Canon Philip Norwood writes:

KENNETH GIBBONS, who died in Taunton on 1 August, was active in parish ministry for 54 years. Ordained 68 years ago, in Blackburn diocese, he was one of a notable group of young men who came through their experience of National Service to serve their Church in the ranks of the ministry. As a teenager in Blackpool, Ken found his vocation in the example set by the Revd Geoffrey Gower-Jones at St Stephen-on-the-Cliffs. Ken was later to succeed Fr Gower-Jones as Archdeacon of Lancaster.

As a curate in Fleetwood, Ken was instrumental in creating a new daughter church at St David’s, becoming Priest-in-Charge. He went on to spend two years at a base in Leeds Parish Church. There, Ken was Schools’ Secretary for the Student Christian Movement in the north-east, holding conferences for young people. He moved to St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, where he started regular meetings for young people aged 18 to 30, a group that flourished and came to be known as “Thursdays at Eight”. He was assisted in this by Margaret Tomlinson, whom he married in 1962. Their two sons, David and Andrew, were born in London.

In 1965, Ken was appointed Vicar of St Edward’s, New Addington, a parish with a population of 30,000 on the edge of Croydon. Here, he built up a team of three curates, housed eventually in flats in a newly built clergy house. Their training included responsibilities in local secondary schools and hospitals, the local industrial estate, and in periods of chaplaincy at Butlin’s holiday camps. With a rigorous discipline of parochial visiting and pastoral care, staff who were trained in the parish were able to benefit greatly.

For 11 years, from 1970 to 1981, Ken was Vicar of St Mary’s, Portsea, a demanding responsibility with a famous church and care for two daughter churches. Here, also, the large parish was cared for by a staff of six, and Ken took up responsibilities also in the General Synod, on the council of the Sons of the Clergy (now the Clergy Support Trust), as well as in the deanery. An enormous concern was the restoration of the very large church building. It was said on his departure that his legacy could be seen in the good order in which he left it.

In 1981, Ken was called back to Lancashire, to serve as Archdeacon of Lancaster. With parish ministry always his focus, Ken insisted on continuing as a parish priest, and he was based first at Weeton. His experience of the training of clergy enabled him also to fulfil the diocesan post of director of ordinands and of post-ordination training.

At Weeton, he found unexpected responsibilities for chaplaincy to the 2nd Battalion of the Light Infantry Regiment, and he had a lucky escape when his helicopter was hit by IRA fire in Northern Ireland and yet was able to land safely. The extra burden of this work led him to move to St Michaels-on-Wyre in 1985. He served as Archdeacon of Lancaster for 16 years until his retirement in 1997.

A move to Kenley, in Surrey, did not, however, mean the end of his parochial ministry. In 1997, he was appointed Priest-in-Charge of St Magnus the Martyr, in the City, and later of St Clement Eastcheap, and so, for 11 years, he commuted to the City five days a week. He was invited to provide cover for an interregnum at the Ascension, Lavender Hill, and assisted in other parishes, until he suffered a stroke in 2010.

This illness brought to an end an active parish ministry of 54 years. Ken believed firmly that the heart of the mission of the Church lay in the parish community and in the service of the clergy to the people of each locality, a structure that is now, sadly, coming into question. There are, however, many clergy and parishioners who are grateful for Fr Ken’s encouragement and care, and many who were inspired by him to follow a life of service.