SIR George Williams, the Dulverton farm lad who founded the worldwide Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) movement and is buried in St Paul’s Cathedral, will be remembered at a special event in the town’s revived Congregational Church, to mark the 120th anniversary of his death.

A large portrait of Sir George hangs in the church hall, where worshippers currently meet, and the Sunday service on November 16 will be devoted to a special talk on the philanthropist’s ‘Dick Whittington’ story, to coincide with the Dulverton and Exmoor Literary Festival.

Sir George helped pay for the church's Sunday School rooms and its manse, the building where ministers lived, and the church is currently being refurbished after being closed for several years.

Church secretary Jonathan Hunt, who will give the talk on Sir George’s lifelong relationship with Dulverton, said: "I grew up under the shadow of Sir George when I attended the Sunday School as a child - without knowing much about him.

“In fact he was an extraordinary man who went to London and made his fortune - but before he became wealthy - when he was a penniless worker - he joined with others to found the YMCA and spent his life making it an international organisation.

“Last year at the Dulverton Literary Festival Stanley Johnson asked where was the portrait of Sir George, his ancestor, which used to hang in the town hall.

Visitors on the 16th will be able to see our portrait and hear the remarkable story behind it.”

The church is planning to unveil a permanent exhibition on Sir George as it continues with reopening and refurbishing the historic building.

He was knighted by Queen Victoria and is commemorated by a stained glass window in Westminster Abbey.

The YMCA now serves more than 65 million people in 120 countries.

George Williams was born in 1821 and began working on the family’s Dulverton farm when he was 13, describing himself as ‘a careless, thoughtless, Godless, swearing young fellow’.

He was apprenticed to a Bridgwater draper.

Moving to London in 1841 he married the daughter of the owner of a prosperous drapery business, eventually taking over the firm and becoming one of England’s richest men and a leading Congregationalist.

With other religiously-minded drapers, he founded the YMCA in 1844 to ‘improve the spiritual condition of the young men engaged in houses of business, by the formation of Bible classes, family and social prayer meetings and mutual improvement societies’.

A new team of members of Dulverton Congregational Church are now working on an ambitious scheme to reopen the building.

Jonathan Hunt, a former Free Press reporter, said: “Our ideas are still developing but have attracted a lot of interest from around the country.

“There is still quite a bit to do before we can re-open the magnificent main 1831 chapel building.

“We have agreed to take it step by step and the first step to was to ensure we have a live church community serving Dulverton, as the church has done for nearly 200 years.”