The Revd David Geoffrey John Piggott: 1925–2016 

A devoted pastor and an arresting preacher, who clearly enjoyed 'preaching the Word'

David Piggott, who died on 3 March 2016 in his 91st year, was a Devonian by birth, born in Torquay in April 1925 and brought up in Brixham. He never lost his love of the sea, and the south Devon coast in particular. He was educated at Totnes Grammar and Harrow Weald schools and saw service in the Royal Air Force in Burma and India until 1947.

He became convinced quite early in his life that God had plans for him in the ministry and was delighted when he was accepted for training at Spurgeon's College. In August 1950 he married his fiancee, Joyce Whittingham, prior to commencing his first pastorate in 1951 at Bethel (English) in Maesteg. David very much enjoyed 'cutting his ministerial teeth' in Wales and spoke in very warm terms of his work there. In 1954 he moved to Kingsbridge, Devon, where he ministered until 1960 – moving on to Wakefield in Yorkshire where he served until 1964.

He then accepted a call to the West Midlands, where he ministered to the churches at Cross Street and Regent Street in Smethwick for a period of six years, during which time he oversaw their successful merger. David then moved on to Droitwich, in Worcestershire, for a fulfilling ministry which extended for eleven years until 1981. His final pastorate, before 'retiring' from full-time ministry, was at Union Church, Heathfield, which lasted until 1986.

But David's pastoral care extended far wider and much longer than these ministries, because for 18 years (from 1982 to 2000) he served as the indefatigable Membership Secretary of the Baptist Ministers' Fellowship. During that time he wrote hundreds upon hundreds of letters of encouragement to his fellow ministers and their spouses in times of ill-health and difficulty, all of which were hand-written! He had an encyclopaedic knowledge of a vast number of his fellow ministers and their families, and was without doubt a great friend and support to many of them.

David and Joyce were married for 63 years until Joyce died in April 2014. They were blessed with five children. Andrew, Jane, Ruth, Stephen and Ann. David and Joyce returned to Worcestershire on retirement, living in Worcester, where David was much in demand as a preacher in Baptist and Methodist churches for several years, though still managing to find time, with Joyce, to tend their beautiful garden and explore the local countryside.

David was a devoted pastor and an arresting preacher, who clearly enjoyed 'preaching the Word'. He seemed always to have a 'smile on his face' and a 'twinkle in his eye' – qualities which clearly did much to commend him as a much caring and well beloved servant of his Lord and Master.

Philip Cooke