The Revd Derek Bedford (1927-2013)
Vicar of Christ Church Epsom Common, 1966-81

The Revd Derek Bedford in 1977
Photograph from the Christ Church archives © 2019

Derek was born in Q2 1927, apparently the only child of Hugh Warner Bedford and Muriel (née Greaves). The parents had married in their local church of St Paul’s, Addlestone on 8 August 1922. Derek’s 1927 birth was registered in the same Chertsey District. (He was baptised “Richard Derek Warner” but always called Derek, and we follow suit here.)

His father had, fresh out of school, served in the Army during WW1. Then, as in the 1921 Census (which recorded him at his parents’ Addlestone home), he became an entomologist based in Khartoum and working in the Sudanese Civil Service.

The family has left very little trace in the readily available records – in particular, none of them is found in the September 1939 Register. That may be due to transcription errors, but it is clear that Derek’s parents spent much time abroad. A rare sighting of Derek (at 6 years) and his mother is in April 1933 as passengers on the SS Yoma from Port Sudan to Plymouth. The ship’s manifest records the two going to the mother’s parents in Addlestone.

Anyway, Derek’s father was firmly established in North Africa. In 1929, the King of Egypt admitted him to the Order of the Nile “in recognition of valuable services”. In December 1945, he was awarded the OBE, and the London Gazette noted him as “a British subject resident in the Sudan”. He did retire back to the UK. When he died on 31 March 1979, his address was in Woodham, not far from his childhood home in Addlestone.

To return to Derek, he graduated from Clare College, Cambridge in 1952. After theological training, he was ordained Deacon in 1954 and served his first Curacy at All Saints in nearby Wallington from 1954-57, being ordained Priest in 1955. In Q3 1956 (and registered in the local Surrey Mid Eastern District), Derek married Patricia J Souter. He served three further Curacies:

• 1957-59 at All Saints, Sanderstead;
• 1959-62 at Addlestone (where the couple’s first child, Stephen, was born in Q2 1961); and
• 1962-66 in charge at New Haw (where their second child, Michael, was born in Q2 1963).

On 23 March 1966, Derek took up his appointment as Vicar of Christ Church Epsom Common. He was welcomed by the congregation as a rather quieter character than his busy predecessor (the Revd Richard Falkner). He encouraged people to call him by his Christian name and the whole atmosphere seemed more relaxed.

His predecessor had, for some time, been actively pursuing what were seen at the time as fairly radical ideas for reordering the church interior to facilitate different styles of worship. The matter was obviously in abeyance during the transition but needed to be resolved. On 26 July 1966, four months into his incumbency, Derek chaired a meeting of the Church Council where a main agenda item was “Re-ordering the interior of Christ Church”. Early in the discussion, the topic was simplified to “The siting of a Temporary Altar” (being an altar in the Nave, among the congregation, rather than in the Sanctuary at the East End). In discussion, it was noted that nearly two years had passed since work had begun – with associated expenditure – on assembling a platform in front of the Rood Screen as the base for such an altar. A great deal more expenditure was needed to complete the job, which obviously had to be done properly. Was there the will to pursue this? There were contrasting views and, in the event, the matter was parked by 10 votes to 8, with 5 abstentions. (“Reordering” was eventually implemented in the 1990s, towards the end of the incumbency of Derek’s successor, the Revd Mark Wilson, to whom also fell the task of concluding, in 1986, Derek’s initiative to build a Hall alongside the church in place of the West Hill building.)

A lesser – but still significant – liturgical change was introduced by Derek in having the High Altar moved a little way from the reredos so that the priest could celebrate Holy Communion from behind the Altar, facing the congregation, rather than in front of it with his back to them. Derek was also an early supporter of women’s ministry. With his active encouragement, Christ Church began appointing women as sidespeople: indeed, the decision got through the Church’s Annual Meeting in 1969 only with Derek’s casting vote. Attitudes changed, and the 1972 Annual Meeting agreed unanimously to appoint women as servers. Afterwards, Derek said: “Women priests are coming, so people might as well get used to seeing women at the altar.” (It was another 22 years before the Church of England began ordaining women as priests. In April 1994, Mavis Wilson – wife of Derek’s successor – was among the first 32 women to be ordained in the Diocese.)

Derek was a supporter of the charismatic movement, and frequently took groups of people to London for evenings of worship and teaching, also inviting many of the best speakers of the day to preach at Christ Church. He was a strong advocate of the healing ministry and encouraged parish retreats, often taking over St Columba’s at Woking for a week-end. Two other significant initiatives were setting up a prayer group which met every Friday evening in the Vicarage and the introduction of home groups which met in private houses for prayer, fellowship and Bible study, much of which he wrote himself.

He cared deeply for the people of the parish – always there as soon as he heard of any family crisis, and many people have cause to be thankful for his ministry to them. He was a true pastor in the old-fashioned sense of the word. However, the administrative side of parish life did not come easily to him, and there are many stories of how he forgot appointments or got dates wrong. It was exasperating, but the exasperation was always mixed with great affection.

In all that he did, Derek was splendidly supported by his wife, Pat. She ran the Sunday children’s groups, was a representative on the local committee of Women’s World Day of Prayer and played a full part in the Mothers’ Union Branch, including running the Young Wives’ Group. With the Church Hall at that time being some distance away at the bottom of West Hill, the Vicarage was frequently used for meetings and the couple kept “open house” there.

Derek was a humble man who was surprised by the love and appreciation which were shown to him and Pat when, after 15 years at Christ Church, he moved in 1981 to become Rector of St Peter the Apostle in Walton on the Hill. In 1987, the couple retired to Groombridge in Kent. Derek became an Honorary Chaplain at Burrswood Home of Healing and Pat became a Visitor there, enabling them for some years to carry on the ministry to which they had been called.

He died on 29 September 2013, aged 86.

Roger Morgan © 2019
With special thanks to Pam Buckingham