THE BELLS of Ampleforth Abbey tolled a total of 89 times to mark the death of Fr David Herbert O'Brien, Benedictine monk of the Abbey.

Fr David died peacefully in the monastery infirmary on November 26 after returning to the monastery in September this year due to ill health.

The tolling of the bells in the abbey church tower marked each year of his life, a tradition when a monk of the abbey dies.

Born in St Anne's in Lancashire in 1925, Fr David served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War before working as an insurance broker for a number of years.

On September 25, 1954 he was solemnly professed as a monk as he joined the monastic community at Ampleforth Abbey. Here, he spent most of his monastic life working on Ampleforth's parishes, starting with Helmsley and followed by Kirkbymoorside and Grassendale.

In September 1963 he became assistant priest in St Mary's in Warrington and after seven years with the church moved to St Mary's in Cardiff.

It was not until 1973 that he moved back to his home town in Lancashire and became parish priest in Parbold where he stayed for almost 20 years before retiring due to ill health in February 1990.

Despite now being well in to his 70's at this point though Fr David continued to work as an assistant priest and gave retreats.

12 years later in 2002 he joined the small community of the Ampleforth monks in St Benedict's monastery at Bamber Bridge in Preston where he worked as Chairman of the Lancs Interfaith Prayer and Dialogue Group and Chairman of the Lancs Support Group for Deafened People.

Fr David's funeral Mass was celebrated in the Abbey Church at Ampleforth on Thursday, December 4 which was followed by a burial in the Monks' Wood.