A SERVICE of thanksgiving will be held on January 5 for the life of chairman of Bath Travel and Palmair, Peter Bath MBE.

Mr Bath, 79, died at Christchurch Hospital on December 22 after a short illness.

Known as one of the south's most colourful and best-loved businessmen, Mr Bath was renowned for insisting on the personal touch both in Bath Travel and its tour operating arm Palmair.

He was famous for personally seeing off all his company's flights, a tradition which delighted hundreds of thousands of Palmair passengers over the years.

It was after the war when Mr Bath took over the Bath Travel business founded by his father Reginald Ernest Bath in 1924.

He set about expanding the company from a single site in Albert Road, Bournemouth - where the head office is still located - to more than 60 offices across several counties.

Mr Bath is survived by Liz, his wife of 56 years, sons Stephen and Andrew, who are joint managing directors of Bath Travel, and daughters Sallie and Christine, training and customer liaison director at the company.

A service of thanksgiving will take place at Christchurch Priory at 2.30pm, a private cremation having taken place.

  • Donations can be made in his memory to Bournemouth Heart Club and sent to Deric-Scott, Portman Lodge Funeral House, 755 Christchurch Road, Bournemouth, BH7 6AN.