EVANS. — On 11 April, the Revd David Burton Evans: Minor Canon of Durham Cathedral (1967-71); Priest Vicar of Chichester Cathedral (1971-74); Chaplain of the Prebendal School, Chichester (1971-74); Rector of Lynch with Iping Marsh (1974-79); Vicar of Easebourne (1979-86); Chaplain of the King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst (1977-86); Rector of St Michael Cornhill with St Peter Le Poer and St Benet Fink (1986-96); Chaplain of St Andrew’s, Pau (1996-2001); aged 91.
GRAYSHON. — On 31 March, the Revd Matthew Richard Grayshon: Vicar of Hallwood (1985-93); Rector of St Mary with St Christopher, Hanwell (1993-2016); London Diocesan Adviser for Deliverance Ministry in the Willesden Area (1998-2016); Hon. Curate of Portway and Danebury (2016-22); Winchester Diocesan Adviser for Deliverance Ministry (2016-26); aged 78.
HOWE. — On 9 March, the Revd Roy William Howe: Vicar of Yeadon (1972-79); Priest-in-Charge of Bainton, and of Middleton-on-the-Wolds, and of North Dalton (1979-86); Rural Dean of Harthill (1981-87); Assistant Curate of Watton with Beswick and Kilnwick (1982-86); Rector of Bainton with North Dalton, Middleton-on-the-Wolds and Kilnwick (1986-87); Team Vicar of Penrith with Newton Reigny and Plumpton Wall (1987-92); Carlisle Diocesan Chaplain to Agriculture and Rural Life (1987-92); Vicar of Cornhill with Carham, and of Branxton (1992-98); Priest-in-Charge of Coddenham with Gosbeck and Hemingstone with Henley (1998-2003); aged 87.
SHONE. — On 8 April, the Revd Ursula Ruth Shone: Deaconess of Bridge of Allan (1981-85); Lochgelly (1985-87); Chaplain of Coventry Cathedral (1987-90); Coventry Industrial Chaplain (1987-90); Parish Deacon of Ainsdale (1990-94); Liverpool Diocesan Science Adviser (1990-99); Assistant Curate of Ainsdale (1994-96); St David’s, Childwall (1996-99); NSM of Brechin (2000-12); aged 91.
WARWICK. — On 10 April, the Revd Hugh Johnston Warwick: NSM of Rotherfield Peppard (2000-02); Rotherfield Peppard and Kidmore End and Sonning Common (2002-08); Hon. Assistant Curate of Aynho and Croughton with Evenley and Farthinghoe and Hinton-in-the-Hedges with Steane (2022-24); aged 86.
Recollections
Anthony Jennings writes:
THE obituary of the Revd Mervyn Wilson (Gazette, 27 March) admirably covered his work with the Rural Theology Association, but his other major achievement, as co-founder of Save Our Parsonages (SOP), should also be remembered. Together with Tony Hodgson and Noel Riley (its first director), he was much troubled by the “great sell-off” of traditional rectories and vicarages by the dioceses, which was still very much going on in the 1980s and 1990s, by which time he and the other founders of SOP were having regular meetings to discuss a plan of campaign of resistance. The message was that these sales were depriving local communities of their traditional meeting places for pastoral, social, and fund-raising activities such as garden fetes, and even more importantly, they were counter-productive to the mission of the Church by depriving it of its visible and symbolic presence at the heart of the community. This message also tied in perfectly with Mervyn’s love of gardens and their place in the faith.
As soon as SOP was set up in 1994, it gained considerable publicity and was surprisingly popular. It was inundated with pleas for help from distressed parishioners up and down the country. Mervyn’s gentlemanly and self-effacing manner combined with his underlying conviction proved highly effective. Over his many years as a committee member, he suggested several initiatives, notably the “vulnerable parsonages” project, under which SOP tried to forewarn parishioners of foreseeable diocesan parsonage sales.
Mervyn also had the aim of publishing a book on the history of the English parsonage and the parsonage garden, with a chapter that recorded the story of the great parsonage sell-off, a project that I was delighted to bring to some sort of fruition with The Old Rectory: The story of the English parsonage.