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FAITH MATTERS
The Parish Magazine of St.
Faith, Havant with St. Nicholas, Langstone
OCTOBER
2006 (Internet Edition)
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From the Rector - Enneagram – The Nine Ways of Being
My daughters have recently been reading Francesca
Simon’s excellent books about two brothers at odds
with each other, Perfect Peter and Horrid Henry. As
the names imply Peter is mostly his parents’ delight
and Henry their bane. Henry wants to play games with
his super-soaker or watch Saturday morning TV
programmes about people covering each other in
excessive amounts of goo (‘Gross Out’). He
doesn’t understand his parents when they want to
inhibit his television viewing to undertake
‘chores’, or when they want him to stop the mock
fight between his duck and croc in the bath. Peter,
on the other hand, has no such unsociable habits or
likes. He prefers to watch programmes about good
table manners (‘Manners with Maggie’) and takes
pleasure in helping Mum with the housework.
These little books are very enjoyable, not least
because we recognise the caricatures so beautifully
drawn by their creator. But they draw us in because
we also recognise the elements of these infantile
characters in ourselves. While it is ludicrous that
Henry and Peter get up earlier and earlier on Saturday
morning so that they can be the one to have the comfy
chair and watch their choice of programme (to the
point that when Henry sneaks down at 2am expecting to
sleep for the rest of the night in the chair he finds
Peter already there!) we know that we have refined
versions of such determined self-seeking into our
adult behaviour. In addition it may appear on first
sight that Peter is good and Henry bad, but the closer
we look we see the childish self-centredness in both
of them. While this is far from unhealthy in small
boys, the socialisation process teaches us to
‘manage’ these instincts as we enter the adult
world.
But our spiritual life takes this further. Our task
as Christians is to lose our self-centredness
altogether and give way to Christ-centred living.
While this is clearly a life-long task, it is the goal
of the Christian spiritual life to which we are
committed for no other reason than to follow in the
footsteps of Christ and to assist in the task of
heralding the Kingdom of God. This task demands great
self-honesty and a healthy degree of self-examination.
The Enneagram is a wonderful tool that assists this
spiritual task. It posits nine essential habits of
human behaviour, which enable our survival from infant
to adult. According to the Enneagram we have all
adopted one of these patterns of behaviour to deal
with the threats and challenges of our childhood. As
we have matured through adulthood, we have stuck with
this pattern and learnt to defend it as ‘the way we
are’. The gift of the Enneagram is that it shows
us these nine ways and helps us identify our own
dominant pattern. This is in turn helps us appreciate
the eight other patterns that others accord to, thus
appreciating the gifts, and different motivations, of
others. And for each pattern (or point) we can see
how the behaviour is defined to avoid the very fear
that most strongly besets that type. By identifying
this we can break through to the real beautiful self
that God has created us to be, and from which we have
been kept in blissful ignorance for so long.
With my colleague Ann Leonard (Vicar of Hayling, St
Peter and St Andrew) I shall be running three taster
evenings into the Enneagram this autumn, with a view
to running a full Enneagram course next year. I have
been working with the Enneagram for the last 13 years
and have found it wonderfully insightful, helpful and
informative. It has helped my walk with God and the
pilgrimage I share with others. The benefits are not
only in recognising my own spiritual challenges and
the gifts that I can liberate in myself, but also the
gifts and challenges of others. I thoroughly
recommend this course and the tasters to you.
Every blessing,
David
About The Parish
Last month we left Scott ready
to form his party to take on the final lap of the
journey to the South Pole. He kept a log of the
tragic events which were to unfold, which, together
with letters and documents left by his companions,
tells us the fate of these very courageous men. In
setting off, Scott made another bad decision. His
original intention was to take a party of four but he
decided instead to take five. These were Scott,
Lawrence “Titus” Oates, Edgar Evans, Edward
Wilson and Henry "Birdie" Bowers. The party
set off on 4 January 1912 and the extra man
immediately caused problems. The single tent was
meant to take four men and five gave them limited
space and insufficient ground sheeting to permit
everyone to lay clear of the frozen ground. Food
rations for four had to stretch to five and meals took
longer to prepare. The weather deteriorated
alarmingly, as the temperature plummeted. By the 12
January, they were just 40 miles from the Pole but two
days later their dreams of being first to the Pole
were shattered by the sight of Amundsen's black flag
flying from a cairn. The Norwegian had in fact
arrived on 14 December 1911. Scott's party had
travelled 60 miles further than Amundsen's and had
experienced far worse weather.
