Funeral of ex-teacher swept away by floods

The funeral of a 66-year-old former teacher who died after being swept away by floodwater as storms lashed Shropshire has taken place.

County mourners attended the funeral of retired deputy headteacher Mike Ellis at Hereford Crematorium yesterday morning, which was followed by a service at St Mary's Church in Bitterley.

Mr Ellis, who worked at a number of county schools including Ludlow School and was also involved with Girl Guiding Shropshire, was returning to his home in Bitterley, near Ludlow, following a doctor's appointment when the tragedy happened on June 28.

He abandoned his car to avoid flood-hit roads. As he crossed a field he was swept away by a swollen stream.

Speaking at the thanksgiving service at St Mary's Church, the Reverend Richard Green said: "No doubt we were all deeply shocked at the sudden and tragic nature in which he was taken from us. Perhaps we feel a sense of anger as well, that Mike has gone from us very much still in the prime of life.

"Then of course we will have felt deep sadness that such a lovely man – to whom so many wonderful tributes have been paid, here in this service and elsewhere over the past week – is no longer around. But along with these difficult emotions, there have been more positive ones, too.

"A wave of love and affection has spread through this community of Bitterley, and also the wider community of which Mike was a part, that of Girl Guiding in Shropshire, directed most of all towards Mike's beloved wife Judy."