In Conversation with... Doreen Witney

Doreen, you and George have played hugely significant roles in the life of the church in Langley. When did you first move to Langley? We only moved to Langley in 1961, but both of us were born and brought up not all that far from here. My parents as well as maternal aunts lived in Denham, then a village, and I was born in 1927 just a couple of years after their marriage. My father died when I was six weeks old, which would have been devastating to my mother, who was left pretty well destitute. She had to go into domestic service and she really struggled to keep us going. It has always been a great sadness for me that I never knew my father.

My childhood was steeped in the Christian faith because my aunts were Sunday School teachers, and an uncle was a priest. The village atmosphere in Denham, where there were lots of ‘aunts’ and ‘uncles’, provided a happy and secure childhood, even though we were not well off. I went to High Wycombe school and then joined the Midland Bank in Gerrards Cross.

George was born in Slough in 1919 and had a Methodist background. He had started work in the Midland Bank when the war started and he joined the navy. After the war, he returned to the Midland Bank and worked in several of their branches in the area including Gerrards Cross. That is where we met. When we got married 1948 working in a bank was most helpful to get a mortgage for our first house!

You were a founder member of Christ the Worker. How did that connection come about? Well, from our first home in Warrington Avenue, with Roger as a baby, we started to go to St Michael’s, Whitby Road. The priest there at the time was Father John Room and the few years we spent there had a great influence on our lives. Father John, who had also been in the navy, helped George with his faith and led him to confirmation. Furthermore, St Michael’s church had a strong ethos of Stewardship, even in the ‘50s, which made a lasting impression on us.

Our move to Langley was in 1961, three days before the inaugural service of St Francis church. Father Palmer was the Vicar at St Mary’s, where we worshipped and Roger soon became the Head Chorister. At that time thoughts and plans had started to emerge around starting a daughter church in the Parlaunt Road area because of the new housing being developed there and we became part of that process.

After a lot of door-knocking to see whether there was interest in a new church and four years later, Christ the Worker church was opened, with services at first in the ‘Welfare Centre’. TheVicaragecamenextandthenthe church building, called the Church and Community Centre. It was only natural that George and I should be at Christ the Worker, although Roger continued with the choir, with Percy Hawes, at St Mary.

The early days of Stewardship in this Parish were closely linked with George and of course you in the background. How did that involvement start? St Michaels’ Whitby Rd was a major influence on us. The priest told the congregation exactly how much he earned and what he gave to the church, and there was an openness about what people gave. On moving to Langley, we continued to tithe and this came to Father Palmer’s notice – don’t ask me how; what about confidentiality in those days! So the whole stewardship mission in the parish started off. People are so much less open about their finances these days, of course, and about their professions, which makes it hard for the church to use them in different ways.

How did you adjust to life in Langley, and especially at Christ the Worker after St Michael’s and St Mary’s? We approached it with excitement. In the early days, it was still very Anglo-Catholic, but as different vicars came, it changed, of course. Some people felt unhappy about it, but I was interested in the new ideas and fresh approaches different vicars brought to the church.

I had decided not to go out and earn a living, so my work was voluntary. I ran a Young Wives group at St Mary’s and then worked at the Child Clinic and for the Blood Donors, as well as helping with Christ the Worker. ‘Community Care’ was another organisation we worked with; I specially remember two Vietnamese families who were brought over and just given empty Council houses, and how we helped them integrate into the community. (Might this be a way we are called to help with Syrian refugees now?)

Thank you so much for sharing your life story with us, Doreen. George died 20 years ago. But my children, Roger and Hazel, live not too far away and I have three grandchildren who are all good and kind to me, and the church family is very caring, so I feel blessed. God has been good to me.