Peter Billings was a general and colorectal surgeon at Wrexham Maelor Hospital in North Wales. His grandfather, Robert, was a toolmaker in London; his father, Ronald, had gained a scholarship to the Grocers' Company School in Hackney and became a bank manager, ultimately in Orpington. Peter was born in Farnborough, Kent on 21 March 1953. He went to school at St Dunstan's College in Catford. Having left school he was in a quandary because he really wanted to be a vet, but didn't get into veterinary school. It was his mother Joan, a home economics teacher, who pointed him in the direction of medicine and helped him get into the Royal Free, where he won the undergraduate accident and emergency prize. It was there, as a first year medical student, that he met Anna Bailey, whom he subsequently married. He qualified in 1977 and did his house officer posts at Edgware General and at the Royal Free hospitals. His surgical training was in London on rotations at Charing Cross, the Middlesex and ultimately St George's. His research at the Bristol Royal Infirmary from 1984 to 1986 was into wound healing. He was awarded both the Ethicon Foundation fund and the RCS Foundation travel fund grants to support a six-week visit to the wound healing unit in San Francisco. In 1987 he was awarded a master's degree for his thesis, 'Tissue perfusion and wound healing in the surgical patient'. Following his research, he was appointed to the Wales senior registrar rotation between Cardiff and Swansea. During his training he found his subspecialty interest to be colorectal surgery. He obtained a Welsh Surgical Society travelling fellowship to visit the Cleveland Clinic, a specialist colorectal unit in the USA. To further consolidate his interest and expertise, he obtained a much sought after one-year post as the resident surgical officer at St Mark's Hospital from 1992 to 1993. He was appointed as a consultant general surgeon at Wrexham Maelor Hospital in 1994. Although he was appointed as a general surgeon, he was given a remit to develop the colorectal service. He also shared the general paediatric surgery provision for the hospital. Peter successfully developed the colorectal unit from a one man show into a three consultant unit with two training posts at registrar level. He also secured funding to support a PhD project in guided imagery from 1997 to 2003. Peter was never content with just 'doing the job'. He got the best out of the available resources, not just his team of doctors, but he also promoted the abilities of his nursing colleagues. He reinvigorated the stoma care provision, and took that to an excellent standard. He was an early proponent of nurse practitioners as part of the surgical team. Peter was a good teacher and was liked by his trainees. The Wales Higher Surgical Training (HST) scheme had an annual vote by the trainees for the 'best trainer' award, which he was delighted to win. He took his love of teaching further by being a member of the Wales HST committee, and he guided and inspired many a trainee. He was appointed to the Court of Examiners of the Royal College of Surgeons, where he examined for the MRCS. He invited the Court to come to Wrexham for the clinicals on more than one occasion. He became chairman of the intercollegiate question quality committee in charge of the bank of MRCS questions. He was appointed to the specialty advisory committee (SAC) in general surgery. He was the SAC liaison member for the West Midlands. As a colleague, Peter was a great asset and his opinion was sought regularly. He was able to stand back, take a wider view and give wise counsel. He was also very happy to join a colleague in theatre if there were problems and help out. His standard of practice was high, as evidenced by the audit of his outcomes of mesorectal excision for rectal cancer. His philosophy in life was that if something was worth doing, he would do it to the best of his abilities. That philosophy applied to both work and home life. At home he and Anna had three children - Kate, John and David. None of them followed their parents into medicine, but Kate did have a publication in the *British Medical Journal* under the 'personal view' column! Peter took his health and fitness seriously. He took up rowing and was a member of a rowing club: the river Dee was close to where he and Anna lived in Chester. With Anna he also developed his skiing skills. He became an instructor in Telemark skiing and later also became an instructor in downhill skiing. He retired at the end of 2013 and enjoyed being able to ski and get out into the countryside with Anna, who had also taken retirement from her job as a GP. Sadly, he found that while skiing at the beginning of 2015 his balance deteriorated. He was diagnosed with a glioblastoma and, despite all treatment, died within five months on 31 August 2015. He was 62. The fortitude with which he bore his final illness was an inspiration to his family and to all who came in contact with him during those last months.