Wally Lumm was a village elder, and also a churchwarden but was quite unliked in Beckindale as he was an outspoken man who held very controversial views on religion, and was angry at Beckindale vicar Edward Ruskin attending a Catholic church in Hotten. Wally was against divorced women entering the Mothers Union. At a party at the vicarage Annie Sugden gave him a piece of her mind. His wife dictated to Letty Brewer whether she could or could not go to the Mothers Union because Letty was planning to divorce her husband.
Wally fell ill to pneumonia in late 1974 and died on January 1975 offscreen. Sam Pearson was sad that Wally had died even if he was quite opinionated when alive. Sam mentioned that Wally was 2 years younger than him.