Ken Allen

Ken Allen served St Mary's Church in many ways; not least as a Churchwarden - a very diligent one - for many years; but more than that he did many of the behind the scenes jobs: arranging readers for services, carrying out minor repairs and maintenance about the church and caring for the churchyard are just a few.

It was entirely typical of Ken that he continued his care of St Mary's through a major legacy on his death; typical too that he thoughtfully arranged for a charitable trust to be set up to manage the funds and carefully defined the way in which the funds should be applied.
In his latter years he discussed with his friends his concern that the church should not be burdened if faced by a major repair or maintenance project but he wisely gave the trustees wider discretion 'to advance the Christian religion' and also 'support South Baddesley Church of England School'.

Ken named the trustees he wanted to manage the trust and in accordance with his wishes, Malcolm Ross, Ronnie Griffiths and Bernard Atkinson all took office at the outset. Ken also asked that a Churchwarden should be a trustee and Andy Ward duly agreed to serve. After several years as treasurer, Ronnie Griffiths stepped down and Leo Gibb agreed to become a trustee acting as an important link with South Baddesley School.

The first major project undertaken by the trustees was to commission the Ken Allen Gate in memory of Ken's dedicated service to St Mary's; this opens on to a path, jointly created by the Friends of South Baddesley School and the Trust and linking the church and the school both physically and symbolically. The path provides a safe way between the two points without having to use the narrow public road.

The Trust has provided help to a range of initiatives including an oak cross as the focal point for school assemblies, a prize for the best group contribution to school worship and a contribution to piano lessons for pupils at the school. For the church we have a 'To the Church' road sign placed in Norleywood, a new communion chalice, dedicated to Ken and a whiteboard/flipchart to aid in services and presentations at St Mary's. The guiding principle for the trustees remains, 'would Ken approve?'

Bernard Atkinson

EXTENSION TO THE CHURCHYARD AT SOUTH BADDESLEY

I detail below the Presentation made to the NFNPA Planning Committee on Tuesday, 19 July, 2011. This 'Change of Use' application by St Mary's PCC has received unanimous approval from Boldre Parish Council.

There has been a church in South Baddesley since the 14^th Century. However, the present church came into existence when the parish of South Baddesley was formed out of Boldre parish in 1858. Pylewell House has always been closely associated with the church and the present owner, Lord Teynham, has kindly donated this plot of land. He is also the Joint Patron of the church with the Bishop of Winchester.

South Baddesley is a small parish with no pub, provision store or post office. Consequently the centre of the community is the church and the adjacent schools. The church is a valuable pastoral resource for parishioners coming from Lymington, Pilley, Norley Wood, East Boldre, as well as South Baddesley.

The churchyard and the cemetery are an extremely valuable asset for such a rural community. It is believed that this is the third such application to extend the churchyard, but the first for thirty years. As is evident from the development of the present churchyard over the past 150 years, any expansion has been carried out sympathetically with an emphasis on respecting the environment. Although respecting the Tree Officer's concerns over protecting a SNIC ancient woodland, the track record of the PCC should give comfort to the NFNPA that St Mary's PCC will continue to protect the major trees, flora and fauna as well as the birds and animals that are resident.

All the issues raised by the Planning Dept have been satisfied including the production of an ecology report by a respected local expert and investigation on the water table levels etc. The costs of submitting this application have been significant for a small parish. 

This is a minor piece of land of 826.5 sq metres but in order to satisfy local needs, the PCC has no alternative but to expand the churchyard onto contiguous land, if and when it is donated. It neither has other land ownership, nor the resources to acquire additional land.       
                                                                                                                       
When the original application was made it was understood that councils across the UK were generally encouraging and supportive in expanding churchyards, particularly in rural communities. The expansion will be done seamlessly. St Mary's PCC wishes to take up this generous offer from Lord Teynham to 'square off the plot' and continue to provide the opportunity in the future to enable parishioners either to be buried or have their ashes interred. It is also important that relatives have a quiet and secure area to remember and contemplate the lives of their loved ones.

It is hoped that  you will approve the Application despite the objection from the Planning Dept.

After a vigorous debate the Application for a Change of Use was carried by 6 votes to 5!

Clifford Jakes