Parish Plan, organising and collating questionnaires about future directions for the village, advising on the many charities within its boundaries and gently steering various committees forward. He seemed to love minutiae and have inexhaustible patience for drafting complex sub-clauses. On each and every issue he proffered sage advice.

I’d known vaguely he’d been in the diplomatic service but had no idea until he died just how important a player he’d been, and on how wide a stage he’d operated.

Anthony hadn’t travelled much since his last posting as British Ambassador to a UN agency in Rome.  But before that he’d flown the globe in senior management roles for the World Food Programme, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and the UK’s Department for International Development. He’d begun his public service career as a development economist in Africa.

And it was in Africa he died.  A few weeks ago he went off to Kenya and Tanzania to do a short job for the World Bank. But still he emailed us all back home in Kent about projects in which we were jointly involved.  He was taken ill in Dar es Salaam and flown to Johannesburg for treatment which failed to save him.

As we left the church and gathered at the lychgate to exchange memories, I reflected on how much rural villages need the expertise of such men and how lucky we were to have had his wise counsel.  We will miss it.  And him.