Scott started the 800 mile return journey to base camp
on 19 January and within a few days Oates was in a
desperate state, with frost-bitten feet making every
yard agony. Evans had frost-bitten hands and nose.
By 31 January, Oates could no longer haul a sledge.
Evans gradually weakened until he collapsed, forcing
the party to camp. He was able to carry on another
day, walking behind the others but unable to help pull
the sledge. Eventually, he collapsed again but this
time he died. No record was kept of his burial. The
party of four struggled on towards the Mount Hooper
Depot, where Scott expected to find dog teams.
Arriving there on 16 March, Scott found none and,
worse still, the rations were much less than he
expected. Many have been blamed for this catastrophe
but the principal blame has been attached to a Naval
doctor Atkinson, who later served at Haslar Hospital
where his picture appears in one of the displays
illustrating the history of the hospital. He had not
expected Scott to arrive at the depot until early
April and had taken the dog teams to One Ton depot.
By now, Oates was in an appalling state and could not
go any further. He slept on the night of the 17 March
hoping not to wake. Then next morning he woke to the
noise of a blizzard raging. Saying to his companions,
“I am just going outside and may be some time”,
he quietly slipped away. The actions of an
extraordinarily brave man of just 32 years! There
used to be a small exhibition about him in his village
of Selbourne, which I would like to think is still
there. Does anyone know?
The party struggled on until
by the 22 March they were just 11 miles from One Ton.
Scott now had a frozen foot and could not go on. The
plan now was for Bowers and Wilson to go alone to One
Ton to bring back supplies. As Bowers wrote to his
mother, “God alone knows what will be the outcome
of our 22 miles march. But my trust is still in Him
and in the abounding Grace of my Lord and Saviour whom
you brought me up to trust in and who has been my stay
through life. There will be no shame however and you
will know that I struggled to the end.” In the
event, blizzards prevented them leaving the tent and
the three stayed in their sleeping bags, with no food,
water or heat. Bowers and Wilson died first because
there was evidence that Scott had secured their bodies
in their bags. The last diary entry made by Scott was
thought to be on 29 March. He died alone in his 43rd
year. Just a couple of hundred yards more each day
and they would have arrived at One Ton in time to
survive. One of the rescue party summed it up with
the words, “Oh God! What a twist of fate”.
These final words are by Helmet Hansen, a member of
Amundsen’s great South Pole team, “It is no
disparagement of Amundsen and the rest of us when I
say that Scott’s achievement far exceeded ours. Just
imagine what it meant for Scott and the others to drag
their sledges themselves, with all their equipment and
provisions to the Pole and back again. We started
with 52 dogs and came back with 11, and many of these
wore themselves out on the journey. What shall we say
of Scott and his comrades who were their own dogs?
Anyone with any experience will take off his hat to
Scott’s achievement. I do not believe men ever have
shown such endurance at any time, nor do I believe
there ever will be men to equal it. Roger
Bryant
Church Redevelopment Proposals – Report Summary
The Property Development Group with the assistance of
North Harbour Consulting Limited and the Church
architects have been carrying out an extensive
consultation exercise on the sketch proposals for St
Faith’s Church over a six week period in June and July
2006. The aim was to test reaction to the vision and
concepts underlying the scheme before decisions were
taken about the form that the detailed proposals
should take. During this period a series of
presentations were made to meetings of parishioners,
users of the Church buildings, businesses, community
representatives and voluntary organisations, and
officers of the Borough Council. An open air
exhibition of the proposals took place in West Street
on a market day and a Saturday shopping day, and other
forms of communication have been used. Two hundred
feedback postcards are being handed out to the general
public by volunteers organised by Havant Borough
Council as part of a survey of views on the future of
Havant Town Centre. Consultation is still going on.
So far, the consultation has involved around three
hundred individuals and around twenty-five groups and
organisations.
The responses have been of three different types:
§
verbal responses from around one
hundred and thirty people that attended presentations
of the proposals;
§
comments made by around one hundred and
sixty members of the public who visited an open air
exhibition of the proposals in West Street on a market
day and a Saturday shopping day;
§
written feedback received from
sixty-five people.
Overall, there was a large majority of responses that
were in favour of the proposals. Of the verbal
responses recorded, about 80% approved of the
proposals, and about 20% were against them. Of the
written responses, 54% approved of the proposals; 19%
had mixed feelings; and 25% disapproved of the
proposals. 2% did not say what their views were but
asked for more information.
