Funeral Verger, KEN HOLT, aka ‘Minister of Fabulousness’, steps down …
Following a long and active service in post at Christ Church Walmsley, Ken Holt has reluctantly handed over the role of Funeral Verger to retire and spend more time with his family and in his garden. Last Sunday, at Christ Church Walmsley, we celebrated his amazing ‘ministry’ when Ken was presented with a Planter containing a Pieris …and a framed print … by our two church wardens as a token of gratitude for his years of service. Canon David Dunn – who led the worship that morning – also added his thanks for the support given by Ken to him and many other clergy members for 20+ years, when standing in a wet churchyard attending funerals and interments of ashes.
Ken has been a mainstay of Christ Church for decades: He has been a Church Warden, member of the PCC and fundraiser extraordinaire, coming up with numerous ideas and initiatives to raise much needed funds over the years. He has also been our Christian Aid Ambassador, highlighting their plights each year and encouraging us to donate.
Each year Ken has liaised with the local Councillors and organised the logistics of the Remembrance Service and Parade. He set up the Tuesday Gardening club, who meet every week to tend the grounds, and as part of this he has guided the group to gaining their ‘ECO’ status. He founded the Walmsley Wombles walking group, guiding parishioners out on varied and sometimes challenging routes every month – and arranging wonderful annual walking weekends away. Though Ken has not been able to join the walks more recently he still takes an active interest in their goings on. Ken also led some of us on a 17-mile walk, beating the bounds!!!
He was named ‘MINISTER OF FABULOUSNESS’ by the lovely Rev Carol Hayden and, in addition to major roles within and outside of church, Ken has done many of the smaller but important roles like Lay Assistant and Sides Person. A skilled artist, Ken painted the beautiful ‘Stations of the Cross’ which adorn the walls of Christ Church Walmsley, built the wooden cross used as a centre piece for our Easter floral display … and created the stunning ‘Turton Moorland Team Ministry’ banner with paintings of the six churches in our team; have a good admire of the finished item when you are next in Christ Church Walmsley…
This is a brief list of many of the things Ken has done for us and there will be things we have missed off. He has been a stalwart of the Christ Church community and has been driven in getting things done and, although he now needs to step back and take time for himself and his family, he will be greatly missed as a leader of these activities. We send our grateful thanks and appreciation to Ken and wish him well in his retirement.
Ken: WE LOVE YOU and give heartfelt thanks for all that you have done and continue to do.
