Tributes go out to much-loved Bow rector

Tributes have gone out to a much-loved rector who dedicated himself to the community in Bow for more than two decades.

Reverend Michael Peet died on April 9 after a battle with cancer.

Friend Joy Wotton said: “The parish, and all who knew him, have sustained a great loss and will miss him enormously, not just for his activities in the church, but for all he did for us and for the local community.”

He led the joining of Holy Trinity in Mile End and St Mary’s in 2006 and the success of the merger was said to be down to his “enthusiasm and energy and his wholehearted commitment to the people of Bow.”

Born in Hertfordshire in 1944 Reverend Peet was ordained priest and served at Battersea, St Dunstan’s in Stepney and Stamford Hill before coming to Bow.

He was a leading figure in pushing inclusive rights for all and he helped form the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement.

An avid historian, the rector was also an authority on the past events of the area and wrote a book, Seven Parishioners of Bow, charting seven centuries of goings-on in the area.

Reverend Peet leaves behind a partner, very many friends and a thriving, active, parish.

Bow Church bellringers will ring a special quarter peal in the rector’s memory at 6pm on Friday 14 April.