Thoresby Estate owner Captain Ian Thorne remembered in all of his guises
A service of thanksgiving to celebrate the life of estate owner Captain Ian Thorne heard tales of a life well lived.
Mr Thorne studied at Trinity College, Oxford, and then at the Sandhurst Military Academy before joining the Grenadier Guards where he saw service in Aden, Oman and Northern Ireland.
In 1974 he moved to Nottinghamshire and took on ownership of the Kneesall Estate from his cousin, Lady Rozelle Raynes, who also owned the Thoresby Estate.
Mr Thorne was very active in the management of the Kneesall Estate and the farming operation, Kingston Farm.
In recent years he oversaw several diversification projects at Kneesall, including the development of an equestrian centre.
He was very keen on woodland management and field sports. He was a churchwarden at Kneesall, former High Sheriff, former president of the Newark and Notts Agricultural Society and joint chairman of MacMillan Cancer Relief Appeal, magistrate on the Worksop and Newark benches, and ex-chairman of the Nottinghamshire committee of the British Field Society, among many other appointments.
More than that, he wrote a book and was a giant not just in stature, the tallest in Waterloo Company by far, but in strength, love and support to his family, friends and those he met along the way.
Those attending the service at Newark Parish Church on Tuesday were told that eloquently and more from his daughter Davina.
It was also revealed that his ashes had been placed in a casket of Thoresby oak and buried by his home so he would forever see the seasons change in the land he so loved.
They also heard from the man himself, from a folder marked Ian’s Demise File, which read in part: “Amongst much else, I have been blessed with love received from Paula and Davina, from my step-children and their partners and children.
“I have been greatly privileged to have been responsible for so much beautiful land and for so long, and to have employed such excellent, skilled and hard-working people to look after that land.”
