Family, friends and former colleagues at Lavington School bid farewell on Monday to former headteacher Harry Greening, who died on Christmas Day at the age of 89.

Mr Greening’s funeral took place in St Mary’s Church in Market Lavington on Monday, followed by a committal attended by his family at West Wiltshire Crematorium.

Mr Greening was born in South Wales and educated at Cowbridge Grammar School.

During the Second World War he served as a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, and was in command of a landing craft ferrying Canadian troops to the D-Day beaches in Normandy in 1944.

After being demobbed, he took a teacher training course at Llandrindod Wells and came to Wiltshire in the early 1950s to head an all-ages school in the Salisbury area.

He and his wife, Mary, had two daughters, both married.

In 1962 he was appointed headteacher of Lavington School, having been attracted to the school by its small farm where agriculture was taught.

He ran the school until his retirement in 1981, after which he remained an active member of the community for many years, his particular interest being gardening.

Donations in his memory are requested to Age UK, Cancer Research and Macmillan Nurses.