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Gordon Gray was licensed as Lay Reader in the Diocese of St Albans in 1998. Now, nearly 30 years later and after a period of ill-health, he has decided it is time to hang up his Reader’s scarf. All who have known Gordon throughout these years, recognise him to be a remarkable man with adventurous ideas, enthusiasm and perseverance.

Since the late 1980s when he, Christine and Theo moved to Northall, Gordon has worked on many projects which have not only raised funds for local, regional and international charities but have also brought people together and created community enjoyment. And, in his role as Reader, the congregation of St Mary’s can confirm that he has shown the same enthusiasm delivering carefully prepared teaching and preaching and making the Bible more vivid with historical context and modern day parallels. We will miss his insight and his encouragement to learn more about our faith.

These are some other ways Gordon has enriched our community:

Christmas

Gordon began our Christmas Eve Candle Services at St Mary’s many years ago, and with clever thinking, he combined the joy of a traditional Carol service with fun for families. In fact, so many families started to attend, that the Candle Service had to be split into two services. Pleasingly, young adults who first attended as little children, return every Christmas Eve; it is clearly an important part of what Christmas means to them.

Carnival

St Mary’s Village Carnival, which has become such an important community occasion, grew out of St Mary’s Church Fair, a small, traditional fete. After Gordon took a leadership role in 1990, the ‘Fair’ became ‘Carnival’ and grew to be the extravaganza that we know today, when up to 10,000 people from far and wide, visit Edlesborough Green for a family day out.

Of the funds raised by Carnival, half goes to St Mary’s Church, specifically to keep in good repair the beautiful Grade 1 listed building that belongs to the whole community. The rest of the money is donated to local charities and community groups. In the past, Florence Nightingale, Rennie Grove & Keech hospices, Luton & Dunstable neo-natal Unit, Bedfordshire Farm Crisis Network, East Anglia Air Ambulance, Medical Detection Dogs, The Wildlife Trust and many others have benefited. Since 1995, over a quarter of a million pounds has been raised and distributed!

Without doubt, Carnival depends upon the efforts of dozens of people but it is clear that the imagination, drive, and determination that brought it all together originated with Gordon Gray.

Christmas Puzzle

In addition to his other fundraising, Gordon Gray has for 35 years complied an annual Christmas Puzzle. This is not a general knowledge quiz but the kind of puzzle that appeals to people who like solving difficult cryptic crosswords. Because of its complexity, it takes Gordon almost the whole year to devise the clues and as soon as one puzzle has been marked and prize winners notified, he starts work on the next year’s clues.

Participants are asked to make a donation in appreciation of the challenge it has given them; this is then passed on to a range of good causes chosen annually. In this way, over the 35 years, the Puzzle has raised circa £150,000.

Music@St Mary’s

Before Gordon took the lead on fundraising at St Mary’s Church, there were occasional concerts, but under his leadership these blossomed into an annual programme of musical events. The Poppy Prom deserves particular mention as this was entirely the brain-child of Gordon, combining elements of the Festival of Remembrance and The Last Night of the Proms, bringing commemoration of those lost in war, to the people of our local community, and supporting the work of The British Legion.

Open Gardens

Many communities have Open Gardens in the summer months but the idea of holding such an event here, originated with Gordon. It raises fund for St Mary’s but is also an enjoyable day, looked forward to by the whole community.

Gordon says that organising all these events has given him great pleasure, but we know they involve hours of effort in planning and also in building up the teams which join him in achieving what are in many cases highly adventurous objectives. And I think this is an important point – Gordon is not only a ‘doer’ but also an ‘enabler’; he gets the idea, but enables others to achieve the objectives with him.

At the start of our celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022, we received the exciting news that Gordon Gray had been awarded the British Empire Medal in the Birthday Honours – such an honour and so deserved!

Thank you Gordon from us all!

The North Chilterns group presented ‘Talking Point’ on the subject of Artificial Intelligence on 22nd October at St Mary’s Eaton Bray.

We were expertly guided by our speaker, the Revd Canon Dr Tim Bull. Tim is currently an Anglican Priest serving at St Albans Cathedral and as the diocesan director of ordinands for the diocese of St Albans. He has previously been a member of the Lee Abbey Community in Devon, and a vicar for 10 years in the Chelmsford diocese.