Life at Christ Church: 1968 to 1975

Women's Own 25th Anniversary

Women's Own celebrated their 25th anniversary in 1971. A photograph taken on this occasion shows Catherine Coombs (front row fourth) and former vicar’s wives Gertrude Bartle (front row second) and Irene Roberts (front row third) with Annie Ellis (front row first) and other leaders including Barbara Hill, Diana Evans, Olive Voller and Cecily Stone.

Another picture from this occasion shows Peter Coombs with Gertrude Bartle in the background.

A photo taken from the third floor of the vicarage shows Catherine Coombs in the centre of Women’s Own for a garden party during this period.

Ian Cundy

Ian Cundy was Curate of Christ Church from 1969 to 1973. The photo below shows Ian’s marriage to Jo just ten days before his curacy began.

Ian went on to become a figure of considerable importance within the Church of England, editing one of the three preparatory books for the influential Second National Evangelical Anglican Conference in 1977 on theme of ‘Obeying Christ in a Changing World’. He went on to become Bishop of Lewes from 1992-1996 and then Bishop of Peterborough. Sadly Ian died of cancer in May 2009. Jo (who was able to join us for our 150th Anniversary) wrote a book about this called ‘Letting Go of Ian: A Faith Journey through Grief’.

Doug Johnson

Succeeding Ian Cundy was Doug Johnson (here with his first wife Ann), who was Curate from 1973-1976.

Sunday School Groups

In 1975 the Sunday School groups at Christ Church moved from the afternoon to the morning. This was the beginning at Christ Church of Scramblers, Climbers and Explorers. Pathfinders which had begun in 1959 also moved to Sunday morning. Having begun in 1974, CYFA replaced King’s Own as the major youth group at Christ Church in 1975 meeting after the 6.30 service on a Sunday evening and continuing until 2008 when it was replaced by Engage.