It is with sadness that we announce the death of the Revd Brian Druce.
Archdeacon Robert will take his funeral on Friday 24 July.
Please pray for his family, particularly for his widow Lesley who still lives in Pershore.
Brian Druce
The Revd Brian Druce, former vicar of Overbury and Agricultural Chaplain in the Diocese of Worcester, recently died age 88.
Brian was born in Oxfordshire in August 1931 to a Methodist family. He attended Kingswood boarding school in Bath where he played both cricket and rugby, something that he continued while completing his National Service.
On moving to London, he initially trained to be a Surveyor and it was whilst in the capital that he became an Anglican and felt the call to ordination, becoming a Deacon in 1960 and a Priest in 1961 at St Paul’s Cathedral. He served his curacy in the church of St Augustine of Canterbury, Whitton; a large suburban parish near Twickenham. Here he was introduced to Lesley and they were married at the church in 1962.
The couple moved to Minehead in Somerset where they spent three very happy years. Their two boys, Timothy and Jonathan, were born and Brian enjoyed attending the cricket at Taunton. In 1965, Brian took up a parish post in a multi-cultural parish in Manchester, not far from Moss Side. Lesley remembers working in the parish as hard, but also good fun. While here, Brian learnt to fly, which was something he’d always wanted to do, but his eyesight hadn’t been good enough when he did his National Service. The couple’s daughter, Katharine was also born in Manchester.
After five years, the family moved again as Brian took up the post of Vicar in Overbury, outside of Pershore. This was another completely different post and Brian became very involved in the community there. A few years later, he also took on the role of part-time Agricultural Chaplain. He was a member of the Young Farmers and had always been interested in nature so this was a role that he enjoyed very much, becoming a full-time Chaplain in 1981. During this time, Brian spent six months in Kenya working with an American doctor improve healthcare in remote areas. He was also a keen cyclist, including cycling 205km in 12 hours to achieve the Randonneur medal.
In 1991, Brian took early retirement from the Church and became a signalman on the railway, working from Oxford to Hereford in various signal boxes. The family bought a house in Elmley Castle and Brian continued to cover local services when parishes were in vacancy.
Brian was always active in the local community. He was a Governor at Elmley Castle Primary school and after retirement volunteered at Abbey Park Middle School listening to reading as well as driving a local minibus to take people to day centres. He also established a campaign to save the local pub, where he could often be found working on a Monday evening for a couple of hours!
Brian’s funeral will take place on Friday 24 July.
