GETTING locked in a chapel of rest on Christmas Eve and being picked up by the coastguard during the heavy snow of the early 90s are just two of the memories for an Arnside GP who retired from his surgery after 30 years' service at the weekend.

Dr Andrew Matchett said it was a little bit strange on his first day of retirement: "Once I got up I was wondering what I was going to do next. I'm really looking forward to stepping down and doing the things I tell my patients to do like keeping themselves fit."

Sixty-year-old Dr Matchett came to the practice in 1974 to take over from his father who had been the local GP in Arnside for 40 years. He said he had studied medicine because it provided opportunities to travel and enabled him to join the Navy.

After spending three years in the Navy visiting places like Kenya and the Seychelles he served at a practice in Dorset before moving back to his home town of Arnside.

Looking back at his time at the Arnside practice he smiled at memorable occasions like when heavy snow meant he had to walk the three-and-a-half miles to the Silverdale surgery: "Someone called the coastguard and we finished the day's work in the coastguard Land Rover," he said.

"I also remember being locked in the chapel of rest one Christmas Eve. The wind caught the door and I was locked in. I heard people walking up to the midnight service and was calling for help but that was ignored. I had visions of being locked in until the next working day after Christmas."

There was also an outbreak of what is known as travellers' diarrhoea' local to Arnside in 1978 but he also enjoyed being able to carry out minor surgery and just helping to make people better.

He will be missed by all of the patients, some of whom have had a Doctor Matchett all their life.

"I think it's the appropriate time to step down for the benefit of their care, for there to be a change as it the practice is running smoother than it ever has been before and I would not like to see it decline," he said.

Dr Matchett still hopes to be involved in medical care on more of a part-time basis and is hoping to have the chance to raise money for charity by taking part in more Mini rallies.

Doctor David Kew, who will be joining the practice in October, will replace him.