Kenneth Gibbons (24 Dec 1931 - 1 Aug 2024)

Kenneth Gibbons, who died at Taunton on 1st August, was active in Parish Ministry for 54 years. Ordained 68 years ago in 1956 in Blackburn Diocese, he was one of a notable group 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 Fr. Geoffrey Gower-Jones at St. Stephen on the Cliffs. He was later to succeed 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. The next two years were spent from a base on the staff at Leeds Parish Church. There, Ken was Schools’ Secretary for the Student Christian Movement in the North East, holding conferences for young people. Appointed next to be Senior Curate at St. Martin’s in the Fields, Ken started regular meetings for young people aged 18 – 30, a group which 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 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 General Synod and 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, and 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 role of Director of Ordinands and of Post Ordination Training for the Diocese. 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, yet was able to land safely. The extra burden of this work led him to move to St. Michael 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 the parish of St. Magnus the Martyr in the City of London and later also St. Clement, East Cheap, and for 11 years, he commuted to the City on five days a week until 2008. He was invited to provide cover for an interregnum at The Ascension, Lavender Hill, and assisted in other local 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 which 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.