Pat's kind legacy gives villagers a nice shock

Pat Vaughan, who worked as a paid clerk at Hartley Wintney Parish Council for nine years, died in August last year after a battle with liver and kidney cancer. He was 57.

At a meeting of the parish council this week, chairman Councillor Dorothy Harvey said the executors of Mr Vaughan’s will had informed her by letter that he had left £43,879.62 to the parish council. The money was to be used “only for the extension, promotion and benefit of the Hartley Wintney Community Orchard at Hunts Common”.

Councillors gasped as Cllr Harvey read out the document. She said: “I have to say that when I received the note and the cheque I was speechless, and I am not often speechless.

“I know that the village and the council meant a lot to Pat but I had no idea that this was coming. It is incredible.”

The meeting heard that the sum represented one third of Mr Vaughan’s estate. He also directed the parish council to keep the money in a high-interest account.

Mr Vaughan, who lived in the village all his life, established the orchard in 2000 as a venue for village events, such as the annual Wassail.

Villagers can also plant apple, plum, cherry and pear trees in memory of friends and family who have died.

In January 2009, the parish council renamed the site as the Vaughan Millennium Orchard in Mr Vaughan’s honour.

Odiham town manager Peter Fountain, a close friend of Mr Vaughan, was an executor of the will.

He said: “Pat lived for his village. If he had only a little bit of money he would have left the parish council with a sum.”

Mr Vaughan also left Mr Fountain a special gift of £1,000 – with a specific direction on how the money should be used. He stated: “Buy your own bloody sausage sandwiches.”

Mr Fountain told The Gazette the former parish clerk had often bought him a sandwich when they met every week for the Wednesday market in Hartley Wintney.

The parish council voted unanimously to keep the money in a high-interest account.