Only a small number of people thought that there
should be no change at all in either the Church or the
churchyard. Most of those that did not like the
proposals accepted that something should be done, but
did not like some aspect of the proposals presented to
them. The principle of reordering the Church and/or
improving the churchyard appears to be generally
accepted. However, some people disliked the proposals
for inside the Church but accepted the proposals for
the Chapter House and landscaping. Others who
accepted the proposals for inside the Church did not
like the proposals for the churchyard and Chapter
House. The overall picture is therefore quite
complex.
Within the written responses, regular church-goers
tended to have different views from other people and
tended to be less in favour of the scheme.
§
65% of responses from people other than
members of the congregation were in favour of the
proposals, compared with 46% of responses from members
of the congregation.
§
11% of people who are not part of the
congregation expressed mixed feelings (perhaps liking
some parts of the proposal but not others) compared
with 23% of respondents from the congregation.
§
15% of people who are not part of the
congregation said they did not like the proposals at
all compared with 31% of respondents from the
congregation.
The proposals for the interior of the Church appear to
be the most controversial. 51% of the written
responses that commented on the proposals for
reordering the Church said they disliked them. Most
of this opposition came from members of the
congregation. The proposals to move the High Altar
and Lady Chapel, and to replace pews with chairs,
caused the most concern.
Proposals for the Chapter House and landscaping
appeared less controversial. 63% of all written
responses approved of the Chapter House while 23% were
against. Similarly, 56% approved of the landscaping
proposals with 16% against. There were three main
concerns expressed about these proposals: excavation
of the graveyard which a small number of respondents
thought was sacrilegious and more thought it was
unacceptable for historical, landscape or
environmental reasons; concern over the visual impact
of a new building on the south west corner of the
Church; and concern over the future of the large yew
tree.
A generational split was evident in the responses from
members of the congregation (evidenced by references
to the past or to young families, or suggested by the
type of handwriting or comments made). This suggests
that older people that have been using St Faith’s
Church over many years may be more likely to dislike
the proposals than younger people with families. This
is not an absolute distinction however. People
carrying out the consultation recall instances of
older people warmly welcoming the proposals.
There were many constructive suggestions put forward
as well as a number of more critical comments.
Looking at the responses overall, we conclude that
there is considerable support for the proposals from
faith, community and voluntary organisations and the
general public. However, concerns are being expressed
by a significant minority of the St Faith’s
congregation. We believe that some of these concerns
can be met through making adjustments to certain
aspects of the proposals, and perhaps also by showing
members of the congregation how successful projects of
this kind have been elsewhere in terms of the Church’s
mission, community involvement and improvement to
Church facilities. There is a small but vocal hard
core of opposition that on the evidence of similar
schemes elsewhere appears unlikely to change its
mind. Outright opposition is a minority view, but
nevertheless one that needs to be understood and
responded to in a sensitive manner.
The 2006 Bishop’s Waltham Deanery Autumn
Lectures
The theme of this year’s Deanery Lectures
is the life of the church in the town and the country
and will be held at The Paterson Centre, St. Barnabas
Church, Swanmore every Tuesday from 3 October to 7
November commencing at 8pm. Anybody interested in
attending should contact Norman Chatfield, telephone
01489 891995
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The Town Fair, as I am sure you know, was held this
year on the Saturday of the Bank Holiday weekend – the
26th August. In spite of the weather being
a little wet, the day seems to have been a success and
was enjoyed by most people. The editor has asked me
to provide an account for the magazine of how it all
went with lessons that we should learn for next year.
I think that the best way to do this will be to
produce a shortened version of the minutes of our
‘wrap-up’ meeting. So, that is what follows.
It looks as if the final accounts will show a net
income of about £3,800. Although fund-raising is not
the only purpose of the event, it is an important
one. We also want to put on an event for the
community of Havant.
In general, the process used this year should still be
followed in the future. A committee needs to be
formed before Christmas and decide the long term
items, such as date and theme. After Christmas this
committee needs to meet monthly. It needs to be a
‘working committee’, with members’ allocated area
of responsibility. We felt that some of the areas
this year were too large and should be divided to
allow easier tasks with less workload.
With the benefit of hindsight, we decided that it was
not a good idea to hold the fair during the school
holidays or on the bank holiday weekend. It should be
towards the end of the school term and, given the
requirement for good weather, that means July. We
think that the date of Saturday, 14th July
is right for next year.
