TRIBUTES have been paid to a scientist, engineer and scholar from Burnham who has sadly died.

Dr Peter Lornie died on June 19 following a short illness.

Mr Lornie, originally from Durham, was well known in the area for his work for nearly 40 years as a reactor physicist at Bradwell Power Station and nearly 50 years of involvement with Burnham Baptist Church.

Born in 1949, the eldest of three boys, Mr Lornie grew up in a Durham mining town.

Science interested him from an early age, and he went onto study physics at Oxford then went on to complete a doctorate in Nuclear Physics at Liverpool University.

In 1977, he started work at Bradwell Power Station and was employed there until March 2016. Soon after moving to Burnham, Peter joined the Baptist Church and started a long journey of service to church and community, including the role of secretary.

Mr Lornie was also part of the voluntary group which last year produced the Burnham Neighbourhood Plan.

He is survived by his wife Sarah, who he met on a walking holiday in 1991, and married in 1994, along with his children Tim and Ruth.

Tony Jones, a former minister of the Baptist church, worked with Mr Lornie for many years before his retirement last year.

Mr Jones paid tribute to Mr Lornie as a “steadying influence” on the church who was also passionate about the environment.

He said: “Peter was a unique character in many ways.

“Where many of us would be inclined to react quickly to situations, immediately saying ‘let’s do something about this’ Peter would think through every aspect and implication of it with the utmost care, and many a time saved us from an unwise decision.

“Sometimes, some of us were impatient with his approach, but I know that I was a better minister for his influence, and I believe that we were a better church for it too! I’m glad to have counted him as a friend.

“His nature was such that, once he had taken that initial decision, everything he did, and every decision he took, was guided by his faith. In particular, his passion for the environment sprang from his conviction that ‘the Earth is the Lord’s’ and that we are only its custodians.

“Peter will be missed by everyone whose life he touched.”