THOSE looking to be among others to share in their mourning gathered at Abbotsbury church in Newton Abbot for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II this morning, all the while under the watchful eye of Reverend Gareth Regan, who shared his thoughts on the country’s longest serving monarch.

Reverend Gareth Regan said: ‘I think the Queen is interesting because she was both a figure head for the country but also for me in the Church of England, I am somebody who is personally assented to follow her and so for me it is like saying goodbye to the leader of our Church and so that is why it is important for me to be doing what I am doing.

‘I recognise that at times like this people who are often on their own or isolated would want the feeling of getting together for this moment and having the facilities to be able to do it, to open the church and invite people in seemed like the right thing to do, to allow the community to gather.’