We really needed a plan of the site. There is one,
but we did not know of it until after the fair. The
large gazebos loaned to us by the council were very
useful in making the impact of rain less of a
problem. One improvement for next year should be to
put all the food and drink facilities into one area.
The provision of various entertainments remains
popular and the disco was especially well received.
It is hoped that a date in July will make it possible
to invite school bands and in future avoid large
payments to hire entertainments while keeping the
music playing!
We need to prepare our publicity better than we did
this year. It would have been helpful to know in
advance the possible locations for posters and dates
of the various publicity deadlines, such as when
‘Serving You’ is published.
Let me end by repeating my thanks to all those
involved this year. It was a large team that included
many more people than just the committee members. It
also included most members of the church congregation
in some way and many people outside the church,
especially several representatives of Havant Borough
Council. I am not going to mention people by name in
this article. I hope that I have written to all of
them by now. If I have not, my apologies and thanks
to you anyway.
David Williams Chairman of the Committee
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Dear Editor,
I am writing regarding the changes to St. Faith’s
church and last months comments in the magazine. The
writer said St. Faith’s is primarily a place of
worship and so should retain its pews.
My opinion is that worship is everything you do so
having the church as a church hall is serving people.
I see the other writers view that St. Faiths is a
place of peace in Havant and agree there should be a
quiet area available to use. The church is the people
not the building. Think about the future of St.
Faith’s - what would be better an empty building or a
church of people?
Yours sincerely,
Christopher
Marsh
(via email)
News from Nottingham & Derby
When you start at theological college, one of the
first things you all do is try to imagine each other
wearing dog collars. Obviously it’s impossible,
because you all think you are normal people, so the
idea of any of you ever being a priest is quite
ridiculous. But not that ridiculous: 30 St John’s
students, including most of my year group, were
ordained at the beginning of July and are now serving
as deacons throughout the country, from Dorset to the
Lake District.
A friend and I went on an ‘ordination crawl’,
taking in St Paul’s Cathedral on Saturday evening,
followed by Derby Cathedral on Sunday morning. The
service at St Paul’s was huge, with 31 people being
ordained, three of them from St John’s College. After
a procession accompanied by a fanfare played on bongos
(superb with the 9 second echo), the Bishop of London
set an appropriate tone for the service with the
solemn announcement “The score is nil-nil”, for
the benefit of those who would rather have been
watching England’s quarter-final match against
Portugal; rumour has it that the final dismissal at
the end of the service coincided exactly with the
penalty which knocked England out. Not being a huge
football fan, I enjoyed the service a lot and found it
especially poignant, knowing that I will probably be
ordained there myself next summer.
The ordination in Derby Cathedral the following
morning was a complete contrast, but also lovely.
Eight people were ordained, including Liz and Simon
from St John’s College, who are both now curates at St
Alkmund’s Church in Derby (St Alkmund was an 8th
century Mercian prince and is the patron saint of
Derby). I have started going to their café church,
Alk’s Café, on Sunday evenings when I’m in Derby.
Café churches are becoming popular around the country
and Simon started Alk’s Café when he was on placement
at St Alkmund’s last year. The format is very simple
and informal: people sit round tables with tea, coffee
and cakes; there is some singing, a talk, some
discussion, sometimes a quiz and general chitchat.
There are now over 100 regulars: it is especially
popular with students, who don’t necessarily want to
get up for church on Sunday morning, and with people
who don’t like traditional ‘church’, but who do
want to explore the Christian faith. The coffee is
nice too!
Talking of coffee, Derby Cathedral is now sporting a
brand new coffee area at the back, so coffee is now
served in the cathedral after services, rather than in
a poky room downstairs. The building work took much
longer than expected, thanks to the discovery of some
human bones under the cathedral floor. Amidst rumours
of long-lost saints and grisly murders, it was
eventually decided that the bones were simply evidence
of the cathedral’s 1,000 year history as a parish
church and burial site.
The top news of June for Derby Cathedral was the birth
of some baby peregrine falcons. Some weeks
beforehand, the mother bird decided to build her nest
on the cathedral’s tower (it claims to be the second
tallest perpendicular church tower in England, so she
chose well); a nesting platform was then provided and
various bird-protection orders were issued by the
Derbyshire bird police; armies of bird-watchers
arrived on the green behind the cathedral and have
become a permanent feature. Eventually, three chicks
appeared. Hundreds of people watched the chicks
making their maiden flights: one ended up flat on its
face in a car park and another crashed into a pub
wall, but they all lived to fly another day. Not to
be outdone, the local pigeons have been taking more of
an interest in the cathedral, and one joined us
(inside) for a whole Sunday morning.
