Fellowship History 

 Some reflections on the St.Luke, Eltham Park Fellowship since it started in the late 1940s
– from Rosemary Keogh

Paul and I have been members of the St. Luke’s Fellowship since the 1980s. We came to St. Luke’s when our son was 4 years old nearly 5 years and two younger daughters in 1976 during Father Michael Hart’s time. He had only been at St. Luke’s himself for less than two years. We had attended St. John’s Eltham parish church while we lived in Mottingham but when we bought the house in Greenvale Road we decided to join the parish church of St.Luke’s in which we resided. There were a number of reasons including organisations for the children. The children were scattered in various churches organisations throughout the area. We didn’t join The St. Luke’s Fellowship for a few years and then were only able to go separately and intermittently because of childcare arrangements.
During that time there were about 30 or 40 members and some well remembered names being Chairpersons such as Beryl and John Jordan, Muriel and Dennis Hogarth who had been members for quite some time and probably joined in the 1950s. From the archives Esme has given me some writings concerning the beginnings of the St.Luke’s Fellowship. It was founded just after the war in 1946 by a Ken Duvall. Ken was a member of St. Luke’s and of the youth club in the 1940s. The vicar in 1940 was Frederick G. Witcombe and in 1948 Hugh Anderson. Like many of his contemporaries Ken was called up for active service and joined the RAF as a pilot. He and his crew were shot down over Holland and taken prisoner to Germany.
Eric Williams was Ken’s navigator on the plane and was the author of The Wooden Horse which was made into a film and later the famous film the Great Escape was made which had a similar theme but greatly embellished. All during the time of his captivity Ken dreamed of coming home to Eltham marrying his fiancée and setting up a club for those returning from active service especially for his old youth club friends. He and his fellow prisoners escaped via the ‘Wooden Horse. Recently the plane was retrieved from the sea, part of a reclamation programme in Holland. Ken’s vision materialized on his return to England. We only have one member from those early beginnings, Vi Francis, and she has also given me some information for this article. Vi has quite a lot of photographs and one from a 1948 ramble including Ken Duvall. I don’t know if anybody remembers Will Charie and Gladys but they were in the photo as well. I don’t know any of the others. When we joined St. Luke’s Fellowship quite a lot of the members people will remember including Jackie and Bob Lacey, Muriel and Dennis Hogarth, John and Kath Moorehouse and of course Jean Warrell who played a big part in the Fellowship for a long time taking various roles over the years. Also Margaret Almond’s parents were early members and also played big roles.
We had quite a full programme of activities and also had a variety of speakers to gain our interest. In the early days there were many rambles out into Kent especially on bank holidays, many relatives and friends, children and dogs joining us. We covered quite a few miles and ended up in a country pub for a well-earned drink and something to eat. Paul and I did quite a few of the walks ourselves with our children. We also put on shows or joined in with shows put on by the church. I remember Paul doing one concerning ‘There’s a hole in my bucket’. He was dressed up as a farmer as was his partner.
This was part of a church variety function held in the hall. We always had stalls at the Christmas Fair and Summer Fete, generally the White Elephant stall. We still do this at the Christmas Bazaar. Our numbers have been up and down during the last few years. We used to have members that were not members of St. Luke’s Church as well and some of those became members later. At the moment Esme Partridge is our Chairperson and we continue with quite a lot of our own activities. We also now attend a show or play at the Bob Hope Theatre and go out for a meal about once a term. We still have speakers although not so many. We still have some days out during the summer when we don’t meet weekly. We often visit Greenwich Park and Hall Place. If anyone is interested we meet in St. Luke’s Vestry every Friday from 8.15pm – 9.45pm during the autumn and spring terms. There is a programme at the back of the Church.