of Midnight communion to start Christmas
proper. The candlelit service in our beautiful
old church was well attended and was led by
the Revd. Bryce Fletcher; this will be his last
celebration of Christmas as Benefice Priest.
THE REVEREND
BRYCE
FLETCHER
As you will have read in the last edition of Village
Voice, Bryce is retiring from his role as Benefice
Priest in the Arle Valley Benefice on February 2nd.
In his role he has been given special
responsibility for the Parishes of Old Alresford
and Bighton, and both will miss his lofty figure
leading the services, but much more his
thoughtful and devout prayers and sermons and
his friendship to all those he met, both within and
outside the Church community.
Bryce’s career started in the financial services
industry in 1961 with the Woolwich Building
Society, then moving to an insurance company
and in 1970 joining the newly formed NatWest
Bank. He took voluntary redundancy from the
Bank in 1994 and settled to life in Alresford in a
bungalow which he had bought in 1992.
After some three years of retirement Bryce
decided to answer a long-felt calling to become a
Minister within the Methodist Church, and to this
end was accepted for training at Cranmer Hall,
Durham. Bryce was the second famous man of
recent time to receive his training at Cranmer
Hall, the present Archbishop of Canterbury,
Justin Welby, completed his training just as Bryce
started in 1998.
Having completed his two years’ training he was
appointed minister to a group of Methodist
Churches in Sheffield, but sadly had to leave this
role after five years due to ill health.
Bryce moved back to his home in Alresford
where he met two very important people in his life.
He met and in 2008 married the lovely Sandra;
she had been given the role of welcoming Bryce
to Alresford on behalf of St. John’s parish church;
little did they know what a life-changing meeting
that would be! They now live happily in Alresford
with two dogs and will continue to do so, we
hope, for many years to come.
The second new important person in Bryce’s life
was the Rector of The Arle Valley Benefice, the
Revd. Phil Collins, who over lunch persuaded
Bryce that he should train for ordination within the
Anglican Church. After some thought, Bryce
undertook a further 18 months’ training and in
2008 was ordained into the Anglican Church and
later in 2009 he was Priested and appointed
non-stipendiary Benefice Priest to our Benefice;
non-stipendiary simply means that he was not
paid for his work with us.
Bryce’s other interests include classic cars: he
had a love of Morgan sports cars and now owns
a classic Rover car; learning to play Bowls, and
tracing his family history. So far he has found links
from his father’s family to Old Alresford, Bighton
and Wield.
We offer our heartfelt thanks to Bryce for his time
with us and hope that he and Sandra will
continue to be part of our local community and
enjoy a long and happy retirement in Alresford.
Bryce’s last service will be at St. Mary’s Church,
Old Alresford. All are welcome to attend.
BIGHTON
CAROL SINGING
Villagers from Bighton and Gundleton turned
out on a wonderful starlit evening on the
Sunday before Christmas to sing carols at
various places around the village. Starting from
the village hall many climbed aboard the
transport which was kindly, and skilfully,
provided by Charlie McCowen, using a tractor
and the beaters’ trailer. Various houses were
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