Bro. Terence Nagle In Memoriam

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Terence was born in Frimley Green, a younger brother for sister Maureen. They grew up playing in the grounds of Wharfenden Estate where their farher was head gardener. The site is now The Lakeside Country Club the famous darts venue. In 1955 the family moved to Guildford and Terence became a boarder at Ottershaw School. Here he made many cherished life-long friendships.

On leaving school, Terence started work at a local family run firm of estate agents in Dorking. The owners encouraged him to become a Chartered Surveyor and Auctioneer which he duly did. Indeed, Terence became a well-known agent in Dorking using his entrepreneurial skills to diversify into commercial property. On one memorable occasion, having omitted the words ‘subject to contract,’ he managed to sell the same shop to two different enthusiastic buyers! However, he quickly overcame his predicament by finding a second shop to sell! 

Terence’s career in property culminated in him becoming the MD of a large property company from which he was privileged to enjoy early retirement. This provided him time to read for a degree in Theology which he completed with flying colours.  

Terence’s faith instilled in him by his parents was uppermost in his life. He was an active Knight of St Columba from the age of seventeen holding many offices in the Guildford Council. The principles of this order: Faith; Family and Fraternity were instrumental in instilling in him the courage to express openly his deep belief in the sanctity of life from conception to natural death. As such, he was an active supporter of the organisations LIFE and SPUC.  

Terence met his future wife Beth when she offered to help him with a house-to-house collection he was organising for Shelter. They married on 20^th April 1974 in St Marys’ Rydes Hill and were blessed with four wonderful children: Sarah; Matthew; Peter and Theresa. It was by moving to Sutton Green in 1976 that Terence and Beth began and developed their special bond with St. Edwards, Sutton Park. They both contributed greatly to the life of the church with Terence becoming a very active member of the finance committee. 

Terence felt it a gift to be able to use his skills to assist the Catholic communities that he loved. He spent many years sitting on the diocesan finance committee, was an adviser to the Josephite Order for over twenty years and was an active school governor at both Barrow Hills and Cranmore Schools. Terence was pleased to use his knowledge and acumen in the property industry to help the parents in the purchase of both Rydes Hill and Barrow Hills Schools when they had to be sold by the religious orders that owned them. 

Terence was pleased to accept his invitation to join the Guildford Catenian Circle in July 2004 particularly because of their prayerfulness, camaraderie and focus on family. He served as a member of the Catenian Council for many years and treasured the friendships he made in both the Catenians and the Knights.  

In his latter years, Terence valiantly and stubbornly refused to allow his long struggle with ill health to interfere with his life and was completely unaware of the fine example he radiated to us all. Terence loved every aspect of his life, his choice of career, his family, his home and his faith.  

May the Lord now let him rest in peace. 

 

Bro. Terence Nagle

10 November 1942 to 11 November 2020

 

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What do you want to do ?

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Bro. Harvey Palmer In Memoriam

Harvey Palmer died peacefully at his home in Guildford on 9th July 2020. His sons and daughters had spent the previous night reminiscing at his bedside. Under Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, family and friends gathered on 22nd July at St Pius X Church in Merrow to celebrate his life before his committal at Guildford Crematorium.

Harvey was born in Gosport Hampshire  on 7th May 1939 to parents Sydney and Margaret. He attended  St John's college in Portsmouth before embarking on a career in the lock industry, initially with Chubb and later ME Duffell. In 1973 he met Joan his wife, when he was working in Dublin for a couple of years. They married in St Joseph’s church, Guildford, in 1979.

Since 1977 Harvey had lived in Guildford, apart from a brief move to Wolverhampton. He worshipped at St Pius X Church. Invariably he would be found contributing to the Mass by strumming a double bass. Harvey’s professional expertise maintaining the church locks was greatly appreciated by the parish. He was part of a team that raised funds for a children’s feeding programme at St Pius X Church in Georgetown Guyana.

Harvey joined the Guildford Catenian Circle on 4th March 1998. He took the roles of Marshall and Chamberlain with enthusiasm.

He engaged with everyone positively. Neighbours, shop keepers, church groups, music groups, sports clubs, the postman or the Catenians. You could trust Harvey and his dog Scruffy to spot something awry and do something about it. The local people all referred to his pleasantness and the time he had for people. It is no surprise that nipping out for a paper would often take up to 2 hours. Harvey had a sense of integrity. He always wanted to do the right thing, not just for himself but for all, whether family or in business.

Harvey was cool. Or at least as cool as an octogenarian can get! You knew he paid attention to the whole subject of cool and not just in appearance. This was surely why he gravitated to music, favouring naturally the coolest of all music - jazz. Even his instrument, the double bass, exuded coolness. Harvey could be at the centre of the whole sound while hardly seeming to expend any effort at all. Initially belonging to a pub band, later he formed his own band “Serve Chilled” with much younger confederates. They sounded great because they had the energy and enthusiasm of youth, a force their senior leader could absorb and reflect back to them.

He could immediately relate to those he met, a knack that made him good at dealing with customers, including the toughest customers he had to deal with in Ireland, his prospective wife Joan’s family! But he succeeded and became a full-fledged member of the clan. Harvey and Joan built the kind of shared life together that could include Annie and Ellie, his daughters from his first marriage, warmly welcome their sons Stephen and Andrew, and later their wives Katie and Clair, along with parents, siblings, relatives and friends. No father could have been happier or basked more in the recognition Stephen and Andrew each received from Her Majesty and Her Majesty’s government.

