A FORMER Abingdon College head has died aged 88.

Michael Comely, principal of the college between 1963 and 1986, passed away at Sobell House in Oxford on October 29.

He was born and raised in Gloucestershire and read English at Bristol University.

He then studied to become a teacher and started work at Dursley Grammar School, Gloucestershire.

He married Margaret Brown in April 1955, and the couple lived in Brighton and Kidderminster before Mr Comely was appointed principal of North Berks College of Further Education in Abingdon in 1963. Following county boundary changes in 1974, the college was renamed Abingdon College of Further Education.

During his time at the college Mr Comely became chairman of the North Berks Youth Orchestra.

And after he retired from the college in 1986, he became a governor there as well as at John Mason School in Abingdon.

He was also chairman of governors at Long Furlong Primary School, and played Father Christmas at school parties.

He was a member of the Oxford U3A philosophy group, and also a keen gardener who judged the Oxfordshire Best Kept Village competition.

Mr Comely joined the Abingdon Rotary Club soon after coming to Abingdon and went on to become president. He was awarded a Rotary Paul Harris Fellowship in 2008.

As a young man he went to the Olympics in London in 1948 and sat near the finishing line of the men’s 100 metres.

Mr Comely, who lived in Holland Road, Abingdon, died after suffering cancer of the oesophagus.

He is survived by his wife Margaret, his daughters Helen and Jane, and five grandchildren – Hannah, 22, John, 20, Seb, 16, and twins Will and Phoebe, 13.

A thanksgiving service will be held at Christ Church, Northcourt Road, Abingdon, on Tuesday at 1pm.