The Ven. George Howe writes:

THE Very Revd Trevor Beeson devotes a section of his book Round the Church in 50 Years (2007) to the story of the “remarkable ministry” of Keith Woodhouse in the new town of Peterlee in County Durham between 1964 and 1999. In those 35 years, Keith was responsible for the training of no fewer than 17 curates (meincluded), and encouraged six vocations to ordained ministry from within the parish.

Keith was born in 1933 in Sutton in Ashfield, in Nottinghamshire. He trained for ordination at King’s College, London, and, like many students there, when Sydney Evans was Principal, he took up the call to the north. Ordained deacon in 1958, he served his title at Roseworth, a vast post-war housing estate on the edge of Stockton-on-Tees. In Beeson (Gazette, 27 October 2023), he had a most able and innovative training incumbent, from whom he learned many of the skills and ideas that he took to Peterlee. He served a second curacy in inner-city Manchester, where he focused on youth ministry, which again prepared him for a key and successful element of his future ministry.

When Keith moved to Peterlee in 1964, he became the third parish priest of St Cuthbert’s, which had been dedicated in 1957. The church’s striking design, with prominent apse and classical baldacchino, leant itself to colourful eucharistic worship, and Keith quickly built on that tradition, developing a choir and a team of servers, and attracting large congregations to the weekly parish communion.

That reflected a growing and youthful population and the fostering of strong community links. Keith became well known across the town and its people with whom he engaged at many levels. This led to large numbers of requests for baptisms and weddings: it was not uncommon to have 20 to 30 baptisms on a Sunday afternoon.

Keith was soon joined by curate colleagues who both brought fresh ideas and benefited from his gentle but firm leadership. Monday-morning staff meetings were a top priority and a source of much laughter. Lent programmes were meticulously well planned and executed. The blank left-hand pages of our Parsons’ Pocket Book diaries were filled with names and addresses of pastoral visits to be made — often on foot, with the challenge of finding house numbers in the unconventional street layout of the new town.

Ecumenical relationships were strong and built on real friendships that developed between the clergy. Keith served as Rural Dean of Easington for 26 years of his 35 years in the parish, and as an Hon. Canon of Durham Cathedral from 1979. These exceptionally long tenures might have been open to criticism and led to stagnation, but not in Keith’s case: he became a much-valued source of stability and cohesion as a relatively new community developed and came of age. His commitment to helping young people in their faith meant that large numbers joined Sunday schools and mid-week clubs and came forward for confirmation. His expertise was not confined to the life of the church; he was also a tutor for the county council’s youth leadership course for 21 years, and chaired the District Council for Voluntary Service.

When Keith finally came to retire in 1999, he was given the rare honour that a newly laid-out park in Peterlee was named after him. Woodhouse Park serves as a lasting reminder of the enormous contribution that he made to church and community. But his legacy is greater than that. He inspired the future ministries of many colleagues who moved on to diverse settings, but with a commonly held commitment to a truly incarnational ministry. He also supported his parishioners and congregation in their joys and sorrows, showing forth to them the love of God in Christ.

Keith retired to Penshaw, near Sunderland, and had a much appreciated retirement ministry in another new town, Washington. He also served as the diocesan officer for retired clergy and clergy widows. He remained active into his late eighties, enjoying the friendships that he had built up over many years, and continuing to act as a wise counsellor and encourager.

In summing up this “great priest” and his “remarkable ministry”, I am drawn to words from the Ordinal for the ordination of deacons, who are to “proclaim the gospel in word and deed, as agents of God’s purposes of love. They are to serve the community in which they are set, bringing to the Church the needs and hopes of all the people. . . reaching into the forgotten corners of the world, that the love of God may be made visible.” “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”

Canon Keith Woodhouse died on 30 October, aged 91.