DR Kevin Brown hung up his stethoscope for the last time on Friday at Bideford Medical Centre.

He left the practice to start his retirement after 30 years as part of the medical team.

His replacement is Dr Richard Davies.

Dr Brown joined the Stanhope Surgery when there were three practices in the centre.

When one of them – Wooda Surgery – moved to East-the-Water, the Stanhope Surgery amalgamated with Hill and Medway to form the current set up.

Dr Brown originally trained at Bristol University Medical School and it was a short spell as a medical student at Hartland in 1974 that sparked his love of North Devon.

He said: "There were still birds of prey here which I had never seen because (in other areas) they were all killed off by DDT (pesticide) and I thought this is where I want to work, where there is still wildlife."

He qualified in 1975 and after working in various places, including the old North Devon Infirmary in 1976, he embarked on a three year GP training programme at North Devon District Hospital.

After that he worked for a year as a registrar in Litchdon Medical Centre, Barnstaple, before transferring to Bideford where he stayed.

One of the highlights of his career was when the surgery received the Quality Practice Award, the highest accolade attainable from the College of GPs. For about 15 years he was also involved in teaching young doctors to become GPs, something he thoroughly enjoyed.

The job, though, has changed out of all recognition to what it was when he first started at Bideford.

And another shake up is on the horizon for the NHS. One of the key elements is to give GPs more control over how NHS funds are spent. It has caused huge controversy but Dr Brown is one of the ten per cent of GPs who are in favour of the new proposals.

He said: "Without the proposed changes the health service is doomed. The only way to maintain a decent health service is for GPs to make sensible decisions on behalf of the population they serve."

Outside work Dr Brown played for Barnstaple Rugby Club until he was 30 and was persuaded to come out of retirement at the age of 54 to play for Bideford's third team against Barnstaple. He had the pleasure of joining his three sons on the pitch and described it as the highlight of his rugby career.

He is also interested in nature and jointly owns some woodland at Parkham with three retired partners. Together they are working to return it to a mixed deciduous woodland. In retirement he is hoping to try his hand at painting watercolours. He is married to Caroline and they have five children, Sam, Luke, Jake, Lucy and Emma.

Dr Richard Davies obtained his medical degree at St Mary's Medical School in London and began training to be a surgeon before changing direction.

He decided to become a GP because it would allow him to develop more of a rapport with patients. Working at Bideford Medical Centre is giving him the best of both worlds – contact with patients in general practice and the chance to do some minor surgery, too.

Having done his GP training in North Devon, he soon fell in love with the place. He said: "It is a lovely area, a great place to bring up children, the patients are very nice and appreciative and it is a great medical centre."

He is married to Louise and they have two children under five, Emily and Dylan.