His support of others as a Catenian and his generous friendship to all in the parish community, were only the most visible signs of what was within his heart. Harvey was at ease with everyone and everyone was at ease with him because all saw his unconditional acceptance. If Jesus sported a goatee and strummed a double bass in a jazz combo, he might have looked like Harvey.

Bro. Harvey Palmer 1939 to 2020

                 May he rest in Peace

Bro. Andy Owen In Memoriam

Andy was someone you wanted to be with. Always cheery, interesting, stoic, never complaining and of course, up for a chat; an active member of the Guildford Catenians for over 30 years including six as Secretary.

He was educated at Prior Park College, Bath and Bristol University. After training as an accountant he joined BAC, Bristol as Finance Director at an exciting time during the construction of Concorde and its roll out in 1969.

In 1977 the family moved to Farnham and Andy became MD of C.I. de Rougement, a Lloyds underwriting agency, commuting regularly until his retirement.

Andy enjoyed a very full life. He was a keen sportsman, playing hockey for Bristol University, West Gloucester and Basingstoke where he served as President. He was an active member of the Bourne Club playing tennis, squash and table tennis and was a valued member of the Management Committee. He also found time for golf at Blacknest and Farnham Golf Club.

Andy’s other great interest was music. He was a member of the Farnham and Bourne Choral society for forty years and at times the Treasurer. He was also in the Odd Fellows Male Voice Choir for many years and Treasurer of the Farnham Youth Choir Trust.

Throughout his life Andy always valued the foundation of love he had received at Prior Park College. It was his second family. He continued a very active involvement including 47 years on the Prior Park Alumni Committee, many as Chairman as well as a long spell as a School Governor.

After his retirement, Andy delighted in immersing himself in the Farnham scene. He acted as Trustee and Treasurer of the Farnham Institute Charity, Brightwells Gostrey Centre, the Bourne Children and Youth Initiative and was Trustee at the Maltings.

As an only child Andy loved his family life. He and Liz married in 1996 having met at Bristol University. They have a son, Simon, a daughter, Lucy and Grandchildren Luke and Gemma of whom he was very proud. Andy was a popular and gregarious man who always had a story to tell. He kept lifelong friendships from all stages of his life and had a prodigious memory for names and faces, usually finding a connection somewhere, somehow. Many benefitted from his kindness and numerous offspring of friends enjoyed work experience in his office.

An extract from: ‘’ODE TO OWEN’’ by Laurence Treeby

AJ is a tiger in everything he does

We don’t know how he fits it in

His life is just a buzz

He’s here there, he’s everywhere

He doesn’t seem to rest

In all he does he gives his full

With humour, fun and skill – no bull

He will be greatly missed by his family and many friends

May he rest in Peace

Bro. Andy Owen 1939 to 2020

This In Memoriam was written by Bro. Jim O'Donnell

Primus Inter Pares

On April 8, the first and undoubtedly the first among many virtual meetings was held by Guildford Circle. Conferencing facilities, courtesy of Bro. Stephen Ballard, enabled 37 brothers to join together for a meeting hosted by new President Bro.Tim Edwards. Other new officer appointments were: Vice-President Bob Hughes; Registrar Dominique Dalton and Membership Officer Pat Finn. The remaining officers maintained the 'Status Quo!'

The usual procedures were observed and included a one-minute silence in memory of Bro. Andy Owen who died on April 6 just two days before the meeting. Bro. Andy was a stalwart parishioner of St Joan of Arc in Farnham.

During the meeting, prayers were offered for Bro. Chris Devereux who was at that time being treated in ICU at St Helier Hospital, Sutton. Sadly, Bro. Chris passed away on Good Friday just two days after the meeting. He will be remembered for his work with the Nomntu Charity which he founded with his wife Jane. Bro. Chris will also be remembered for his skills as a photographer frequently winning the Provincial Photographic Competition. Up until the time he left to join Epsom Circle, Bro. Chris was Guildford's principal photographer.

Although the ambience of Guildford Golf Club was missed, the meeting was successfully conducted with 37 brothers in 'virtual' attendance although only 25 could be screened at any one time. It is anticipated that another meeting will be held in May when, hopefully, there may be some relaxation of the Lockdown. However, those halcyon days of good company, questionable jokes and fine dining are unlikely to be resumed for the foreseeable future.

A screenshot featuring some of the brothers who attended the virtual meeting

Annual Mass for Deceased Brothers

The Mass for Deceased Brothers was held on Sunday 23 February at Chilworth Abbey and was conducted by Fr Dunstan. In his Homily, Fr Dunstan spoke about the importance of the work of our deceased brothers in building up our Circle. He raised the issue of whether their wives should also be remembered at the Mass.

At the lunch, Fr Dunstan started by saying that currently there were more people alive today, than who were dead. After this attention grabbing statement, he then said that Google and other research mechanisms disproved that statement and, in fact, more people were dead than were currently alive and that would always be the case. 

He then observed that there were more dead brothers than current living ones. This was obviously somewhat of a guess as we currently pray for 40 odd dead brothers and the Guildford Circle is 60+ strong. Nevertheless, it will inevitably and sadly be  true. He also spoke about there only being 1,000 religious bodies, excluding diocesan priests, in England and Wales, many fewer than had lived. Fr Dunstan then spoke about them being like the Jedi and the smaller they got, the more powerful they became.

Following Mass, the party of over 40 brothers, ladies and widows, made their way to Guildford Golf Club for lunch. As you will see from the photographs, it was a very enjoyable occasion.

Fr Dunstan addressing the diners

A Captive Audience!

Fr Dunstan making his attention grabbing statement!

Bro. President, Andy Fogell, creating some humour!

Thanks from Bro. President to all for their support!