Tributes have been paid to a former long-serving councillor, ex-Royal Navy sailor and steam buff.

Robin Pike, 84, whose funeral was held on Tuesday, January 6, in Tavistock, was well-known as a town and borough councillor for a combined 24 years.

He was also a town and West Devon mayor for a combined three terms. For his local council service he was accorded a wake in the town hall, attended by current Tavistock mayor Cllr Steve Hipsey and other councillors past and present.

His widow Diana said: “Robin was very diligent and hard working behind the scenes as a councillor.”

Robin was granted the honour of a military-style funeral organised by the Royal British Legion, marking his love of the Royal Navy with which he served for 24 years.

He reached the rate of chief petty officer and was highly influential with new recruits as a training officer. Robin was presented with the former Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal for his excellence as new entry divisional chief training officer at HMS Raleigh, Torpoint.

Diana, a retired midwife, said: “This was an appropriate send-off and exactly as he personally planned. He was very proud of his service in the navy and one of his top achievements was getting the Silver Jubilee Medal.

“He was well-respected for his training methods, for leading by example and treating new recruits with respect, exactly as he would have wanted to be treated.

“He quietly encouraged the youngsters and wasn’t into parade ground shouting. One method was to repeat key aspects of training to them at various times in different circumstances, so they weren’t really aware they were learning.”

His funeral was rounded off with a specially-compiled audio recording of working steam trains, marking his enthusiasm for the locos. The unusual farewell was requested by Robin during his funeral planning, with certain West Country loco models specified for inclusion, the City of Wells and the Braunton. Robin was also knowledgeable in a wider sense about railways and had written an in-depth case on why the Tavistock-Bere Alston railway should be reinstated.

He also took a dream job working on the Gunnislake line as a maintenance worker after his naval career before then taking on self employment as an odd-job man, calling his business Ship-Shape in a salute to the navy.

Diana said: “Robin left Tavistock (where he was brought up) by train to join the navy, so the audio brought his life journey in full circle. He even helped build the mini-steam track in Central Park in Plymouth and we rode his own model there with the girls.”

In the navy he served in the famed HMS Ark Royal and was in charge of its small boats which were deployed on one memorable occasion, a search for Russian sailors in the water after the foreign warship collided with the aircraft carrier.

Robin was also involved in Winston Churchill’s funeral in the team of sailors guiding his coffin gun carriage. He was also picked to take part in the high profile Festival of Remembrance and the Cenotaph remembrance ceremony.