St. Mary Magdalen, Sheet - Who is who:
Ken Sharman, our Verger

Those of you who worship at St Mary’s, Sheet at 8.00am will have encountered Ken Sharman, perhaps simply noticing a new worshipper in the pew, perhaps engaging him in conversation after the service and discovering that he is the new verger. Some of you will not yet have met him and have not therefore discovered what a very warm and kindly man he is.

Ken spent some of his early years in this area, for his father was an officer in the Royal Horse Artillery and the family lived in the Headley and Bordon area. Consequently when Ken left school at the age of 14 in 1947, he was apprenticed locally in motor engineering. That was not a career that appealed greatly to him, so he entered the army when he was 18 and became a military policeman. He enjoyed life in the army, but found time to meet Jean in 1954 and marry her at Swanmore in 1956. They moved to Haslemere, and Ken was employed by local garages before he completed a further spell in the army at the time of the Suez crisis.

Further engineering work followed and Ken’s final job was with the Surrey police force before injury caused retirement at the age of 54. They moved to mid-Devon (Sandford) where Ken became involved in the Parish Council, the District Council, the Church and the local footpaths, being responsible for some eighteen miles of public rights of way in and around his parish. He became churchwarden of a parish having the main village, plus three hamlets, two of which had their own churches. A team of up to six retired clergy looked after the churches.

Ken and Jean decided to sell up in Devon and move to be nearer to their daughter Zoe near Hungerford. However, the move did not go quite as planned, and instead they found themselves near to their son Jeremy who lives in Liphook, buying a house in the new Ramshill estate. Ken came to St Mary’s Church and almost at once there was an advertisement for a new verger. Ken’s years as churchwarden had given him a full understanding of the work of the verger, should a parish be lucky enough to have one, so he applied for the post and was accepted with alacrity. So, if you are not sure yet who this unknown person might be who is tidying the church, introduce yourself and meet the positive new verger who always has a smile and is enjoying his new role.

Article by Gill Clarke, originally published in the Rock, October 2006