A FORMER Teignmouth meteorologist and councillor has died after a short illness.

David Potter, 86, regularly took the readings from the local weather station, and sent them to the Met Office for distribution to newspapers and other agencies.

Born in Bury, he had a distinquished and varied career in teaching and the civil service. When he married his wife Jean, they honeymooned in her home town, Teignmouth, and loved it so much he did not need much persuading to move there on retirement in 1993.

He served on the district and town councils, was involved with the Teignmouth Players, composed bygone columns for the Teignmouth Post, and was a volunteer on the Buckfastleigh-based South Devon Railway, where he was a guard on the steam trains, another of his passions.

David studied geography at Kings College London, where he met met his future wife. Both found teaching jobs in London, and they were married for 63 years. He served his national service in the army education corp.

They lived in Malawi for ten years, where he became a district officer, setting up new schools.

Returning to the UK, he worked in education in Warwick for a time, and then studied at the London School of Economics, where he obtained a masters in economics. This was followed by a Government role in Bristol where he supervised grants for the South West region.

He is survived by Jean, and their four children, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.