GAZETTE & HERALD: Stars from across the film and television world will be paying tribute to actor David Hemmings at a memorial service in London on Wednesday.

Mr Hemmings, 62, died after a heart attack in December while in Romania with his wife Lucy, filming for Samantha's Child.

A 1960s film icon who stood alongside Terence Stamp and Michael Caine, Mr Hemmings moved to Calne from London in 1998 and married Lucy in 2002 in a secret ceremony at Chippenham Register Office.

He remained friends with Michael Caine who enjoyed drinks with him at Calne Rugby Club.

Celebrities from the show business world are expected at the memorial service next week, which will be held in St Mary's Church in Paddington Green, London.

The Rev Bob Kenway of St Mary's Church, Calne, where the quiet family funeral service was held for Mr Hemmings, will be travelling to the service to take the prayers.

Mrs Hemmings said she choose the Paddington Green church because the vicar Gary Bradley was an old friend of theirs.

"We used to go to the church when we lived in London. It is a beautiful church," she said.

The memorial will be a celebration of Mr Hemmings' life and friends will be giving readings and speeches.

"It is for David's old friends and work colleagues," she said. "The funeral in Calne was a personal family thing but this is to do with David in his professional capacity.

"It is for the many people he worked with over the years and friends from all over the world."

Following his death a number of Mr Hemmings' friends have given gifts in his memory.

A tree has been planted in his name in Nymph Hay, a wood in Kington St Michael, near Chippenham.

A friend in America donated money to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in Malibu, California as a tribute to Mr Hemmings.

The society is a non-profit non-governmental organisation involved with the investigation and documentation of violations of international laws, regulations, and treaties protecting marine wildlife species.

Mr Hemmings hosted a fundraising auction for the society and his friend decided a donation to the group was something he would have liked.

Mrs Hemmings said she and her husband were also governors of a primary school in London.

"I am giving a cup in David's name to them," she said.

Friends have also made donations to the British Heart Foundation.

Mr Hemmings had a great number of friends worldwide as well as in his local community in Calne.

Mrs Hemmings said living in a rural town helped to calm her husband after years of hectic schedules working in America.

He often described himself as a dedicated Wiltshireman.