This article written by Jackie Rickenberg was published in the Parish Magazine in February 2023. See also Vicars of Thursley.
Revd Mathews with a parishioner
It is with a heavy heart I heard this week of the untimely passing of Peter Muir, until recently, the vicar of St Michael’s and All Angels, Thursley. Peter had been an enthusiastic supporter of Thursley History Society and even in this last year or so since retiring to Cyprus, with his indomitable wife Angela, he maintained close links with us. On a personal note, Peter married my husband and me, some years back and I have very fond memories of his wisdom and guidance during this time. Rest in Peace Peter.
I’m sure Peter’s almost four decades of living in Yew Cottage in the village, will be chronicled for posterity, but until then it reminded me of the memoir of Ken Mathews, a previous vicar of Thursley, which was compiled by John Fforde in 1996.
“The Rev. Arthur Kenneth Mathews OBE, DSC, was of the generation that had only just completed its preparations for a career and taken up its first appointments when the Second World War intervened. Then came the naval life, best described by extracts from the obituary in the Daily Telegraph of 4th January 1993.
Rev Kenneth Mathews was one of the Royal Navy’s most distinguished wartime chaplains. He joined the RNVR in 1939 and spent the rest of the war on the County Class cruiser Norfolk, a busy ship on the Northern patrol and then in the South Atlantic. “It would be impossible”, the captain of Norfolk later wrote, “to exaggerate Ken Mathew’s influence on Norfolk. His value in the ship was certainly greater than that of any other officer. He made her the happiest ship I have ever known. He was loved by every man on board, and it is largely his influence that has kept the Norfolk spirit alive ever since”. “
He had an admirable naval record, resulting in him being appointed OBE in 1942 and then DSC soon after, so becoming one of the few service chaplains to be twice decorated. After an influential career in the Church, he chose to return to the work of parish priest in which his pastoral gifts had free rein. And so, Ken and his wife, Betsy, came to Thursley in 1968. In the Parish Magazine for February 1993, thirty years ago exactly, Michael O’Brien and Robert Crawfurd record the following memories:
“We remember him as Vicar of Thursley from 1968 until his retirement in 1976. For Thursley they were eight splendid years. Ken quickly made his mark on our community as a man of outstanding personality. He loved and understood people: understood their eccentricities, their joys, their sorrows.
Just as in the Navy, he had won the hearts and minds of the men in his care as Chaplain on board HMS Norfolk so, in the less hazardous days of his peacetime ministries, the same magic was quickly evident to his parishioners.
His desire to draw a community together, in the same way as earlier he had drawn his ship’s company together, resulted in the foundation in 1972 of our annual Harvest Supper in the Village Hall – an event that quickly proved popular with everyone and had continued, until recent events, without a break ever since. A series of winter lectures in the hall started under his direction and he also encouraged the formation of the Thursley Over 60’s club.
He came to us from Peebles, in the Scottish Borders, where walking in the country is a popular recreation. He immediately reinstituted the Rogation Walk around the entire parish, including Bowl Head Green, blessing the farms along the way. He outwalked most of his new parishioners by completing the whole seventeen miles himself, and then presiding at Rogation Evensong in the Church. He always encouraged the young to come on their ponies if they wished, and always had a large following. Walking his dog in the village he was a popular friend to meet.
Ken’s ministry in Thursley was marked by his untiring efforts to help all in need, to which end he would go to almost any lengths and be quite unsparing himself. Both he and Betsy were lovers of classical music and supported enthusiastically any musical events in the parish. When he left us, we all felt the loss of a truly Godly priest and valued friend.
In 1976 they retired to a house in a valley near Burford, to the restoration of which they had given much thought. The Tallat, Westwell, became a place of pilgrimage for their many friends. Betsy died in 1981. In 1987 Ken married Diana Goschen and they lived happily at The Tallat until Ken’s peaceful death in his 87th year in December 1992”.
The Institution of The Reverend Arthur Kenneth Mathews:
The pdf of the Order of Service shows a heavily annotated version:
Undated obituary from The Times