A MAN who held the world record as the longest-serving altar boy has passed away at the age of 103.

Peter Reilly, of Saltcoats, Ayrshire, first served Mass in 1924 aged 12, and continued volunteering at the same church for 91 years.

The Scottish Catholic Observer reports that his record was verified by The Guinness Book of Records at St Mary’s Church, Saltcoats, on the occasion of his 100th Birthday.

Mr Reilly - officially an ‘altar server’ - put his advanced age down to “a healthy diet, saying your prayers and all things in moderation.”

A keen amateur film-maker, he enjoyed documenting the life of his family and the town and his footage of Celtic legend Bobby Lennox’s wedding was shown in a documentary commemorating the 50th anniversary of the European Cup win in 1967.

Poignantly, the last photograph of Peter was taken with Bobby and Kathryn Lennox, a couple of weeks before his death, when he attended the lunch club at St Mary’s. The couple attended his funeral.

Educated at St Mary’s Primary School, Saltcoats and later in Fort Augustus Abbey where he was head boy, he joined his father in running the family butter and egg importing business on leaving school and learned drive the lorry when he was just 11 years old.

A long-serving Church representative on the Ayrshire Education Committee, he was also chief invigilator in St Michael’s Academy in Kilwinning for 20 years. Until recently, he lived in the house in which he was born.

Mr Reilly was awarded the Benemerenti Medal by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in 200, and his service to the community was recognised when he was awarded the British Empire Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2015.

He also received a birthday blessing from Pope Francis for turning 100 years old. Greatly loved by his many nephews and nieces and their families, he was also known as ‘Uncle Peter’ to many more beyond the family, having never married.

Due to renovation work, his funeral was unable to be held in St Mary’s Church Saltcoats, which he had attended daily all his life. Instead it was celebrated at St Peter in Chains, Ardrossan, a church less than a mile away, with which he had a long association.

Mr Reilly’s link St Peter’s Church was established before he was born, with his parents responsible for acquiring the land the place of worship was built on, and later leading a delegation to the archbishop of Glasgow before construction began in 1936.

To a packed congregation at St Peter in Chains Church in Ardrossan, Canon Matt McManus spoke of Peter’s commitment to those on the margins of society, including being a regular visitor to Glasgow’s Wayside Club for homeless people—organising annual trips to the Ayrshire Coast for the men—and he was instrumental in starting a Legion of Mary in Saltcoats.

He also took part in a number of pilgrimages to the shrine at Lourdes, the last in 2014 when he was 99.

Mr Reilly was laid to rest beside his parents in Ardrossan Cemetery.

Bishop William Nolan, Bishop of Galloway said: “Peter’s generosity of spirit impacted on the lives of all who knew him and experienced his kindness and charity. His service to the community and to the church in Scotland is a great example for our modern times, and is recognised in his holding of the record for the ‘World’s Longest-Serving Altar Server’.”