Dr Norman BealeGAZETTE & HERALD: WELL known Calne doctor, Norman Beale, who has worked in the town for 30 years retired last week. Colleagues past and present attended a retirement party at the surgery.

"It was a wonderful occasion," said Dr Beale. "So many people I've worked with over the years came to see me off."

Dr Beale, 57, joined joined Northend Surgery in 1976. He said: "I've very much enjoyed my time in Calne. I've been a very lucky man in a stable, happy, rewarding career."

The closure of Harris's factory in 1982 sparked Dr Beale to research the effects of mass redundancy on patients and how deprivation affects health. In 1989 he received a MD from Cambridge University and a Fellowship from the Royal College of GPs for his research.

"Those were the two highlights of my career," he said.

Dr Beale, who lives in Cherhill with his wife Elaine, trained at Cambridge University. He spent a couple of years working at St Mary's Hospital in London before deciding to become a GP.

"I've seen between 50 and 60 patients every day for all those years," he said. "It was a family business when I first started. My wife has had to be as committed to the job as me I was on duty 24 hours a day. It was a very different profession back then."

Dr Beale, who has two grown up sons, said he is looking forward to his life not being dictated by the clock.

He plans to continue with his research and is midway through writing a biography about Dutch scientist Jan Ingenhousz, who discovered photosynthesis.

Ingenhousz is buried in a vault in St Mary's Church in Calne.

"I'm more changing career paths than retiring," said Dr Beale. "I will be able to do my bits and bobs at more respectable times than midnight on Sundays."