The joint founder of a prestigious farming business who was made an MBE after setting up a sailing club has died.

John Green MBE, of Ely, was born in London into a family of architects in 1928 and moved to Burnham Overy in North Norfolk in 1939.

He left school early and worked on a farm in Shropshire and a Nuffield Farming Scholarship before moving to AH Worth farming company in Lincolnshire.

In 1964 he married Margaret Dixon (nee Pryor) and gained two much loved stepsons.

Two years later they moved to Ely, where Mr Green and his brother Andrew formed a farming partnership, Greens of Soham.

Greens still flourishes and the business now incorporates substantial farming operations in Central Europe.

In 1995 Mr Green and Margaret moved to the Helford River in Cornwall and the woods and gardens of Calamansac, where he had visited as a child and, after marrying Margaret, every summer holidayed on the river.

Inspired by his own experiences as a child and their unique location on the shores of the Helford, he established the Helford River Children’s Sailing Trust, a charitable trust for primary school children to learn to sail singlehandedly.

He was made MBE and his extraordinary enthusiasm and energy was an inspiration to many.

Mr Green is survived by Margaret, four children, fourteen grandchildren and one great grandchild.