Having completed my two years of ordination training,
I’m now based back at home for the next year, doing
research into Christmas carol services in cathedrals.
I’ll still be working at Derby Cathedral and visiting
other cathedrals, and also going to college in
Nottingham fairly frequently, so it promises to be an
excitingly mobile year.
So this seems a good time to close ‘News from
Nottingham & Derby’
Rachel Phillips (niece of Alan Hakim)
Rachel will be preaching at Sunday
Eucharist on 8th October, our St. Faith’s
Patronal Festival.
Enneagram
Taster Sessions are being run on:
9th October at The Ark, St Peter’s, Hayling
Island.
8th November at St James’ Church Hall,
Church Path, Emsworth.
16th November at Church House, The Pallant,
Havant.
All evenings start at 7:30pm
To register or for more information call the Rector on
9248 3485
Running of the Bulls Festival
I was in Pamplona on 5th July this year –
not for the annual Running of the Bulls Festival but
for an alternative festival, the Running of the
Nudes. Our aims: to bring attention to the cruelty of
the Running of the Bulls and Bullfighting, to show
everyone that you can have a fun-filled fiesta and
attract crowds, and therefore bring money into the
town without torturing and slaughtering poor
defenceless animals. The worst thing that can happen
for bulls slaughtered in the ring is for good people
like us to stay quiet – evil thrives when the Good
stay silent. We were over 1000, but the end result
was a tremendous success for the bulls. Our nude run
sparked incredible international media interest. By
picking up placards, raising our voices, dancing,
singing and, yes, taking our clothes off, which took
courage, we persuaded the world’s newspapers and
television and radio stations to discuss whether or
not cruelty is a tradition that should elicit pride in
the people of Pamplona.
The majority of Spaniards are not in favour of
bullfighting. The Catalonian parliament will be
voting in September for a complete ban of bullfighting
in Catalonia. The Running of the Bulls is simply the
beginning of the whole festival, the bulls are forced
to stampede through the town, by being prodded and
goaded with electric rods, often injure themselves on
the cobbled streets, are terrified by the screaming
crowd, and reach the point of exhaustion prior to
meeting their fate in the bullrings. It is no fun to
see an innocent, crazed animal tortured before a
screaming crowd of people, who should be hanging their
heads in shame. Do not support this hellish business,
which decent people are working to end. Handlers
weaken the bull for days before the bullfight. They
put laxatives in his food, and heavy sandbags on his
back. They file his horns down to the tended quick
and they drug him. In the ring, they drive lances
into his back and neck muscles, so he can’t lift his
head, or they cut the tendons in the back of the
neck. They rub petroleum jelly in his eyes so he
cannot see properly. By the time the matador appears,
the bull is weak from blood loss and dizzy from being
chased in circles. Some brave matador.
Bullfighting is a tourists’ problem. 50% of British
holidaymakers visit a country that holds bullfights
every year. More tourists from Britain visit Spain
and France than any other nation, and we are the
second most popular visitor to Portugal. Yes,
bullfighting is prevalent in France, Spain, Portugal
and the Americas, but it relies heavily on tourists
attending bullfights or spending money in towns that
have permanent bullrings. Tourists have the economic
power to send the message loud and clear – torturing
animals for sport is wrong, and we will no longer help
to support this bloodbath. What we can do: boycott
towns that have permanent bullrings – you know that
Pamplona is one of them. Contact the tourist board of
towns with permanent bullrings – tell them you will
not be visiting them while they still support the
bullfighting industry. Visit bullfighting-free towns
and countries, of which Barcelona is already one.
Tell your family and friends; there are, for example,
many permanent bullrings in Andalucia, Castilla-La
Mancha, Extremadura and Madrid. I have a
comprehensive list.
We all have the power to help stop this bloodbath.
Remember: evil thrives when the Good do nothing.
Helena Youle
Information sources: People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals & League Against Cruel Sports
From the Registers – September
7th Funeral of Ida Hayles
25th Baptism of Jack Robert Girling
The Longcrofts – And There’s More!
