A THANKSGIVING service for the life and work of a canon will be held today.

Canon Eric Chard, former Lancashire county ecumenical officer and vicar, died on December 20, aged 82, following a stroke 10 days earlier.

The service will take place at St Mary's Church, Clitheroe, at 2.30pm.

Canon Chard, of Moorland Crescent, Clitheroe, was a former RAF pilot in the Second World War who retained his flying licence and flew microlight aircraft until recently.

He was Vicar of Ewood, Blackburn, from 1960 to 1972, then Vicar of Downham from 1972 to 1988.

Canon Chard was also Rural Dean of Whalley from 1983 to 1989. He was made an Honorary Canon of Blackburn Cathedral in 1986.

From 1988 until his retirement in 1993 he was county ecumenical officer for Lancashire.

While at Ewood, he pioneered the pastoral auxiliary scheme, now called the pastoral assistant scheme in the Blackburn Diocese.

This has been adopted, in different forms, throughout the Church of England.

Pastoral assistants are lay people who assist communities through home and hospital visiting and pastoral contacts.