FOR many years the vicar at St John’s Church in Boscombe, the Rev Canon Godfrey Taylor died peacefully in St Austell on October 12, aged 78.

A former teacher, he was instituted at St John’s by the Bishop of Winchester in January 1981, and he soon set about transforming the church into a busy hub for the local community.

He moved into the new vicarage in Argyle Road with his wife Daphne and children Martyn, Luke, Helen and Richard, determined to make the parish welcoming.

Even during the 1980s Boscombe had a reputation as one of the most deprived areas of the south coast. The doors of the church had been closed during the day for two decades due to vandalism.

Mr Taylor set about opening them up, telling his congregation he sought to create ‘The Church of the Open Door’.

During his tenure the church established a successful drop-in centre for troubled families in nearby Shelley Road, and the church building itself was given a £250,000 renovation to create a welcome centre for the needy.

In 1989 he told the Daily Echo: “People ask us why we are doing this and the answer is that we are doing so to assert our Christian belief that every individual is unique and loved by God.”

Originally from Southsea, Mr Taylor was ordained at Canterbury Cathedral in 1961, and served curacies at Herne Bay and Tunbridge Wells in Kent.

While teaching at a London church hall, All Souls, Langham Place, he had pupils from 12 different nationalities.

He moved to Bournemouth from Holy Trinity Church in St Peters Port, Guernsey.

In 1998, he led a group from St John’s on a month-long mission to Uganda, where they helped to build a community centre in a small town called Kumi.

From this journey, he was left greatly impressed by the strength of Christian faith among the locals.

A pianist himself, he was a great music lover and encouraged his children to play a variety of instruments.

At the time of his death he was living in Cornwall.