We have received the following
e-mail from James L Phillips-Evans, a trainee
solicitor in true Longcroft style! “I regularly
check the Havant parish magazine online since I
discovered a potted history of my ancestors the
Longcroft family in one of the past issues. Having
checked the June 2006 issue I discovered Roger
Bryant’s piece about the family in response to the
e-mail from Allan P Gray of Texas. While I cannot
help him with his own family directly, I do have
something to add. The Longcrofts have another Jamaica
connection besides the brother of Mary Ann Elizabeth
Reynolds who married George Harffly Longcroft in that
Captain Edward Longcroft RN was married in Jamaica to
Elizabeth Baylis in 1782. It is not known for certain
how Edward Longcroft fits into the family but it is
thought that he was the son of Robert Longcroft,
eldest son of Thomas and Mary Longcroft of Portsmouth
whose children Mary (wife of John Moody, Lord of the
manor of Havant) and Thomas established the family in
Havant. Captain Edward Longcroft and his Jamaican
wife had three children and when Edward returned to
Havant in the 1790s he is said to have had his black
servant Rosetta baptised in Havant parish church. He
then moved to West Wales where he founded another
branch of the Longcroft family, equal in status to
their Havant cousins. I do not know anything more
else about Edward’s presence in Jamaica or his wife’s
family so perhaps Mr Gray would be interested in this
little snippet as he may be aware of the Baylis family
of Jamaica. I should therefore be grateful if you
could forward this e-mail to him and/or feature an
update in the August 2006 issue of “Faith Matters”.
Thank you”.
The August issue was already
on its way to the printers but our editor, Colin, sent
a copy of the e-mail to Allan who responded as
follows: “Thank you very much for your e-mail and
the enclosed message concerning the Longcrofts and
Reynolds of Havant. I don’t know about the Baylis
family but I did “google” Captain Edward Longcroft and
was interested in his story. Life was full of
adventure in those days it seems, at least if you were
among the privileged. A lot of time spent travelling
from one remote spot to another with much risk of
misadventure which is what happened to my Charles
Reynolds and family on their way home to Britain from
Jamaica. All very different from today as I sit here
in my air conditioned room sending instant messages
half way round the world. Hurricanes still come
around though as we know very well in this
neighbourhood, usually not as far as Austin – we get
tornados! Very nice to hear from you and thanks
again. Allan P Gray”.
So there you are dear reader, over to you – has anyone
anything more about this family for Colin?
Roger Bryant
Father John was a great friend of St Faith’s and the
memory of this remarkable man will always remain with
his many friends in this church. The story of his
life is an inspiration. He was born in Warsash and he
never lost his love of the water and his little boat
Mr. Wu which he purchased in his youth for just £4.
He sailed it throughout his active life. Yet it was
on the land that an event occurred which is always
associated with him; an event mentioned in books and
featured in television interviews. He was in the Army
in 1940 during World War II, when he was captured by
the Germans in France. He made several successful
escapes over the next few years but never quite evaded
recapture. In 1943, his exploits qualified him to be
imprisoned by the Germans in Colditz Castle which was
considered to be escape-proof! He proved the Germans
wrong and was one of a very few men to achieve the
near-impossible by escaping from Colditz.
Unfortunately, he was recaptured a few days later.
After the war, he settled into civvy street. 1951 was
a special year for him. He married Angela, was
ordained and went to St Mark’s North End as an
Assistant Curate. In 1954, he became Priest in Charge
of St Francis, Leigh Park. There was only one snag;
the Council were yet to build a church for the new
parish. However, they gave Father John a large
council house and he converted the bedroom into a
chapel! He attracted so many people to services that
they had to sit all down the stairs. Eventually, he
managed to obtain a Nissan hut which he converted into
a church. In 1959, he became Vicar of Hayling
Island. His predecessor said to him, “No problems
here with boundaries. If you get wet feet, then you
are out of the parish!” In 1974 he became Vicar
of Droxford until retiring in 1990. In recent years
he was in poor health but the wonderful Angela was at
his side to give him love and support. Angela has
been a Bellringer at St. Faith’s for many years and
has contributed much to this church.
Father John once told the story of how he was captured
by the Germans together with 30 French, Belgium and
British soldiers and put in a barn. A French soldier
mentioned it was Sunday and they could take Mass if
there were a priest present. An English voice said,
“I am a Methodist priest. Will I do?” Using
some potatoes as wafers and water, the prisoners of
all different denominations celebrated Mass. Father
John contrasted this with Colditz some three years
later where padres conducted separate services! His
story tells us much about a remarkable priest. Our
love and prayers are with Angela and her lovely
family.
RHB
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